This paper draws on the philosophy of social sciences to develop a framework that permits a critical analysis of management practice. It uses this framework to construct a taxonomy that enables the identification of the competing philosophical paradigms that underpin contending perspectives on...

Australia began a comprehensive process of federal civil service reform in the 1970s, culminating in the introduction of a set of ambitious administrative reforms in the 1980s. Faced with the challenges of reform implementation, the traditional approach to public management development in the...