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Enrique Claver: Department of Business Management, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
Juan Llopis: Department of Business Management, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
Jose L. Gasco: Department of Business Management, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
Hipolito Molina: Department of Business Management, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
Francisco J. Conca: Department of Business Management, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
Characteristics of organizational culture and its feasibility in public administration
The first issue that we must clarify is that public administration of each country has a number of specific features as regards "the way things are done", which differs from one country to another. Also, within each administration there are plenty of agencies with their own peculiar characteristics: local, provincial or regional, national and even transnational agencies. Furthermore, should this not be enough, within these agencies independent bodies operate; for example, within a local administration there exists a police department, a fire brigade, council rates collection, sports, town planning departments, etc. with their own idiosyncrasies.
All these subdivisions make it a complex task to study the characteristics, role and changes in organizational culture in public administration from a general point of view. The results of these analyses in private, or even in state-owned corporations, are only partly applicable concerning methodology and the study of shared values.
Moreover, Sinclair (1989) admits that, due to the separation between the management (public officials) and control (politicians and those making public decisions), public organizations are very sensitive to the changes in political influence, for both the objectives and the measurement of efficiency are unstable and short-term. Similarly, Rainey et al. (1976) came to the conclusion that public organizations have less autonomy and flexibility at decision making than private corporations.
Despite all these peculiarities, it is possible to analyse how to improve working habits and the results of different public administrations by approaching the culture of these bodies. In this line of thought, we agree with Maynard-Moody et al. (1986) and Newman (1994), in that the reorganization of a department or section of a public agency is not merely a technical issue of organizational design, with the best qualified people; it is also a matter of social interventions, which change depending on the assumptions that are shared.
Therefore, if we define corporate culture...