Introduction of efficiencies, rationalization of services and properties, and increased responsiveness to customer service priorities all give rise to the need for organizational change. How to achieve cultural change is perhaps the biggest challenge for decision-makers, whether in the private or public sector. The pace of technological, economic and commercial change forces organizations to respond rapidly, sometimes by the implementation of radical re-structuring and cost reduction programs. Unless this change is accompanied by deep cultural change programs, it is unlikely to improve performance.
Many public sector organizations have traditionally been organized on a service by service basis. Once processes are organized around the needs of the customer, it becomes more important for service lines to work together. For example, to date there has been limited co-ordination at a local level in the UK between the National Health Service and the Social Services departments of local authorities, despite the fact that both may service the needs of the same individuals. Increasingly there is a need for social services and health to be organized therefore as an integrated service. Similarly in local authorities, the property department has typically been organized as a standalone entity, with little connection to the front-line services departments. Increasingly public sector organizations are confronting the need to organize their property portfolios to respond to rapidly changing service needs.
