The Changing Nature of Scientific Organisation

Abstract

This book is about change and specifically, the wide-ranging changes experienced by Government Research Establishments (GREs) in the United Kingdom (UK). During the last two decades, the GREs in the UK have been subjected to a process of rapid policy initiated transformation, the dimensions and social consequences of which are still largely unclear. The concept of public administration driving this process of change has been New Public Management (NPM). The NPM underpinning this transformation reflects the fact that it is an integral part of a broader transformation process encompassing the nature and organisation of government, the institutions of science and their relationships with the state, and industry, the practices of scientists, the nature of scientific enquiry, and the concepts of what is science and what is deemed at particular points in time to be ‘good’ science.