The Reinvention Game

The National Performance Review (NPR) can be analyzed in terms of its ostensible purpose of making government "work better and cost less," or it can be looked at in terms of the tactical opportunities it presents to actors in multiple arenas. Tactical maneuvers relating to NPR are apparent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public administration review 1996-05, Vol.56 (3), p.291-298
Main Authors: Thompson, James R., Ingraham, Patricia W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
"Reinventing" Public Administration
9190
9550
Administrative agencies
Analysis
Assessment
Changes
Civil service reform
Cost control
Delegation of authority
Executive branch
Factors
Failure
Federal government
Federal Programs
Government
Government (Administrative Body)
Government agencies
Government budgets
Government bureaucracy
Governmental reform
Health care policy
Innovation
Investigations
Laboratories
Management
Organization theory
Organizational change
Organizational structure
Personnel Management
Political behavior
Political behaviour
Political influences
Politics
Power Structure
Procurement
Program Termination
Public administration
Public sector organizations
Recommendations
Reforms
Reorganization
U.S.A
USA
Waivers
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Summary:The National Performance Review (NPR) can be analyzed in terms of its ostensible purpose of making government "work better and cost less," or it can be looked at in terms of the tactical opportunities it presents to actors in multiple arenas. Tactical maneuvers relating to NPR are apparent in the political strategies of the Clinton administration, in the attempted shift in power from the legislative to the executive branch of of government, and in the role of the central staff agencies in the executive branch. The authors present the results of their investigation into the reinvention labs that have been established in federal agencies and into the organizational politics that accompany these attempts at innovation. Their findings show the extent to which the outcomes of organizational change processes are a function of the self-interested behaviors of individuals and they confirm the value of political models for understanding organizational change processes.
ISSN:0033-3352
1540-6210
DOI:10.2307/976453