The “Enhanced Productivity Programme” of the Public Sector in Hong Kong: Critical Analysis of a New Public Management Reform

Volume: 

9

Number: 

1

Published date: 

六月, 2005

Authors: 

Bennis Wai-Yip So

Abstract: 

This article is to review and evaluate the “enhanced productivity programme” that was implemented in the Hong Kong Special Administration Region Government from 1998 to 2003. This is an epitome of application of the Anglo-American New Public Management reform to Hong Kong. The author attempts to critically probe the implications of the programme, indicating that the policy goals of the programme have been being shaped ever since the beginning. It is problematic as to whether the programme has resulted in the productivity enhancement in general. However, obviously, the substantive goals of the programme entail sacrificing the middle-to-low-level civil servants’ interest and enhancing the tractability of the management. The normative aim for “individual value addition” still stands far away from the current reforms.

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