| dc.description.abstract | Comparative analysis is crucial to academic studies of public administration because it
provides understanding of the nature of different types of public service institution: in
particular, it helps to show what they do and don’t have in common, what kinds of
institution they are, and what kinds of problems they face. However, in order to
effectively conduct comparative research of public service institutions it is important
that some thought is given to how they can best be compared. Accordingly, it is argued
in this study that the differences between public service institutions can be appropriately
analysed by examining their respective risk control cultures.
This study makes use of the grid and group cultural theory, as developed by
Mary Douglas, Aaron Wildavsky and Christopher Hood, to analyse the risk control
cultures of the English and Japanese prison services in regard to two specific types of
risk, namely suicide and violence. The results show that particular patterns of
organizational behaviour within the English and Japanese prison services can be
identified with their respective risk control cultures. More specifically, the English
prison service tends to try to control risk by using formal rules and granting strong
leadership roles to governors. By contrast, the Japanese prison service tends to use
informal rules and group pressures to control risk. Furthermore, the peculiar
organizational patterns of risk control within both organizations are often not recognised
by their members. As a result, the strengths and weaknesses of organizations can be
identified by analysing the patterns of risk control behaviour within them. | en_GB |
