Bureaucracy and innovation

• Published in: Canadian Public Administration
• Main Author: Nixon, P.G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1987
• Subjects: Public Administration; Sociology and Political Science; eskimo*; inuit
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-7121.1987.tb00084.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1754-7121.1987.tb00084.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1754-7121.1987.tb00084.x

Abstract: As public bureaucracies have increasingly assumed responsibility for the satisfaction of human needs a logical adjunct is that they be innovative and creative in fulfilling these tasks. While the literature on conditions necessary for innovative behaviour in public organizations is slim, this paper suggests that such a list should recognize that innovation is most likely to occur when a government wants action for symbolic reasons but does not know or care about what sort. This might best be characterized as a policy of benign neglect, but for purposes of innovation it allows the policy implementators a free hand in developing programs to fit local conditions and circumstances. The dilemma or paradox here is that while this relationship is necessary for innovation to occur it contains within it the seeds of its undoing. Increasing political prominence of the activity in question, and the growing demand on public resources to fund it lead to greater public awareness of the policy area; interest among other bureaucratic actors in one's activities and often subsequent competition for policy primacy; bureaucratic expansion to accommodate this increased public and political interest; and given this, the necessity for greater external review of policy developments and expenditures ‐ all of which ultimately kills innovation. One of the best examples of this type of policy development is the federal government's experiments in designing “better” housing for Canadian Eskimo/Inuit peoples between 1953 and 1959. By the use of this case, the paper explores the innovative process in some detail, demonstrating the kind of creativity possible in public bureaucracies and the limits to such innovative activity once politicization of a policy field and bureaucratic growth occurs. Sommaire: Puisque les bureaucraties publiques ont assumé de plus en plus de responsabilités pour satisfaire aux besoins de l'humanité, un complément logique veut qu'elles soient innovatrices et créatives dans l'accomplissement de ces tâches. ...