Organisational amnesia: a serious public sector reform issue

Abstract

Purpose

However well‐intentioned are public sector reform movements, they are often compromised by misunderstandings about meanings and directions and by the organisational amnesia that comes from too rapid change and too little attention to the past. A better appreciation of these problems is needed. This paper aims to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper combines discussion about factors that inhibit successful outcomes of many reform programmes with examples drawn mostly from the Australian experience.

Findings

Reform programmes are likely to have better outcomes if they are designed with these possible impediments in view. Similarly theoretical understandings will be safer and sounder if more attention is given to administrative history and more care is taken to reconcile conflicting views.

Originality/value

The paper focuses on issues that have not been given much attention in the literature of public sector reform.

Citation

Wettenhall, R. (2011), "Organisational amnesia: a serious public sector reform issue", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 80-96. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513551111099235