DOES “WORK DEBATE SPACES” ALLOW TO REGULATE THE PARADOXES OF NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (NPM)?

Abstract

Does “work debate spaces” allow to regulate the
paradoxes of New Public Management (NPM)? Since
1990, in order to overcome limits of public organizations, NPM has promoted a radical reform. It creates
many paradoxes in public organizations. This article
argues that “work debate spaces” are partly able to
regulate these paradoxes. It presents a case study
of a public training organization. The results show
that NPM creates strong paradoxes in this organization and that “work debate spaces” are partly able
to regulate these paradoxes. Our results show that
management tools play a great role in this capacity of
“work debate spaces” to regulate paradoxes produced
by NPM. They also underline the weakness of this
regulation and its difficulty to disseminate their
effects throughout the organization as long as it is
not supported and valued by top management. These
results initiate a discussion with the existing literature.