Exploring organisational transformation as a sustaining strategy for Design-led Policy and Public Sector Innovation labs: a case study on Ze

Abstract

Today, governments face increasingly complex challenges and growing demands from citizens for meaningful involvement in policy and public service development. However, due to their bureaucratic and risk-averse nature, governments are ill-equipped to tackle these challenges successfully. As a means to enhance their capabilities, governments have launched design-led Policy and Public Sector Innovation (PPSI) labs, which are small multi-disciplinary teams operating as semi-autonomous units that apply design-led and participatory approaches to policy preparation and execution to help governments innovate.

Despite the positive effects and global traction PPSI labs have gained, one of their main challenges in achieving their intended objectives is their short-lived nature. Many labs are set up as experimental structures and rarely sustain beyond the pilot stage. They depend on government funding for their operations, which is often lost in periods of political fluctuation. This thesis aims to complement the literature on PPSI labs, by exploring to what extent transformation can help labs overcome their bottlenecks and extend their operational lifetime to fulfil their promises.

Through an exploratory case study research on Zet, a PPSI lab in the Netherlands undergoing a transformation from government-enabled to independently-run, this thesis investigates how organisational transformation can act as a sustaining strategy. Informed by practitioner perspectives, the research found what this transition implies in practice and documented the sustaining potential of lab transformation. The empirical case study includes interviews (13) with an informant, semi-structured interviews (16) with internal and external stakeholders to Zet, and workshops (2) with employees.

The main findings of this study suggest that organisational transformation from government-enabled to independently-run can enhance lab resilience, especially in the context of subsidiary budget cuts. The thesis concludes that transformation can act as a sustaining strategy under certain circumstances. Furthermore, the thesis provides insight into what a lab needs to do to realise this transition and how this transition affects everyday lab operations. Specifically, the study identified three transformation dynamics and three prerequisites for change. This knowledge will be helpful for other PPSI labs to consider if transformation could sustain their operations, and for PPSI lab founders who want to help labs move beyond the pilot stage.