New Public Management (NPM) is an approach to running public service organizations that is used in government and public service institutions and agencies, at both sub-national and national levels. It is a set of techniques and perspectives that are intended to overcome the inefficiencies inherent in the traditional model of public administration. The term NPM expresses the idea that the cumulative flow of policy decisions over the past twenty years has amounted to a substantial shift in the governance and management of the “state sector” in various countries.

Some key features of NPM include:

• A strong focus on financial control, value for money, and increasing efficiency.
• A command and control mode of functioning, identifying and setting targets.
• Decentralization of control of resources and exploring other service delivery models to achieve better results, including a quasi-market structure where public and private service providers competed with each other in an attempt to provide better and faster services.
• A shift towards a more business-like approach to public sector management, borrowing ideas and management models from the private sector.

NPM is often contrasted with traditional public administration, which is characterized by a focus on accountability rather than efficiency. While traditional public administration emphasizes policy direction, personnel management, and adherence to rules and regulations, NPM emphasizes productivity, marketization, service orientation, decentralization, a policy orientation, and accountability for results.

Overall, NPM represents a radical movement to change not just the way a public sector functions but also the entire perception about it.