The Modernization and Improvement of Government and Public Services: Turning Strategy into Practice: Organizational Development in the Modernization of Local Government

Abstract

Organizational development—measures to build the inherent and generic capacity of an organization—is an important, but neglected, aspect of the current debate on the joined-up modernization of public services. Where organizational development has featured in the debate, it has tended to focus on ‘what’ questions, rather than ‘how’ individual agencies can effect change in their organization. The author shows how organizational development could help local government in gearing up to meet the new challenges set by the Government's social agenda which centres on joining-up governance. He shares some practitioner experience on possible ways forward, and poses some questions for wider debate.