A perspective on organizational decline in the public sector: A case study

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on organizational decline among public sector agencies with particular emphasis on the causes which intensify this decline. The paper employs resource dependence theory to explain the way over-dependence relationships involving governments and their organization likely intensifies organizational decline conditions. The author analyses the causes of prolonged decline in the Israeli firefighting services. The findings show how weaknesses in the implementation of government policy, deliberate and ongoing disdain of recommendations and critique from the state comptroller and a systematic reduction in budgets intensified organizational decline. The conclusions underscore the insight that effective measures to prevent or remedy organizational decline in the public setting require prior identification and understanding of its major causes.

IMPACT

This paper, by explaining the causes of a prolonged decline in the Israeli firefighting services, provides managers and policy-makers with important insights and valuable lessons. First, over-dependence relationships involving governments and their organizations intensified organizational decline conditions. While public sector organizations perform in a world of resource dependence, managerial strategy should recognize the nature of the organization’s dependence on the environment. Second, the paper discusses the important topic of the organizational life-cycle by focusing on the crucial stage of organizational decline that most, if not all, organizations experience. Adopting a proactive organizational approach by incorporating an organizational life-cycle model into a management strategy may provide a road map that will identify critical decline conditions and the appropriate responses, formalize organizational procedures and systems, and revise organizational priorities. Leaders need to recognize when to change past strategies or practices while they face organizational decline conditions. This kind of reflection-on-action is an important opportunity for learning and development—both for those who manage organizations and those who study them.

KEYWORDS:

• Firefighters
• Israel
• organizational decline
• organizational life-cycle
• public policy
• resource dependence theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).