- Writer, researcher, academic. I have stepped down from fulltime roles since finishing a five year contract as Dean of... moreWriter, researcher, academic. I have stepped down from fulltime roles since finishing a five year contract as Dean of Students August 2016.
I am pursuing part-time or visiting roles while remaining active in writing and researching.
New book out now: 'The Art of Strategy' (London: Routledge, 2021)
New book January 2023 ‘The Crisis of Governance’ (Edward Elgar)
The fifth edition of 'Public Management and Administration' was published in 2018.
I was:
- A student at University of Western Australia, then a tutor at the University of Tasmania, and a lecturer at Monash University.
- A full professor from 1994 to 2011 in public sector management at Monash.
- A senior academic and administrator since being Head of Department of Management at Monash University from 1999 to 2003.
- Deputy Dean, Faculty of Business and economics, Monash 2006-2011
- Dean of Students and Professor, RMIT University from 2011 to 2016.
- Once a musician (see Google for 'Sid Rumpo') then an academic.
- Visiting professor at Renmin University, Beijing; the University of Electronic Science and Technology China in Chengdu; and the Yunnan University of Finance and Economics in Kunming.
Main area of academic interest is management in the public sector.
- Major publication is 'Public Management and Administration' first published in the UK in 1994, with further editions in 1998, 2003, 2012 and 2018. Translated editions have appeared in Chinese (2nd, 3rd and 4th editions), Chinese complex character language (2nd end), Turkish 4th edition, a Mongolian edition (5th end) and has parts translated into Spanish.
- This book has 3491 Google Scholar citations from a total Google Scholar count of more than 5753
Recent articles
Hughes, Owen (2017) ‘Public management: 30 years on’, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 30 Issue: 6-7, pp. 547- 54. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-06-2017-0174
Hughes, Owen E. (2017) ‘Devolution and Federalism’ in Thomas R. Klassen, Denita Cepiku and T.J. Lah (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Global Public Policy and administration (Abingdon: Routledge).
Alford, John, Hartley, Jean, Yates, Sophie and Hughes, Owen (2016) ‘Into the Purple Zone: Deconstructing the Politics/Administration Distinction The American Review of Public Administration, March 2016.
Alford, John, Hartley, Jean and Hughes, Owen (2015) ‘Political Astuteness as an Aid to Discerning and Creating Public Value’ in J. Bryson, B. Crosby and L. Bloomberg (eds), Valuing Public Value, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Hartley, Jean, Alford, John, Hughes, Owen and Yates, Sophie (2014) ‘Public value and political astuteness in the work of public managers: The art of the possible’ Public Administration 93 (1), 195-211.
Hughes, Owen E. (2013) ‘The Soft Power Solution?: Managing without Authority’ in Janine O’Flynn, Deborah Blackman and John Halligan (Eds) Crossing Boundaries in Public Management and Policy: The International Experience (London: Routledge).
Recent books
The Art of Strategy (London: Routledge, 2021)
Public Management and Administration, 5th edition (London, Palgrave, 2018)
Public Management and Administration, 4th edition (London: Palgrave, 2012)
Business, Government and Globalization (with Deirdre O'Neill) (London, Palgrave, 2008)Noedit
... role of providing services to facilitate, assist, advise, coordinate and ensure that the activities of the private sector are consistent with national objectives and national interests (Karim 1992, p. 49). ... In this study we examine... more
... role of providing services to facilitate, assist, advise, coordinate and ensure that the activities of the private sector are consistent with national objectives and national interests (Karim 1992, p. 49). ... In this study we examine what Quinlan (1993, p. 542) has termed the 'ethics of role ...
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The 1980s and 1990s saw the emergence of a new managerial approach in the public sector, in response to the inadequacies of the traditional model of administration. This approach may alleviate some of the problems of the earlier model,... more
The 1980s and 1990s saw the emergence of a new managerial approach in the public sector, in response to the inadequacies of the traditional model of administration. This approach may alleviate some of the problems of the earlier model, but does mean quite dramatic changes in how the public sector operates. As noted earlier, the managerial approach has many names: ‘managerialism’ (Pollitt, 1990); ‘new public management’ (Hood, 1991); ‘market-based public administration’ (Lan and Rosenbloom, 1992); the ‘post-bureaucratic paradigm’ (Barzelay, 1992); or ‘entrepreneurial government’ (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992). In most of what follows, the terms ‘new public management’ (NPM) and ‘managerialism’ will be used interchangeably, although managerialism does tend to be used as a pejorative by other writers. ‘New public management’ also contrasts with the earlier American usage of ‘public management’, which sometimes sees it as a technical sub-field of public administration (see Chapter 1).
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An academic directory and search engine.
