Public sector management reform

Public sector management reform faces a fundamental question. On one hand, change will not take place unless ideas for improvement are reduced to recipes. On the other hand, such recipes are not reliable guides to effective action across the broad range of settings within the core public sector. This research addresses the issues of whether recipe ideas in public management are overgeneralized rules of thumb, and what steps could mitigate this problem.

Thompson (1967, p. 159) wrote that: "Uncertainty appears as the fundamental problem for complex organizations, and coping with uncertainty, as the essence of the administrative process." Rather than simply ignoring the role of uncertainty in the management process, Thompson--unlike most other management theorists--chose to integrate the concept of uncertainty into his theory of innovative management organization.

This feat highlights the dilemma that clearly exists: there is an undeniable contradiction between strategic innovation and management organization. Innovation requires new ways of thinking,

alternative methods of operation, and breaking the rules. Management organization, on the other hand, strives to systematize operations, to classify activities, and to produce expected results. Thus, while innovation needs a strong element of uncertainty, management organization needs a strong element of certainty. Strategic innovation and management organization are at odds with each other.

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