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MANAGING FINANCIAL STRINGENCY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
Author(s) -
GILL JOHN,
FRAME PHILIP
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9299.1990.tb00776.x
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , public sector , context (archaeology) , resistance (ecology) , business , action (physics) , public relations , new public management , action plan , financial sector , economics , public economics , public administration , finance , political science , management , politics , economy , paleontology , ecology , physics , quantum mechanics , law , biology
This article contributes to the debate about the most effective ways to manage the effects of financial stringency in the public sector. It tentatively draws ideas for further research from three action research studies conducted longitudinally over several years in different contexts and sectors and at different organization levels within the public sector. Our contribution focuses on the management of the early stages of stringency. We conclude that in stringent times, particularly in the short‐term, intra‐organizational conflict is likely to increase; organizational climates to become more cautious and reactive; and management to become more centralized, controlling and to take what is termed the efficiency rather than the effectiveness option. To these factors is added the resistance to change inherent in professional bureaucracies. Managers in public sector organizations experiencing harsher environments need to be helped to plan strategically for implementation in the particular context in which they find themselves.