Public Servants in Reflection

Abstract

The emergence of New Public Management (NPM) and its reframing of the role of government contributed to the interest in identity within organization studies, management, and public administration from the 1990s onward. To date, more attention has been paid to how these changes have affected the identity of those targeted by public services than those involved in policy or service delivery. And yet, this trend has also had complex implications for public servants, and their understanding of themselves at work (self-identity), by introducing assumptions, priorities, values, and practices largely drawn from the private sector and at odds with a traditional public service ethos. Such macro-level..