Changing a Bureaucracy into an Open Organisation

Abstract

The controlling Labour Party in Sheffield changed leadership in the early 1980s and introduced policies aimed at “working jointly with council employees and those who use council services, to improve the quality and value of those services and to extend democracy, in a way which provides real choice for those who otherwise would be denied access to power and decision‐making. We will change the experiences of bureaucracy and centralised control which confuse and disappoint those on the receiving end of our efforts by developing a concept of decentralisation which brings services and those working for the council closer to the people”.