Scientist, Politician, and Bureaucrat Subcultures as Barriers to Information-Sharing in Government Agencies

This paper is based on an exploratory, interdisciplinary study of issues related to information-sharing within and across three public agencies. We build on Schein’s (1996) work to identify three subcultures within the public sector (bureaucrat, politician and scientist).. We propose four types of systems (social, constituency, technical and organizational) related to the information and decision-making needs and processes within subcultures. We use two cases from the study to illustrate some key points about information-sharing across sub-cultures, and close with four challenges in need of further study to enhance the abilities within the public sector to appropriately and effectively share information.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: DGO
• Authors: David B. Drake, Marianne J. Koch, Nicole Steckler
• Keywords: DGO 2003, DGO 2007, Interdisciplinary Study, Public Agencies, Public Sector