American management strategy in the British civil service: the post-1968 office work measurement crusade and the rise of managerialism

Abstract

ABSTRACT The restructuring of Britain’s civil service is understood mainly as a Thatcher- and Blair-era event rooted in neoliberal economic policies. Yet its roots reach back to the late 1960s and early 1970s. During that time, senior civil servants turned to American management strategy to advance the government’s efforts to scale back the size of the service. This article explores these efforts via the activities of the Treasury’s Management Services Division and its Head, John N. Archer. In 1969, Archer made a month-long visit to the United States to study American management techniques. Over the next few years, he and his colleagues attempted to implement one of these techniques in particular—Office Work Measurement—throughout the service. Derived from scientific management, OWM would, they believed, help cut the number of positions in the service. In tracing these efforts, the discussion sheds light on an under-analysed episode in Britain’s civil service reform history. In turn, it argues that the OWM quest of the early 1970s played a heretofore under-emphasised role in the government’s embrace of ‘managerialism’ and the implementation of civil service reforms.