Resumen de Organisational Innovation in Bureaucracies: an Impossible Mission?
Carlos Gómez Muñoz, Ana Moreno Romero
Organisational innovation can be one of the levers for implementing better management practices in the public sector. However, this innovation needs to be examined in the light of the complexity, as this is a main feature of public policies, as well as of the public sector organisations that deal with them. To address that complexity, this research uses the conceptual framework developed by Frédéric Laloux in his investigation about ‘Teal’ organisations, connecting it to the theoretical background on the application of complexity theory to organisation studies and public management.
The main goal of the research is then to identify and analyse, according to the ‘Teal’ organisations framework, experiences of organisational innovation in European public administrations. For this analysis, the organisational structure, human resources processes and daily practices (routines spread over the organisation incorporating values and policies) are examined, together with the conditions for the emergence of these initiatives, the key elements for their sustainability, and their effect on the performance of the organisation.
The research uses the case study as research strategy, identifying four cases where different forms of organisational innovation are being implemented: the Belgian Federal Public Service of Social Security, the Municipal Music Conservatory of Barcelona, the A.2 unit of the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (EASME) of the European Commission and the European Court of Auditors.
Even though the sample of cases is too small to draw general conclusions, the findings show that innovation in organisational practices in the public sector is not only possible, but it is happening. By comparing these four cases, the research finds some common patterns that could be used as a reference by public sector practitioners concerned with introducing new ways of working in their organisations
