Public Sector Organizations and Cultural Change ― Examining Privatization Through Auto-ethnography

Since the height of the privatization debate in the 1990s, changes in government policy have resulted in significant transformation in the public sector. Some organizations have made the transition from government bureaucracy to business venture successfully; others have struggled to relinquish their traditional bureaucratic culture. In this book, Pillay and Bilney explore the cultural changes occurring within the public sector and the effects that government mandated change initiatives have actually had.

This book provides an auto-ethnographical perspective on the efficacy of Australian public sector cultural change. It explores the practical implications for society and government as it seeks to entrench the culture of the citizen as customer, and will be particularly useful for researchers and organizations searching for ways to improve service delivery within the confines of particular market positions.

Chris Bilney completed his PhD at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. He has extensive experience in the public sector, with over thirty years' service both before and after the introduction of the New Public Management reform process. Chris is an active researcher in the field of public sector reform as it relates to staff management with particular reference to the effects of the reform process on lower level staff.

Soma Pillay is a Senior Lecturer in Management at Monash University, Australia. Soma has taught in undergraduate and postgraduate programs within Organizational Behavior, HRM, Management and Organizations and International Management. She is an active researcher within the School of Business and has published widely in the area of public sector governance and cross cultural management. She is also actively involved in management education and has worked closely with the Australian Institute of Human Resource Management in accreditation matters and AACSB.