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Public sector ‘Modernisation’: examining the impact of a change agenda on local government employees in England

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journal contribution
posted on 2017-10-11, 12:50 authored by Russell J. Glennon, Ian HodgkinsonIan Hodgkinson, Jo Knowles, Zoe J. Radnor, Nicola Bateman
Can public sector reform change service performance for the better? This is a hotly contested debate which carries significant theoretical and practical importance. In England, as in many countries, modernisation was at the heart of local government reform and represented an interpretation of New Public Management into a policy framework. This paper examines the role of the modernisation change agenda in England and what this has subsequently meant for ‘service improvement’. Drawing on both document analyses and qualitative interviews with local government employees, we find that while modernisation sought to establish continuous improvement, unintended consequences of modernisation have led to Staff Reductions, Skill Deficiencies, and Loss of a Competent Middle Core in local government, as well as performance outcomes creating an environment for Commissioning, Service Reduction, and Self-Policing. Implications for the lasting roles and behaviours of public managers affected by this national change agenda are discussed, and conclusions for theory and practice are drawn.

History

School

  • Business and Economics

Department

  • Business

Published in

Australian Journal of Public Administration

Volume

77

Issue

2

Pages

203 - 221

Citation

GLENNON, R.J. ... et al., 2018. Public sector ‘Modernisation’: examining the impact of a change agenda on local government employees in England. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 77(2), pp. 203-221.

Publisher

Wiley © National Council of the Institute of Public Administration Australia

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: GLENNON, R.J. ... et al., 2018. Public sector ‘Modernisation’: examining the impact of a change agenda on local government employees in England. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 77(2), pp. 203-221, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12294. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.

Acceptance date

2017-10-05

Publication date

2018-06-05

ISSN

1467-8500

Language

  • en