Worrying About Misconduct : The Control Lobby and the PS 2000 Reforms

In 1989 the Canadian government announced a plan to reform the federal public service that would reduce the number of rules imposed on line managers and promote a "results-oriented, entrepreneurial" culture. Public discussion about the reforms was dominated by a community of groups and individuals which the author characterizes as a "control lobby." Constituents of the control lobby worried that the proposed reforms would undermine parliamentary control over the public service and increase bureaucratic misconduct. The lobby slowed implementation of, and caused modifications to, institutional reforms, and undercut efforts at culture change. The attention that it gave to incidents of perceived misconduct may also have reinforced popular beliefs about the dangers of reform. The paper describes the key members of the control lobby, their reaction to the PS 2000 reforms, and attempts by reform leaders to respond to their concerns. It suggests that a major weakness of the PS 2000 initiative was its failure to anticipate, and craft a response to worries expressed by the control lobby