Public management and organizational autonomy: the continuing relevance of significant earlier knowledge

Abstract

A key theme of recent reforms in public management in various countries is the perceived need for many organizations in government to have a degree of legal and operational autonomy. In studying this and other aspects of the reforms, there is considerable merit in examining how the underlying ideas have been explored in earlier works. In this article, we argue that this is particularly relevant to the current interest in organizational autonomy. Pertinent ideas, issues and concerns were addressed several decades ago by scholars such as Macmahon, Seidman, Selznick and Follett. The contributions of these scholars have continuing analytical value and deserve to be revisited.