5: Structure and Culture

In this chapter the theme of power is explored through the dual lens of organisational structure and culture.

There are many ways in which the structure of the public organisation is significant in understanding the exercise of power. Structures exist at both the internal level of the individual organisation and within the wider structures of the public sector as a whole. Structures may be created to reinforce the control of those in change, particularly through highly formalised and hierarchical structural arrangements. In contrast, structures may be relatively decentralised, and reporting relationships short and simple, with a lateral rather than steeply vertical management architecture. Differences in structure also have implications for other aspects of organisational life: for example, structure impacts on the culture of the workplace and on patterns of communication (which different structures may propel in vertical or horizontal directions). Public organisations have normally been characterised by bureaucratic structures, defined by rules, roles and process. Bureaucracy provided the ideal-type modernist structure for public organisations in urban societies as alongside its rational nature it provided the means for formal accountability to political decision-makers and transparency in the stewardship of public money.