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tag=1 data=Public management or public administration? by Owen Hughes tag=2 data=Hughes, Owen tag=3 data=Australian Journal of Public Administration, tag=4 data=51 tag=5 data=3 tag=6 data=September 1992 tag=7 data=286-295. tag=8... more
tag=1 data=Public management or public administration? by Owen Hughes tag=2 data=Hughes, Owen tag=3 data=Australian Journal of Public Administration, tag=4 data=51 tag=5 data=3 tag=6 data=September 1992 tag=7 data=286-295. tag=8 data=MANAGEMENT tag=10 data=The debate over managerialism has been the most controversial issue in Australian public administration journals in recent years. This paper argues that, from several angles, the work now carried out by public services is management rather than administration. tag=11 data=1992/4/13 tag=12 data=92/0905 tag=13 data=CAB
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Australian universities have established specific Masters programs for public servants over the past twenty years. However, until recently, despite being established, they have not thrived by comparison with MBA and other masters courses... more
Australian universities have established specific Masters programs for public servants over the past twenty years. However, until recently, despite being established, they have not thrived by comparison with MBA and other masters courses in business. It was not easy to attract students and good staff. MPA programs have generally not captured the public sector community's attention in the same way as is the case in a number of US schools of public administration or management. This situation changed in 2003 with the creation of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). This is a consortium of five governments - the Commonwealth government, the New Zealand government, and the three largest state governments - and nine universities set up to provide an Executive Masters in Public Administration. The ANZSOG cohort is composed of future leaders in the opinion of their governments. All students are fully funded by their governments and at a level that is more costly per student than other training. Funding of this scale reflects a major change for governments in Australia. The establishment of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government represents a major change in education of public managers in Australia. There are lessons for other countries in its establishment.
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Governments provide and produce goods and services, as discussed in the previous two chapters. Governments also produce policies. Logically, this point occurs prior to the production of anything else and may be the sole end of particular... more
Governments provide and produce goods and services, as discussed in the previous two chapters. Governments also produce policies. Logically, this point occurs prior to the production of anything else and may be the sole end of particular government organisations without service delivery roles. In the early 1970s, those involved in the study of public policy consciously and deliberately distanced themselves from the discipline of public administration. Most of its practitioners saw public policy as concerned with the application of formal, mathematical methods in the public sector. Public policy is important in its own right and as an influence on public management, but again raises the question as to whether there is still something distinctive about public administration. Another usage of public policy is that used by economists, which is the application of economic methods and models to government. It is possible that the rise of a new public management based on economics will see this usage of the term become predominant.
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We add new data to the long-standing debate about the interface between politics and administration, deploying theory and evidence indicating that it varies. It can be either a “purple zone” of interaction between the red of politics and... more
We add new data to the long-standing debate about the interface between politics and administration, deploying theory and evidence indicating that it varies. It can be either a “purple zone” of interaction between the red of politics and the blue of administration, or a clear line. We use survey responses from 1,012 mostly senior public managers in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, along with semi-structured interviews with 42 of them, to examine the extent to which public managers perceive that they “cross” the line or go into a zone, and the ways in which they do so. Our inclusion of a zone as well as a line recasts how roles and relationships between politicians and administrators can be conceived. Moreover, it raises questions about how particular contingencies affect whether public managers perceive and work with a line or a zone.
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Since the mid-1980s there has been a transformation in the management of the public sectors of advanced countries. The rigid, hierarchical, bureaucratic form of public administration, which has predominated for most of the twentieth... more
Since the mid-1980s there has been a transformation in the management of the public sectors of advanced countries. The rigid, hierarchical, bureaucratic form of public administration, which has predominated for most of the twentieth century, is changing to a flexible, market-based form of public management. This is not simply a matter of reform or a minor change in management style, but a change in the role of government in society and the relationship between government and citizenry. Traditional public administration has been discredited theoretically and practically, and the adoption of new public management means the emergence of a new paradigm in the public sector.
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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... more
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.
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The twenty years from the mid-1980s saw a transformation in the management of public organizations in many countries. As argued by those following the trajectory of what has been variously termed ‘managerialism’ (Pollitt 1993), ‘the new... more
The twenty years from the mid-1980s saw a transformation in the management of public organizations in many countries. As argued by those following the trajectory of what has been variously termed ‘managerialism’ (Pollitt 1993), ‘the new public management’ (Hood 1991), or simply ‘public management’, the old traditional model of public administration has been largely overtaken and replaced (see Hughes 2003). The public management reforms have been controversial and not fully accepted (see Pollitt/ Bouckaert 2004) and reforms have not progressed as far in some countries, notably those from the statist tradition in continental Europe (Kickert 2000). There is, however, substantial agreement that one of the key features of the newer models of public management in countries that have followed this model is the personal responsibility for results ascribed to public managers themselves.
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ABSTRACT
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The politics/administration dichotomy is a perennial issue in public administration research. This paper challenges the dichotomy by arguing that greater political astuteness may enable public managers to do their jobs better in a variety... more
The politics/administration dichotomy is a perennial issue in public administration research. This paper challenges the dichotomy by arguing that greater political astuteness may enable public managers to do their jobs better in a variety of ways. Drawing on Moore’s (1995) concept of the ‘authorising environment’, the paper considers how public managers view politics, and how political they are required to be. Firstly, a five-level conceptual framework is employed to identify the skills of political astuteness and to articulate these in relation to the authorising environment of public value. Secondly, we map how political astuteness underpins the practices, behaviours, activities and mind-sets that are discussed in the strategic management theory of public value, drawing on data from 25 interviews carried out with public managers in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. We conclude that public value provides an overview of public purposes and actions, while political astuteness indicates how these might be achieved. * Conference participants please note: because we are still finalising permissions from interviewees to cite their comments (anonymously), this version of the paper is not for dissemination outside the conference. Permission will be obtained from all interviewees quoted prior to this paper being posted on the publicly accessible conference website. 3 Draft paper prepared for Creating Public Value Conference, University of Minnesota, Sept 20-22, 2012