ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the possibilities for developing a prescriptive direction in organization theory for the public sector. Political and administrative leaders can deliberately attempt to design their organizational culture. Such designs can have a more general objective, for example to establish and develop certain informal institutional norms in order to help show outwardly what the organization stands for. A design strategy presupposes that leaders have enough insight into the cultural changes needed, and also have at their disposal the means or devices, as well as the power, to carry them out. Cultural design strategies have been more common in private organizations than public organizations, yet with the New Public Management (NPM) movement, they have become central, partly through more use of private consulting firms. Related to the many post-NPM reforms efforts around the world after the turn of the millennium, there are also leaders trying to exaggerate the use of connected symbols.
