Strategic change in Government Agencies influenced by Apollo and Zeus-two ‘Gods of Management’

Abstract

This paper argues that many Next Steps agencies have been forced to embark upon far reaching programmes of strategic change in an attempt to satisfy externally imposed demands for enhanced levels of efficiency and effectiveness. However, it would seem that the management of the entire change process has been problematic, and has been characterised by disintegration in the form of a series of disjointed organisational initiatives. Focusing upon the experience of one Next Steps agency, it is argued that a root cause of the problem may lie in a rigid adherence to an outmoded value system symbolised by allegiance to ‘Apollo’ the Greek god of order. Thus, to effect successful strategic change within government agencies it is suggested that they must, in the first instance, seek to foster allegiance to a new and more dynamic figure in the form of the Greek god ‘Zeus’.