New Public Services – New Public Servants? Managing Cultures and Identities in Transformation

Abstract

This paper investigates the interdependence between organizational forms and the identities of
managers and front line personnel of government services. We present a model we call “cultural alternatives
of action” of four different identity types and how these comply with four organizational types (forms
of bureaucracy). We elaborate on what kind of identity is best suited to the culture of the emerging “new”
forms of bureaucracy and we indicate the possibility of a fifth type of bureaucracy. This is an organizational
form that combines innovation, participation and professional pride.