Retrofitting Collaboration into the New Public Management:Lessons from New Zealand

New Zealand, like most countries around the world, is experimenting with collaborative techniques and processes in order to address cross-boundary public policy challenges. Still prevalent in New Zealand, however, are the policies and philosophies of that country’s sweeping public management reforms of the 1980’s and 1990’s - commonly called “The New Public Management (NPM)”. This article highlights the tensions between the NPM and collaboration in New Zealand, analyzes what is needed to change the bureaucratic culture of New Zealand to make it more receptive to the idea of collaboration, and offers concrete steps that can be taken to create opportunities for collaborative advantage in any country.