The privatization decision : do public managers make a difference?
By: SLYKE, David M. Van; HAMOONDS, Charles A
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ArticlePublisher: Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications, June 2003Subject(s): Public Management; Privatization: Agency Theory: Policy ImplementationThe American Review of Public Administration 33, 2, p. 146-163Abstract: In this article, the political environment of privatization and its impacts on public management are examined in the context of the privatization of a state park in Georgia. The study specifically focuses on the actions of public managers in the privatization formulation and implementation stage.Public management capacity actually increased as a result of privatization. This is an outcome quite different from those reported by public management studies of other privatized services. Applyong a principal-agent framework, this study yelded several lessons that may strengthen public manager´s capacity to act as "smart buyers" of goods and services and to enforce accountability when managing contractual relationships. This study links theory to practice using a case study that allows a careful examination of the strategic responses of public managers confronted by largely political, as opposed to economic, pressures to privatize an already sucessful state park.
In this article, the political environment of privatization and its impacts on public management are examined in the context of the privatization of a state park in Georgia. The study specifically focuses on the actions of public managers in the privatization formulation and implementation stage.Public management capacity actually increased as a result of privatization. This is an outcome quite different from those reported by public management studies of other privatized services. Applyong a principal-agent framework, this study yelded several lessons that may strengthen public manager´s capacity to act as "smart buyers" of goods and services and to enforce accountability when managing contractual relationships. This study links theory to practice using a case study that allows a careful examination of the strategic responses of public managers confronted by largely political, as opposed to economic, pressures to privatize an already sucessful state park.
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