Theories of public management

The article compares three dominant theories of public management and discusses whether these theories meet the needs of public management practice in 21st century. The authors first discuss challenges related to public sector management, indicating the increasing role of public sector in modern economy. The next section focuses on the differences between organisations operating in public and private sectors. Next, the article outlines three main theories of public sector management: hierarchical approach (classical theory of bureaucracy), market approach (New Public Management) and network approach (New Public Governance). In the final section the authors present the comparative analysis of these theories and discusses their relevance to contemporary public management