Implications of new public management and modernization on control

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of new public management and modernization reform policies on control in the probation service. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes interpretivist, qualitative approach. It is based on ethnographic data, collected over a one‐year period in an English regional probation service. In the course of the fieldwork, 45 employees were interviewed. Data were also collected through participant observation and analysis of formal documents. Findings – The paper suggests that new public management and modernization reform policies are interpreted by organizational actors as control mechanisms per se . Originality/value – Findings can be relevant for understanding the “control” side of the reform policies in the public sector. To date those policies have been mainly considered as driven by change rather than by control.