The first replicated training on New Public Management: Lean State, Lean Government

The first New Public Management (NPM) Lean State, Lean Government was replicated by Dr. Khairiah Salwa Mokhtar, Senior Lecturer, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Brian Lariche, Constultant / Executive Director, Liaison Combination Sdn Bhd. It was held at the Vistana Hotel in Penang on the 9th September 2007.

A total of 20 participants were invited. They were of varied backgrounds and ages and came as far as Kulim, Kedah over 80 kilometers away to attend the workshop. The workshop was designed to be as interactive as possible in the introduction of a ‘new’ topic to the participants. Power-point slides were used for all presentations and prepared in English while the presentation was in Malay and English.

The workshop proper started with an introduction to NPM followed by an explanation how NPM though a ‘new topic’ was actually something long practiced by certain efficient sections of the public sector. All the tools discussed were further reinforced with practical examples of real applications in the Malaysian context to bring closer to home the applications of the NPM tools. At the end of this section, the participants were broken into groups to discuss the tolls and how they were being used if at all in their own current scenario. The groups then presented their discussion in a plenary.

In the final proper NPM session, the participants were taught to do a Portfolio Analysis and use the tool to analyze what would be the suitability and ease of using the tools of NPM in their own environment. The participants were once again broken to into groups to analyze and present. The Portfolio Analysis managed to illicit some excellent responses and the participants actually had lively debates to defend their opinions and their stand. It was also interesting to see their similar scenarios being analyzed from different view points. It seems that the participants got a second wind and seemed to be really getting into the spirit of NPM.

Finally, there was a discussion on how NPM could be implemented by the participants in their own organizations and settings. Though there were no concrete ideas that appeared, it certainly appeared that the message of allying the theories of NPM was beginning to take hold.

Dr. Khairiah is committee member and Brain is a Vice Chairman of FNF Alumni Network in Malaysia, better known as FAN Malaysia established informally since March 2006. They attended the training course on New Public Management: Lean State, Lean Government in Gummersbach, Germany from 27th October to 3rd November 2006.

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