TY - JOUR

T1 - Managing from the inside out: drawing on 'receptivity' to explain variation in strategy implementation

AU - Butler, Michael J.R.

PY - 2003/12/1

Y1 - 2003/12/1

N2 - With the rise of 'New Public Management' (NPM), government policy has encouraged public-sector organizations to downsize and outsource their services. There is, however, local variation in the use of outsourcing - this is 'managing from the inside out'. This paper draws on the notion of receptivity for organizational change to explain variation in strategy implementation. Four receptivity factors are identified which seem to explain the success of two contrasting English local government outsourcing strategies: ideological vision, leading change, institutional politics and implementation capacity. The organization level of change is interconnected with two other levels of change (the public service and environment levels) to illustrate the dynamic nature of change.

AB - With the rise of 'New Public Management' (NPM), government policy has encouraged public-sector organizations to downsize and outsource their services. There is, however, local variation in the use of outsourcing - this is 'managing from the inside out'. This paper draws on the notion of receptivity for organizational change to explain variation in strategy implementation. Four receptivity factors are identified which seem to explain the success of two contrasting English local government outsourcing strategies: ideological vision, leading change, institutional politics and implementation capacity. The organization level of change is interconnected with two other levels of change (the public service and environment levels) to illustrate the dynamic nature of change.

KW - New Public Management

KW - government policy

KW - public-sector organizations

KW - downsize

KW - outsource

KW - services

KW - English local government

KW - outsourcing strategies

KW - ideological vision

KW - leading change

KW - institutional politics

KW - implementation capacity

U2 - 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2003.00392.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2003.00392.x

M3 - Article

VL - 14

SP - S47-S60

JO - British Journal of Management

JF - British Journal of Management

SN - 1045-3172

IS - S1

ER -