Effective Use of Resources in the Public Management Sector in Norway

Background The public sector in Norway has undergone a number of renewals and restructuring processes during the last few years. This development is referred to as New Public Management, and has resulted in more competition, the need for adaptions to the market, and several new organizational forms. Purpose of Study: To discuss effective use of resources in the public management sector in Norway. Sources of Evidence: One key aspect in the public sector is that in addition to emphasizing good service, the public sector also has an additional responsibility to provide an additional service or an extended product to its customers. A problem in this context may be to measure the effectiveness of this due to vague and unclear goals. Another important aspect when it comes to efficient use of resources in the public sector is that it may be difficult to observe or verify what the quality of a product or service really is. It could therefore be problematic to draw conclusions about what effective use of resources really is. Main Argument: Regardless of how one chooses to define efficient use of resources in the public sector, it will be up to the politicians to decide whether the services provided by the public sector have a high enough value in relation to the actual use of resources. Conclusions We conclude that there exist several major challenges regarding how to measure the creation of value in the public sector within the domain of New Public Management.