To know the real meaning of “reinventing government,” let us take a look first on the definition of reinventing or reinvent. Merriam Dictionary defines reinvent as “to remake or redo completely,” meaning to change, transform or amend; hence, reinventing government means transforming the government into a new face.
It is believed that for a government to be effective and efficient, it needs strategic government reforms. According to Osborne (2007), in order to succeed in reinventing government, one must be strategic for this takes a long journey. Reinventing a government is not just a snap of fingers; it takes long and twisted roads to attain success.
According to the paper presented by Brillantes, Jr and Fernandez, Is There a Philippine Public Administration, reinventing government has something to do with New Public Management (NPM). It stated the importance of management and partnership of the public and private sector. This theory aims to improve the performance of public personnel and efficiently deliver services to the masses. In order to attain government reform and reinvention, Osborne and Gaebler (1992) introduced 10 principles for reinventing government. They believed that the following principles are essential in improving the effectiveness of government service and practices.
1. Catalytic government - separating steering (policy and regulatory functions) from rowing (service delivery and compliance functions)
2. Community oriented government - empowering rather than serving: in other words, enabling the community to serve their own needs, rather than the direct provision of services for them
3. Competitive government - injecting competition into service delivery to ensure cost-effectiveness and quality services provision meeting the needs of the market
4. Mission-driven government - transforming rules-and-procedures-driven organizations into entities that are clear on their missions and mandates, and have
References: Osborne, David (January 2007). Reinventing Government: What A Difference A Strategy Makes. Retrieved 09 February 2015, from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan025253.pdf Brillantes, Jr Alex and Maricel Fernandez. Is There a Philippine Public Administration? Or better still, for whom is Philippine Public Administration? Retrieved 09 February 2015, from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/eropa/unpan032064.pdf TCI Management Consulatnts. Banishing Bureaucracy: The Five Strategies for Reinventing Government by Osborne, David and Peter Plastrick (1997). Review of the Book. Retrieved 09 February 2015, from http://www.consulttci.com/Book_reviews/Banishing_bureaucracy.html