Risk Management and Public Service Reform

School education reform is a dynamic process. It takes place in the context of changing institutional structures including society, economy, politics, legislation, and technology. Yet, there can be poor awareness of risk, particularly social risk, and its management during this process and more widely, during public service reform (PSR). This book aims to promote new PSR understanding about social risk management. It utilizes in-depth case studies comprising two anonymous Scottish councils responsible for providing and reforming school education services.

Drawing mainly on risk management and structuration theories with elements of complexity leadership and institutional theories, the book explains contextual issues around the reform of Scottish school education services (SSES). It illustrates that social risks associated with reform can be used to explain emerging threats. Furthermore, it demonstrates that agent-structure duality may be instrumental to the production and management of social risks. The book also shows how the concept of social risk can be used to improve policy making and implementation. Targeted at practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and students, this book will be of interest to those in the fields of public administration, public service management, and risk management more generally.