Public management: 30 years on

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conduct a conceptual survey of transformation in the management of the public sector over the past 30 years. Design/methodology/approach The paper provides a comparison of the bureaucratic form of public administration with more flexible forms of public management. Findings The major change from an administrative model is that public managers are personally responsible for the delivery of results; from that starting point different countries have implemented reforms in their own way. The 30-year timeframe points to the need to reconceptualize ideas of New Public Management (NPM) argued here to have been unhelpful for understanding public management. Originality/value The importance of NPM has been exaggerated previously. The argument here is that public management includes an enduring set of reforms, NPM does not.