Managerialism

Managerialism is the idea that professional managers should run organizations in line with organizational routines which produce controllable and measurable results. It applies the procedures of running a for-profit business to any organization, with an emphasis on control, accountability, measurement, strategic planning and the micromanagement of staff.

Managerialists often justify it on the grounds of improving organizational efficiency, and management has become an academic discipline in its own right. Management scholars view management as a skill or unique style to be developed if one is to successfully manage an organisation.

However, critics of the idea argue that managerialism is in fact a worldview similar to neoliberalism where each human is assumed to be an economically motivated homo economicus. New Public Management is one example of managerialism, where public services were reformed to be more 'businesslike', using quasi-market structures to manage areas such as public healthcare. A common view of these critics is that public facilities being managed by profit motives is antagonistic to human welfare.