Abstract

Managerialism is a belief system that highlights the role of management and managers in providing solutions to social and economic problems (Pollitt 1990, Clarke and Newman 1997, Deem et al. 2007). At the root of managerialism is the assumption that in any enterprise or organization, managers are the most important people – more important than bureaucrats, clerks, accountants, teachers, doctors, nurses and so on. Private sector experience is, for the most part, depicted as the fount of most practical management wisdom, as it is argued that only in the face of market competition do core managerial values – efficiency, cost-effectiveness, quality, flexibility and so on – become imperatives, compelling managers to learn from mistakes and to innovate (Downs and Larkey 1986: 20–21).