Value Conflicts in Public Organizations: Implications and remedies

Abstract

The public sector and all its entities are characterized by a plurality of values. As a result, public service professionals and public managers often find themselves in situations where different conceptions of what is deemed desirable conflict with one another and render a singular, unambiguous path to better performance a hallucination. This chapter reviews research on value conflicts in public organizations to offer three contributions. First, it identifies the consequences of value conflicts on professionals’ attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Second, the chapter discusses how individual service professionals and public managers can address value conflicts in organizational contexts. Third, and finally, the chapter outlines a series of critical questions on the antecedents and consequences of value conflicts the current literature has yet to address.