ABSTRACT
In rounding off the survey of knowledge about administrative reform, it only remains to add that slowly the quintessence of administrative reform is coming into view. It is not possible to evolve a theory of administrative reform until a universally accepted definition exists, but it is possible to speculate and hypothesize about its nature even before there is general consensus about its meaning and while the field is novel and confused. A different approach would be to search for the common qualities of administrative reformers. In the absence of such an invention, individuals and organizations troubled by maladministration turn to advisers or consultants whose knowledge and experience of similar administrative failings elsewhere and of administrative processes in general they believe qualify them to diagnose and select the optimum strategy. As knowledge about administrative reform expands, so the indices of relevance and evaluations of importance may change.
