wiley sons

organisational culture

service delivery

public private

public organizations

value destruction

public management npm

public values

change efforts

transformation research

International journal of public sector management

A process of organisational change has accompanied managerial reforms in the public sector and is oriented towards the development of a post‐bureaucratic organisational culture. However, there remains a limited empirical understanding of culture in public organisations. Contributes to an understanding of organisational culture in the public sector through survey research that analyses culture by reference to the competing values of internal/external orientation and control/flexibility. Focuses on six organisations in the Queensland public sector which have been encouraged to depart from traditional bureaucratic values and to adopt a greater emphasis on change, flexibility, entrepreneurialism, outcomes, efficiency and productivity. Suggests, however, that public sector organisations continue to emphasise the values of a bureaucratic or hierarchical organisational culture.

Organisational culture in the public sector: evidence from six organisations