| Abstract: | The success of developing countries in fostering administrative change has not been commensurate with their intensive efforts and investments. Causes and effect of the slow progress of change elude and even bewilder scholars and practitioners alike. Based on experiences from the Arab world, this study proposes modifications in organizational processes and behaviour to balance the traditional, one-directional policies of administrative change. When change originates outside the organization or at its very top, and is communicated downwards by decree or edict, three important elements are inevitably absent: employee involvement, effective incentive systems, and appropriate methods of evaluation. Public managers in various Arab countries express preference for jobs that allow them, as managers, to utilize their knowledge and skills, and which do not reduce them to mere executioners of higher commands. Comparing this group with a similar group of American managers reveals managerial characteristics of particular pertinence to administrative change. |
