From ‘either or’ to ‘both and’

Organisational management in the aftermath of NPM

Abstract

This article explores the next phase of public management: the era of paradox. As new public management (NPM) policies and practices were shown to be inadequate to solve the problems of public management, they began to be complemented – rather than re- placed – with new reforms and practices. These reforms and practices are often contradic- tory to existing ones, leaving managers in a difficult position. By extending the debate about contradictions and paradox from the policy level to the organisational level, we show how public sector managers work to resolve these contradictions in a situated man- ner, keeping the contradictions alive rather than resolving them permanently.