This Insight focuses on the topic of organisational culture change in the public sector. In light of the financial, demographic and operational challenges that Scotland’s public sector currently faces, there has, perhaps, never been a greater need for better accountability of, respect for and reflection on, organisational cultures. The Christie Commission report calls for major changes in the way public services are delivered, stating that ‘Unless Scotland embraces a radical, new, collaborative culture throughout public services, both budgets and provision will buckle under the strain’ (2010, pviii). It stresses the need for public sector bodies to be built around people and communities, and work together to achieve better outcomes for those that use services.
This Insight will examine definitions and approaches to organisational culture and how they relate to the public sector; the type of change that identifies as cultural; what the enablers are to culture change; and describe some of the challenges to changing cultures in the public sector. For the purposes of eliciting some of the generic characteristics of how culture change unfolds in an organisation, the review examines the Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) Highland pathfinder case study.