Workplace Climate and Innovation in Bureaucracies: Evidence from a Field Experiment and Qualitative Data

About this event

We study the process of innovation in bureaucratic organizations, combining qualitative and quantitative evidence on workplace cultures, workplace climates, and ideas generation. We do so at-scale, working with bureaucrats in all ministries served by the Ghanaian Civil Service. Our qualitative evidence suggests strong hierarchical cultures, where juniors feel they are unable to raise ideas to seniors, they are not listened to when they do, or even fear being sanctioned for doing so. Our quantitative evidence comes from a field experiment training bureaucrats how to develop simple ideas and raise them with colleagues. We experimentally implemented two versions of training: at the individual level, and at the division-level to bureaucrats that work together day-to-day. Our key finding is that the individual level trainings were far more effective in shifting workplace climates towards being open to new ideas, as measured 6-18 months post-training. This led individuals to be more likely to raise and discuss new ideas, ultimately improving administrative processes and public service delivery. Division-level training was less effective because action plans drawn up collectively by divisions after training failed to integrate in the key novel aims of the intervention in terms of the nature of innovations proposed and collective steps to implementation. Rather, division-level plans reflected pre-existing workplace cultures that stymie innovation, unrealistically aiming for systems-wide rather than simple incremental change.