A Reflection on Cultural Change Processes for Public Sector Employees

Abstract

Since Internet invaded our everyday environment in the 1990s, public sector organizations have been pressed to adapt their management policies in order to develop a new conception of their relationships with other public and private institutions, with the citizens, and even with their own employees; as maintaining the traditional standards of bureaucratic behaviour is certainly anachronistic in today’s information society. In this respect, the implementation of a public culture that facilitates and promotes the acceptance of these new tools within the municipal organizations plays a crucial role in the subsequent quality of public services provided to the citizens. This new culture refers to the change in the organizational culture of the public sector toward a customer oriented approach, reinforcing values that provide effectiveness, orientation toward results and needs, receptivity and connectivity, openness and proactivity.