Davis G, Weller P, Craswell E, Eggins SPublic Administration, (UK), 1999 Vol 77 No 1

Start page: 7. No of pages: 44.

Analyses how the structure of government has been changed in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom over the past thirty years, focusing on the changes made to departmental structures. Examines three major influences on the departments – the parties in government, prime ministers in office and the electoral cycle. Searches for the principles that underpin the organization of government departments, reviewing the rationales that have been set out for the change. Concludes that shape of government departments is a product of prime ministerial interests, pressing policy issues and administrative convenience – the decision based on the need to ‘satisfy’ rather than first principles. Sets out the conditions that explain the patterns of change within government.

Subject(s): CENTRAL GOVERNMENT, GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS, ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE, UNITED KINGDOM, AUSTRALIA, CANADA

Database: TMA: Top Management Abstracts

Style: Theoretical with application in practice

ISSN: 0033-3298. Reference: 28AR218

Reproduced by permission of Anbar Management Intelligence http://www.anbar.co.uk/management/home.htm

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