Paradoxical Processes Impeding Public Management Reform Implementation: Perspectives of Management Consultants

• Author: Shani Kuna
• Published date: 01 June 2017
• Date: 01 June 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0091026017709826
• Subject Matter: Articles

709826PPMXXX10.1177/0091026017709826Public Personnel ManagementKuna
research-article2017
Article
Public Personnel Management
2017, Vol. 46(2) 188 –207
Paradoxical Processes
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https://doi.org/10.1177/0091026017709826
DOI: 10.1177/0091026017709826
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Reform Implementation:
Perspectives of Management
Consultants
Shani Kuna1
Abstract
While the literature highlights the complexity of new public management (NPM) reform
implementation, relatively little is known about these processes from the perspective
of management consultants. Based on two complementary approaches, change
management theory and paradox theory, this exploratory study seeks to understand the
role of management consultants in identifying impediments to reform implementation
and their potential contribution to addressing implementation challenges. In-depth
interviews were conducted with external management consultants specializing in public
management reform implementation in Israel. The findings expose the paradoxical nature
of the cycles which emerge, as new practices of efficiency implemented under NPM
generate counter-practices of deficiency. Management consultants assist public managers
in acquiring leadership skills for managing paradoxes. The study may contribute to our
understanding of why reforms often fail and how public managers can confront such
challenges. Theoretical insights and practical implications are discussed.
Keywords
public management reforms, implementation processes, management consultants,
paradox, efficiency, deficiency
Introduction
In time most management practices create their own nemesis.
—Clegg, da Cuhna, and e Cuhna (2002, p. 491)
1Sapir Academic College, Hof Ashkelon, Israel
Corresponding Author:
Shani Kuna, Sapir Academic College, Hof Ashkelon 7915600, Israel.
Email: shanik@mail.sapir.ac.il

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Kuna
189
New public management (NPM) reform aims at promoting the efficiency and effec-
tiveness of public-sector organizations (Aucoin, 1990; Hood, 1991). Numerous pub-
lic-sector organizations worldwide have adopted the concept and have implemented
various organizational practices associated with this reform. Ample research has been
generated, offering theoretical insights and indicating practical challenges for NPM
(Hall & Holt, 2008; Joyce, 2000; Pollitt, 2000, 2013; Pollitt & Bouckaert, 2011). In
spite of the support for NPM (Kelman, 2005), it has also drawn much criticism
(Diefenbach, 2009), because the improvements expected from implementing reform
have been accompanied at times by unforeseen negative organizational consequences
(Adcroft & Willis, 2005; Bevan & Hood, 2006; Chandler, Barry, & Clark, 2002;
Noblet, Rodwell, & McWilliams, 2006; Weibel, Rost, & Osterloh, 2010).
In the debate regarding the success of NPM, one conclusion clearly emerges: NPM
processes are intricate, long, and costly. While highlighting the complexity of reform
implementation in the public sector (Azzone & Palermo, 2011; Battaglio & Condrey,
2009; Campbell, 2015; Giauque, 2015), the public management literature neglects a
vital viewpoint: relatively little is known about these longitudinal processes from the
perspective of a set of key organizational actors—management consultants, who are
often involved in reform implementation. This exploratory study seeks to understand
the role of management consultants in identifying impediments to public management
reform implementation and their potential contribution to addressing implementation
challenges confronted by public managers.
This article is organized as follows. “Reform Implementation Processes” section
presents the problem of study, the research questions, and the research context.
“Theoretical Framework” section outlines a theoretical framework for deciphering the
organizational phenomena described by the study participants, and “Method” section
outlines our methodology. In the next section, we present our findings—a description
of four organizational levels of paradoxical cycles, which impede public management
reform implementation—followed by a section which presents an account of manage-
ment consultants’ aid to public managers confronting paradox. The article concludes
with a discussion offering theoretical considerations and practical implications.
Reform Implementation Processes
As more and more studies stress the importance of recognizing barriers to successful
organizational change in the public sector (McNulty & Ferlie, 2004), the time may have
come to shift the focus to the process of implementation. Implementing public manage-
ment reform is undoubtedly challenging when one considers the typical forces affecting
change described in Pollitt and Bouckaert’s (2011) model of public management reform:
socioeconomic forces, political system characteristics, elite decision-making tendencies,
chance events, and administrative system characteristics. Given these forces, it is unsur-
prising that public managers encounter notable difficulties in change processes, includ-
ing issues of trust (Boateng & Cox, 2016) and motivation (Bright, 2013), sensitive group
dynamics (Hossan, Dixon, & Brown, 2013), resistance to change (Vann, 2004), and
structural factors (van der Voet, 2014; Wright & Pandey, 2010), to name but a few.

