Public management is a term that considers that government and non-profit administration resembles private-sector management in some important ways. As such, there are management tools appropriate in public and in private domains, tools that maximize efficiency and effectiveness. This contrasts with the study of public administration, which emphasizes the social and cultural drivers of government that many contend (e.g. Graham T. Allison and Charles Goodsell) make it different from the private sector.
Studying and teaching about public management are widely practiced in developed nations. Such credentials as the Master of Public Administration degree offer training in decision making relevant to the public good using public infrastructure.
The public manager will deal with critical infrastructure that directly and obviously affects quality of life. Trust in public managers, and the large sums spent at their behest, make them subject to many more conflict of interest and ethics guidelines in most nations.
Read more about Public Management: Organizations
Famous quotes containing the words public and/or management:
“Linguistically, and hence conceptually, the things in sharpest focus are the things that are public enough to be talked of publicly, common and conspicuous enough to be talked of often, and near enough to sense to be quickly identified and learned by name; it is to these that words apply first and foremost.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“The management of fertility is one of the most important functions of adulthood.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)