Managing Challenging Organizational Change: Introducing Active Labor Market Policies in Italian Public Employment Agencies

Managing organizational change in the public sector is extremely challenging when adverse conditions hamper the introduction of novel organizational practices. This study builds on the case of the implementation of active labor market policies in in Italy, in an attempt to help explaining the process of managing organizational change in the public sector. The case study shows how, despite contrary conditions that originate from the political context, the interplay between designed policy interventions, initial conditions, and features of the policy process can result in effective change of employment service practices