The Korea Local Administration Review

During the past decade the central and local governments of Korea have enforced a movement to improve public service delivery and to increase national competitiveness by introducing various NPM principles to the public sector, such as the public service charter, MBO, TQM, Executive Agency System, etc. which have been developed in Western countries. Hasty adoption of these new principles without considering the different organizational culture and administrative environment can cause a serious problem by bringing about a tinge of anesthesia to reform movements. This study discusses and examines the continuous drive to adopt ISO certificates as a means to overcome such symptoms and operate these management techniques successfully. For empirical identification, this study interviewed the civil servants who are and were in charge of the affairs related to ISO certification in the following four local governments: Jung-gu District Office of Seoul, Gyeonggi Provincial government, Jeju Provincial government and Uijeongbu City government.