'Practicing alchemy': implementing reform in Victorian local government

This study provides insights into knowledge transfer and organizational learning in implementing recent public sector reform in Victorian local government. 'Best Value' was introduced by the Bracks' Labor government in 1999 following initiatives of a modernisation program in the UK. The program's primary objective is alignment of service delivery with local needs; and, ensuring local authorities respond to constituents by providing avenues for feedback and participation in shaping their communities. The study documents how organizational development practitioners make Best Value operational and resolve every day concerns. The Alchemic Life-Cycle is a grounded theory explaining transition from a prior management regime - based on market competition principles, to Best Value. Practicing Alchemy conceptualises the basic social process explaining how inevitable uncertainties, accompanying shifts in political and intellectual understandings of public sector management, are routinely dealt with. Findings indicate service quality can only be adequately conceptualised in the context of the historical, geographical and political legacies of the local authorities concerned