The Role of Organizational Culture in Innovative Changes of Public Administration

This paper outlines the role of organizational culture in the process of introducing e-learning in public administration. The relationship between innovations and performances of public administration is the subject of numerous theoretical views. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of organizational culture in the implementation of e-learning as an innovative technique in local governments in Montenegro. The research method is qualitative research in focus groups conducted for the implementation of e-learning as an innovative learning method. Data collection is based on semi-structured interviews, observations of stakeholders’ representatives and diagnostic workshop with the representatives of local government. The obtained results show that there is a high resistance to the changes in the organizational culture of public administration. The representatives of stakeholders usually evaluated organizational structure as ‘good’, but not ready to support innovation in the application of ICT technology. The research showed that despite need for the introduction of elearning participants cannot make decisions independently, because decision-making is strictly centralized and participation of employees in implementation of changes very little. The research showed that bureaucratic culture is represented in public administration and that it is based on a large number of procedures, hierarchy and formalization. The consequence of it is certain unwillingness for accepting changes despite the necessity of implementation of new technologies such as e-learning.