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Environmental management and street‐level regulators: A cultural trap?
Author(s) -
Khator Renu,
Ng Kathleen,
Chan Hon S.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
public administration and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-162X
pISSN - 0271-2075
DOI - 10.1002/pad.4230120406
Subject(s) - politics , organizational culture , accountability , trap (plumbing) , face (sociological concept) , dimension (graph theory) , order (exchange) , public administration , business , public relations , political science , sociology , law , social science , engineering , mathematics , finance , environmental engineering , pure mathematics
It has been argued that environmental management is in an administrative trap. Numerous factors leading to this trapped situation have already been identified in the literature: institutional rigidity, lack of co‐ordination, formalization, non‐accountability and political interference. This study focusses on the organizational, cultural dimension of the administrative trap and argues that in order to reform administrative structures, the organizational culture must also be reformed. On the basis of several face‐to‐face interviews with street‐level environmental regulators in Hong Kong, the study claims that a role‐oriented, hierarchical culture exists. While such an organizational culture is in perfect agreement with existing administrative arrangements, it may, in the end, hamper the effectiveness of environmental management.