P26 Reform for What and for Whom? From Efficiency/Effectiveness to Adaptability, Innovation and Well-Being

Panel Member(s) & Contact Details

Robert Shepherd (Carleton). Email: RobertPShepherd@Cunet.Carleton.Ca

Sorin Dan (Vaasa)

Tom Karlsson (Gothenburg)

Evert Lindquist (Victoria)

Summary

This panel explores how public sector reform can move beyond efficiency-driven agendas to embrace goals of well-being, resilience, and adaptive capacity in response to growing global turbulence. It invites contributions that examine how reform is institutionalized, evaluated, and governed across different administrative traditions, emphasizing strategic adaptability and public trust. The panel seeks both theoretical and empirical work that investigates reform processes, enabling functions, and organizational learning in complex and dynamic governance environments.

Description

In an era marked by political turbulence, societal disruption, and compounding global crises, administrative and organizational adaptability is no longer optional – it is imperative (Ansell et al, 2025). Conventional reform agendas focused on cost-cutting, bureaucratic reduction, and process streamlining have dominated current debates. However, these approaches frequently overlook the institutional robustness needed to manage complexity, respond swiftly to crises, and ensure that governments engage reforms with multiple aims, including to improve revenue generation, jurisdictional collaboration, and public service implementation (Boin and t’Hart, 2022; Nolan, 2001).

In this panel, we continue the discussion from IRSPM 2025, Panel P-19: 'Where to begin?', exploring how contemporary reform initiatives are being reoriented toward well-being, resilience, and adaptive capacity goals. Although the reform literature often addresses efficiency and service delivery (Curristine et al., 2008), this panel addresses a deeper question: reform for what, and for whom? What innovations are needed to engage with effective reform processes in times of high turbulence?

This panel examines how normative goals are integrated into the design and governance of public sector reform processes and what this means for future public administration research as it engages with the practitioner community (Torfing and Triantafillou, 2022). It emphasizes administrative and organizational adaptability as a strategic competence to respond to external and internal pressure, preserve accountability for outcomes, and restore public trust in government.

Empirical and theoretical contributions are welcome, as are innovative methodological approaches that can help operationalize or evaluate public sector reform designs and processes. We invite contributions that:

• Examine how reform has been institutionalized in different countries or administrative traditions, and what lessons can be drawn from comparative cases.
• Propose conceptual or empirical frameworks for evaluating reform in public sector settings, including well-being approaches.
• Examine or evaluate the use of enabling functions such as budgeting, performance measurement, evaluation and strategic planning in reform processes.
• Assess how organizations adapt, learn and innovate while undergoing reforms, including through centralized or decentralized structures, relational or engagement approaches, and respond to political and senior management pressures.

Relevance

This panel supports the 2026 conference theme, "Beyond Boundaries: Wellbeing, Innovation and the Future of Public Management", by positioning innovation and adaptability as core elements of effective reform. It highlights how administrative reform is essential to ensure public institutions' continuity, legitimacy, and responsiveness in times of turbulence.

By linking innovation and adaptability with broader agendas of public administration reform, the panel moves beyond conventional performance frameworks to address the strategic conditions and capacities that enable public organizations to adapt, learn, and deliver value in uncertain environments. It encourages reflection on how innovation and adaptability can be institutionalized operationally within reform designs.

Through its comparative and interdisciplinary orientation, the panel fosters dialogue across contexts, administrative levels, and scholarly traditions. It aims to generate actionable insights into how reform can be designed not only for efficiency but also for long-term institutional strength in the service of public purpose.