HKSAR government civil servants: a non-Drucker organisation?

摘要

Purpose - Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) was an influential modern management theorist. This paper,rnhowever, aims to challenge his diagnosis and prescriptions on the public sector for over-simplifyingrnseveral complex issues and not being sufficiently comprehensive. With the support of the empiricalrnfindings of a survey in the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSARG), thernauthors seek to supplement Drucker's discussion on government and to propose managerial actionsrnfor implementing change.rnDesign/methodology/approach - An e-mail questionnaire survey of 700 randomly selectedrngovernment employees in Hong Kong was conducted. Additional information was gathered fromrnsenior management to validate the survey results.rnFindings - In line with Drucker, HKSARG employees, as a whole, are reluctant to change. Butrnstatistical tests show that there are heterogeneous behavioural groups. Specifically, younger and morerneducated staff are more willing to change. The existence of these groups has both practical andrnmanagerial implications for implementing change.rnResearch limitations/implications - The usable sample is relatively small (n = 66).rnPractical implications - The government should not be viewed and understood unidirectionally.rnManagement should target the younger and more educated users first to build up sufficient user massrnand adopt peer pressure for a more successful level of implementation of IT usage across all staff. Jobrnrotation and flexible entry and exit options are worth considering, too.rnOriginality/value - This research validates empirically the nature of HKSARG. It demonstratesrnthat researchers' challenges to Drucker's views on government are well founded. More research on therncharacteristics of the public sector is required for better understanding of the real nature of these large,rnbureaucratic organisations.