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2025 · Q2 · Core values, Traditional Public Administration and NPM (20 marks)

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CSS 2025 · Q2 · 20 marks · Topics: I.4 Core Values — Rule of Law, Efficiency, Equity and Fairness, Responsiveness and I.6 New Public Management

Same idea asked again: 2019 Q3 (equity and Rawls) · 2020 Q2 and 2023 Q7 (NPM) · MCQs 2025 Q1(1), 2026 Q1(2) on core values

1. Question

Discuss the core values of Public Administration. Also write a detailed analysis on the following: a. Concept of Traditional Public Administration. b. Concept of New Public Management.

2. What the examiner wants

  • Three parts, roughly equal: core values (about 7 marks), Traditional PA (about 6), NPM (about 7).
  • Label parts (a) and (b) exactly as in the paper.
  • A comparison table at the end links the three parts and earns easy marks.

3. Outline

  • I. Introduction — values decide which approach we choose
  • II. Core values of public administration
    • A. Rule of law
    • B. Efficiency (and effectiveness, economy)
    • C. Equity and fairness
    • D. Responsiveness
    • E. Accountability
    • F. Hood's three value families
    • G. Tensions between values
  • III. (a) Traditional Public Administration
    • A. Meaning and roots
    • B. Peters' six features
    • C. Strengths
    • D. Weaknesses
  • IV. (b) New Public Management
    • A. Meaning and origin
    • B. Hood's seven doctrines
    • C. Strengths
    • D. Criticism
  • V. Comparison and the values link
  • VI. Pakistan
  • VII. Conclusion

4. Model answer

I. Introduction

  • Public administration is judged not only by what it delivers but by how it delivers — lawfully, fairly and accountably.
  • David Rosenbloom shows three lenses on PA, each with its own values:
    • managerial — efficiency and economy;
    • political — representation and responsiveness;
    • legal — rights and due process.
  • Traditional PA and NPM are two ways of organising the state; each puts different values first.

II. Core values of public administration

  • A. Rule of law:
    • A. V. Dicey: supremacy of law, equality before law, rights protected by ordinary courts;
    • officials may act only where law permits, and must give reasons;
    • Pakistan: Article 4 (right to be dealt with according to law), Article 10A (fair trial), Article 199 (judicial review).
  • B. Efficiency:
    • efficiency = best output from given inputs ("doing things right");
    • effectiveness = achieving the intended goal ("doing the right things");
    • economy = acquiring inputs at the lowest reasonable cost;
    • Pakistan: audit paras and cost overruns in development projects show the value is often ignored.
  • C. Equity and fairness:
    • horizontal equity — treat like cases alike;
    • vertical equity — treat different needs differently;
    • H. George Frederickson: social equity is the "third pillar" of PA, alongside efficiency and economy;
    • Pakistan: Article 25 (equality), Article 38 (well-being), BISP for the poorest.
  • D. Responsiveness:
    • listening to citizens and acting within law and resources;
    • not the same as favouritism — the response must be lawful and fair;
    • Pakistan: Pakistan Citizen Portal and grievance cells.
  • E. Accountability:
    • officials must explain, justify and face consequences;
    • political, administrative, legal, financial and social forms;
    • Pakistan: PAC, Auditor-General, Ombudsman, courts.
  • F. Christopher Hood's three value families (1991):
    • Sigma — keep it lean and purposeful (economy, efficiency);
    • Theta — keep it honest and fair (integrity, equity);
    • Lambda — keep it robust and resilient (reliability in crisis).
  • G. Tensions: values pull in different directions:
    • the cheapest service may leave out remote villages (efficiency vs equity);
    • fast decisions may skip due process (responsiveness vs rule of law);
    • cutting spare capacity saves money but fails in floods (Sigma vs Lambda).
    • The administrator's job is to balance, not to maximise one value.

III. (a) Traditional Public Administration

  • Meaning: administration through a permanent, neutral, hierarchical civil service that carries out policy made by elected politicians, using law, rules and procedure.
  • Roots:
    • Wilson — politics–administration distinction;
    • Weber — rational-legal bureaucracy;
    • Taylor — scientific management;
    • Gulick — POSDCORB.
  • B. Guy Peters' six features:
    • an apolitical civil service;
    • hierarchy and rules;
    • permanence and stability;
    • an institutionalised civil service;
    • internal regulation;
    • equality — the same treatment for all.
  • C. Strengths:
    • legality and predictability;
    • impartial, merit-based service;
    • continuity across governments;
    • clear lines of responsibility.
  • D. Weaknesses:
    • red tape and delay;
    • rigidity and fear of initiative;
    • process valued over results;
    • little citizen participation.

IV. (b) New Public Management

  • Meaning: a reform package that shifts government from process control to managerial freedom, measurable results, competition and customer service.
  • Origin: the 1980s–90s in the UK, New Zealand and Australia; popularised by Osborne and Gaebler's "steering rather than rowing" (1992).
  • B. Hood's seven doctrines:
    • hands-on professional management;
    • explicit standards and performance measures;
    • greater emphasis on output controls;
    • disaggregation of large units;
    • more competition;
    • private-sector styles of management;
    • discipline and parsimony in resource use.
  • C. Strengths:
    • exposes waste and delay;
    • improves responsiveness and service quality;
    • encourages innovation.
  • D. Criticism:
    • treats citizens as customers, ignoring rights (Denhardt and Denhardt's New Public Service);
    • targets get gamed;
    • fragmentation weakens accountability;
    • weak markets in developing countries (Schick, 1998).
DimensionTraditional PANPM
Core ideaRules, hierarchy, procedureResults, autonomy, competition
Values it stressesRule of law, equity, neutralityEfficiency, economy, responsiveness
Hood's familyTheta and LambdaSigma
AccountabilityTo rules and superiorsTo results and customers
Citizen seen asRights-holderCustomer
Main riskRed tapeEquity loss and gaming

VI. Pakistan

  • Traditional base: Civil Servants Act 1973, Rules of Business, Estacode, PPRA rules.
  • NPM-type additions: NADRA, FBR's IRIS, performance targets, PPPs and autonomous bodies.
  • Lesson: keep merit, legality and audit, then add performance tools on top.

VII. Conclusion

  • Core values are the yardstick for choosing between approaches.
  • Traditional PA protects legality and fairness; NPM adds efficiency and responsiveness.
  • Good administration in Pakistan needs both — a lawful, impartial service that is also fast and results-minded.

5. 🎯 CSS Exam Perspective

  • Time and length: about 30 minutes, four pages.
  • High-scoring touches: give each value a meaning, a scholar and a Pakistan example; add Frederickson's "third pillar"; end with the table that links values to both approaches.
  • Must-cite: Rosenbloom, Dicey, Frederickson, Hood, Peters, Weber, Taylor, Gulick, Osborne and Gaebler.
  • Common mistakes: listing values as single words; skipping the tensions; not labelling (a) and (b).
  • Reuse: part II answers MCQs 2025 Q1(1) and 2026 Q1(2).