Productive Resistance within the Korean Public Sector: Exploring Organisational Culture

Sunghee Park and Neil Lunt ()
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Sunghee Park: University of York
Neil Lunt: University of York

Public Organization Review, 2018, vol. 18, issue 3, No 1, 279-297

Abstract: Abstract The article examines how South Korean civil servants responded to the introduction of pay for performance. Drawing upon 31 in-depth interviews with career civil servants, it identifies what became known as 1/n, a form of ‘discreet resistance’ that emerged and evolved. The analytical framework allows productive resistance to be seen as ebbing and flowing during organisational change that sees institutionalisation, deinstitutionalisation and re-institutionalisation. In understanding the cultural context of organisational resistance the contribution is three-fold. First, a nuanced definition and understanding of productive resistance. Second, it argues that productive resistance must be seen as part of a process that does not simply reflect ‘offer and counter-offer’ within the change management process. Thirdly, it identifies differences within groups and sub-cultures concerning commitment towards resistance and how these fissures contribute towards change as new interpretive schemes and justifications are presented in light of policy reformulations.

Keywords: Culture; Productive resistance; Change management; South Korea; Confucian (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1007/s11115-017-0381-7

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