Reflecting on Management Change in the UK Public Sector: Was it all Worth it?

Hyndman, Noel; Liguori, Mariannunziata

Abstract

Over almost three decades, central governments in many countries have engaged in reforms aimed at improving public-sector practices, with a main area of change involving accounting processes. Such changes (particularly with respect to financial accounting, budgeting and performance management) are often introduced with claims that they will support government, at any level, in becoming ‘modern’ and ‘business-like’. A major argument for their introduction is that these ‘new’ accounting tools will provide better information for decision making and control, and this is often linked to the assumed achievement of a more-effective, more-efficient, and more-accountable public sector. Focusing on the main accounting changes that have occurred in the UK public sector over the last 30 years, this chapter examines their effects and consequences. Using ideas rooted in the New Public Management literature, ideas emanating from institutional theory, and contemporary research, the chapter considers the impact of these accounting changes, and the reasons they are still popular after years of implementation and empirical evidence suggesting they do not always work as intended. While some evidence of radical change is found (where accounting systems and staff thinking have changed because of the new tools’ introduction), frequently, accounting modifications have resulted in a changed architecture of accounting, but limited use, and understanding, of this new, ‘better’, ‘modern’ information. This has led to some dysfunctional (often unintended) consequences. The time has perhaps arrived to ask: was it all worth it?

Citation

Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2024). Reflecting on Management Change in the UK Public Sector: Was it all Worth it?. In I. Lapsley, & P. Miller (Eds.), The Resilience of New Public Management (317-344). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198883814.003.0014

• Acceptance Date: Jun 1, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Feb 6, 2024
• Publication Date: Feb 6, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jan 26, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 7, 2026
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: 317-344
• Book Title: The Resilience of New Public Management
• Chapter Number: 14
• ISBN: 9780198883814
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198883814.003.0014
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1643211