The public manager, the structure of public institution, and implementation: the 2002–2012 Finnish senior bureaucratic manager reform

Abstract

Public management and administration today is about crafting, structuring and instituting. Structuration is a very integral part of all organisations. Unlike the gradualist approach, structural reform transforms the dominant system touching on main elements. Structural reform had largely come and gone without necessarily touching on some public administrations and their core elements. Interviews were conducted for 37 interviewees believed to belong to the policy and implementation network. Characteristically, the structures stand very tall and hierarchically, instituting traditional top-down directives bereft of crafting. Management and managing failed to be understood and actively played. Consequently, structure and capacity remain non-aligned; and implementation is negatively affected as the reform context and management are poorly defined. With managerial leadership responsibilities shirked, silo-slabs systems have become the modern features of organisational gridlocks; thus, increasing manager incompetence.