From Bureaucrats to Entrepreneurs to Networkers, Advocates, and Empaths: Reappraising Human Resources Management Ideals and Practices in Public Administration

Abstract

This article assesses how changing paradigms of public administration have been reflected in public sector human resources management over time. It finds that large-scale reform acts, such as the Pendleton Act or the Civil Service Reform Act and the National Performance Review reflected the “ideals” of the rule-following bureaucrat of the Old Public Administration (OPA) and of the result-seeking entrepreneur of New Public Management (NPM). However, the advocate, empath, and networker of New Public Administration (NPA) and New Public Service (NPS) has not been pursued through similarly encompassing reform efforts. While gradual changes such as a more representative bureaucracy and increased collaborative governance have paved the way for a deeper integration of NPA and NPS values into human resource policy and practice, more efforts are needed to promote advocates, empaths, and networkers as the core of the “new” public service. We conclude by making some tentative suggestions in this direction.