Reforming Public Employment and Administration for Change Between Law and Management

Public sector management reform driving strategic and organizational change is leading public organizations to rediscover the role of public office as a vocation for developing effective and cultural changes and driving behaviors of public employees. The aim of this study is to elucidate that designing change within Italian public administration relies on public management reform driven by laws and regulations that have influenced the processes of change and the design of public employment relationships. In Italy, public sector reform processes tend to follow a juridical view for sustaining change leading to hybridization between traditional administrative culture and managerial culture. Public sector management reform following a legalistic perspective is leading to a process of change in which new values drawn from managerial principles and administrative principles drawn by law-based tradition and legalistic culture tend to emerge. The study relies on the analysis of literature on organizational change and human resources and considering some trends in the process of public sector reform within the Italian public administration.