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Public Servants in Reflection

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The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant

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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 changes have created potential contradictions for public servant identity but also arguably introduced a range of new resources that could be mobilized in their identity work – the processes with which individuals construct, maintain, or change a sense of self-understanding. This chapter explores these issues focusing on three main points: evidence about the extent and nature of identity-related change at an individual level; the interaction with professional and occupational identity; and how individuals construct the identities of the organizations in which they work. These themes can be used to inform future research on the evolution of public servant identity in the context of the current shift to New Public Governance (NPG).

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    Author information

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Managing and Marketing, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

      Susan Ainsworth

    2. School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

      Peter Ghin

    Authors
    1. Susan Ainsworth
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    2. Peter Ghin
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    Correspondence to Susan Ainsworth .

    Editor information

    Editors and Affiliations

    1. Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

      Helen Sullivan

    2. Public Service Research Group, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Canberra, ACT, Australia

      Helen Dickinson

    3. Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

      Hayley Henderson

    Section Editor information

    1. The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

      Janine O’Flynn

    2. Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

      Janine O’Flynn

    3. Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, Carlton, Australia

      Avery Poole

    4. The Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG), Carlton, Australia

      Avery Poole

    5. Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG), Carlton, Australia

      Patrick Lucas

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    Ainsworth, S., Ghin, P. (2021). Public Servants in Reflection. In: Sullivan, H., Dickinson, H., Henderson, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29980-4_88

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