Reinventing public service: an evaluation of public sector evolution in Australia and other Western countries

Government reform can be little more than politically symbolic restructuring, or itcan involve changes which are pervasive and permanent. During the last twenty fiveyears a number of countries have undertaken real and significant reform in theirpublic sectors. Many of these reform programs have entailed the introduction ofcompetition, the measurement of results, the decentralisation of authority, and theintroduction of meaningful sanctions for managers who fail to achieve theirobjectives. The decision to embrace this new approach, and the process ofintroducing the requisite changes, has often been referred to as reinvention. Thispaper discusses discusses some of those changes and evaluates the differentapproaches taken . The evidence suggests that cultural change in the public sector isnot a finite phase which agencies must endure, but is instead a permanent fixture foragencies. If this is true, then the future of the reinvention movement seems assured.