ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some of the key developments in public sector strategy, and it shows how thinking has developed over time. There has been a drive towards introducing private sector management techniques into the public sector, and this has continued internationally despite the fundamental differences between the two sectors and the different national contexts. There is no single approach that describes the public sector. Traditional Public Administration (TPA) is concerned with standardisation of procedures, bureaucracy, and gaining efficiency through silo management, where specialists can focus on their own areas of expertise. New Public Management (NPM) introduced many private-sector management techniques into the public sector, such as performance management, target setting, and an increased focus on cost control; and this led, it is argued, to an increase in managerial accountability. Finally, network governance seeks to encourage organisations to collaborate beyond traditional boundaries and work together to tackle common issues, such as where social work and health care overlap. Many public bodies adopt a combination of TPA. NPM and network governance in their approaches in different parts of their organisation. We build upon these issues again in the next chapter, which explores some seminal academic approaches to strategy and introduces some key authors.
