Managing Change and Innovation in Public Service Organisations

Citation

Stafford, B. (2008), "Managing Change and Innovation in Public Service Organisations", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 688-689. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513550810909230

This book is the first textbook in the Routledge Masters in Public Management series and aims to provide students and managers with the understanding and the skills to manage change and innovation in public sector organisations. In general, the book does provide a good overview of the literature and so succeeds in aiding the readers' understanding of change and innovation, but it is less successful at providing the skills required.

The book has four parts and two case studies in appendices. The first part is an introduction that outlines the concepts of change and innovation, highlights the importance of the public sector organisation's environment for promoting change and innovation and summarises the approaches on assessing the need for change. The discussion on the latter (in Chapter 3) could be more extensive; for instance, the discussion on market research should have covered some key methodological issues such as sampling, validity, reliability and so on, and the discussion on cost‐benefit analysis does not provide the reader with the skills to conduct one, or even a critical overview of the issues involved in undertaking a cost‐benefit analysis.

Part two covers managing change in public sector organisations. Here the discussion is well structured and, as with the discussion on innovation (see below), the authors cogently summarise the extensive literature on the topic. The authors cover the drivers of organisational change, the importance of organisational culture as a component of change, and implementing change in organisations. Managing innovation is covered in part three of the book. The discussion in the three chapters in this part, which cover the nature of innovation, the role of innovators and the management of the innovation process, is excellent. It is comprehensive, well written, highly informative and thought provoking.

The key issue of sustaining change and innovation in public sector organisations is addressed in part four. In the final chapter the authors rightly highlight that implementing change is problematic and that models from the private sector cannot be simply transferred to the public sector. There is a need for public sector organisations to be adaptable and flexible in managing the process of change and innovation.

The appended two case cases are of the Department of Roads in Queensland, Australia and of Regional Action West Midlands, England. Whilst interesting in themselves, the case studies would have benefited from the inclusion of cross‐references to the substantive issues covered elsewhere in the book.

As a book aimed at both master level students and practitioners the authors are to be commended for presenting the learning objectives and key points at the beginning of each chapter, including self‐reflective exercises and discussion questions, and helpful guides to further reading at the end of each chapter. Overall, this is a lucid and comprehensive account of the literature on managing change and innovation. It will serve as a good starting point for those wanting to get an overview of the literature and the key debates in this critical area of public management.