Affiliations: [a] TiasNimbas Business School, Public and Non-Profit
Department, Tilburg University and B&A; Consulting, The Netherlands.
E-mail: [email protected] | [b] Erasmus University Rotterdam, Faculty of Social
Sciences, Department of Public Administration and Ordina Public Management
Consulting, The Netherlands
Abstract: In this article we will explore the relation between ICT-innovations
and the culture of public administration. We will demonstrate that the
traditional bureaucratic organizational culture within the public sector often
hinders innovation. However, putting this aside, numerous innovations take
place within government organizations every day. This paradox leads us to two
related questions: How can it be that public innovation takes place even though
the culture of public administration makes it unlikely? And, is it possible to
develop a more innovative culture within public administration? Based on our
exploration we will provide some answers to both of these questions. We then
draw the conclusion that the relation between innovation and organizational
culture within the public sector is even more complicated than already
expected. There seems to be a specific reciprocity between organizational
culture and (ICT-) innovation. On the one hand, cultural change is to foster an
innovative climate and to bring about successful innovations. On the other
hand, successful innovation seems to lead to cultural changes in local
organizations. So in practice there is a kind of interplay, an iterative
process of mutual influence between innovation and cultural change that points
at innovations being successful if they co-evolve with the specific environment
in which they come about. With this conclusion we subscribe to Orlikowski's
viewpoint of the 'dialectic nature' of the interaction of technology with
organizations.
Keywords: ICT, public innovation, innovation practices, innovation climate, innovation paradigm, open innovation, experience innovation, context Based innovation, TRIZ
