The Gold in the Heads of Scientists: Metaphor and Public Sector Reform

Abstract

Abstract: Metaphors of business were endemic in the reform of the New Zealand public sector. Such metaphors have considerable potential consequences for control in the reformed organisations. The study focused on the new organisations created for state‐funded science in New Zealand, the Crown Research Institutes. Analysis of the metaphors that emerged during debates on the establishing legislation and in the Chairmen's reports for the first three years of operations showed that the key metaphors that emerged, while from within the business context, paper over the conflicts and ambiguities of the CRIs' task, and in the most positive case shift to a relational and caring image. The fragmented picture that emerges from the CRI documents points to many intriguing research questions about accountability, control and effectiveness in organisations that lie at the juncture of many boundaries.