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Public Personnel Management 46(2)
Despite awareness of the high failure rate of transformation efforts (Kotter, 1995)
and of the significant intricacy of reform implementation processes (Lindquist, 2006),
the literature on longitudinal change management in the public sector has been rela-
tively sparse (Fernandez & Rainey, 2006; Kuipers et al., 2014). The extensive review
of Kuipers and his colleagues (2014) finds that what is needed in particular are in-
depth empirical studies which “provide details of change interventions and the roles
and behaviors of those involved in change processes” (p. 16). Specifically, these
authors encourage studies that include a practitioner perspective. Experienced man-
agement consultants who specialize in assisting change processes in public-sector ini-
tiatives may be an important source of such detailed knowledge (Laurence, 2008).
Management consulting is a widespread global practice (Sturdy, Handley, Clark, &
Fincham, 2009). The bulk of the management consulting literature, however, has
tended to concentrate on the private sector (Coram & Burnes, 2001), despite the con-
siderable difference between change processes in the two sectors (Boss, Dunford,
Boss, & McConkie, 2010; Boyne, 2002; Carter, 2008; Scala, Stadlober, & Fiby, 2011).
Apparently, there is a pressing need for distinct evidence-based consulting knowledge
about public management reform implementation processes.
This exploratory study seeks to address this knowledge gap by understanding the
role of external management consultants in identifying impediments to reform imple-
mentation and their potential contribution to addressing implementation challenges
confronted by their clients, public managers. The main research questions of this study
are as follows:
Research Question 1: Which organizational phenomena do management consul-
tants in the public sector identify as impeding public management reform imple-
mentation processes?
Research Question 2: Consequently, how do management consultants assist pub-
lic managers in addressing these implementation challenges?
The Research Context: The Israeli Public Sector
The study is based on interviews with external management consultants regarding
their involvement in public management reform implementation processes in Israel.
Various reforms have been implemented in the State of Israel since the mid-1990s in a
unique social, ideological, and economic context. As implementing NPM practices at
the micro-organizational level in the Israeli public sector has proved to be challenging,
this context is highly suitable for learning about organizational impediments emerging
in these processes.
Since its creation, the Israeli bureaucracy has been characterized by centralized
organization (Maor, 2002). Revolts against the bureaucracy in the late 1980s were fol-
lowed by various changes during the mid-1990s, including privatization, contracting
out, and deregulation. Various factors have been associated with the slow and unsys-
tematic pace of reform implementation in Israel, including weak political support,
weak public encouragement, and active resistance from labor unions (Galnoor, 2010).

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Several analyses describe the complexity of implementing NPM in Israel, as well as
the discrepancies between the anticipated and actual results of reforms in local govern-
ment, the education system (Berkovitz, 2011), and health care (Chinitz, Meislin, &
Alster-Grau, 2009; Gross, 2003; Horev & Babad, 2005). In addition, the Israeli admin-
istrative culture is characterized by a relatively high level of politicization (Maor,
2002), and in Israeli political culture, coping is more important than problem solving
(Sharkansky, 2002).
Consequently, NPM in Israel has progressed sporadically, following an incremental
and discontinuous pattern rather than a planned and systematic one. Maor’s (2002)
expectation has proved to be correct: Different parts of the Israeli administrative system
have moved and are still moving in different directions. While some public-sector orga-
nizations aspire to follow the NPM model, others remain...