Institutional Transformation and Managerialism in Cultural Heritage: Heritage Malta

Abstract

Building on the literature on managerial reforms in public sector and cultural heritage, this paper aims at exploring, understanding, and reconstructing managerial change at the organizational level. The institutional transformation of the cultural sector in Malta - driven by a call for managerial innovation - is investigated here. The main changes in discourse and practices are analysed; transformation processes are reconstructed on the basis of self-reported narratives by participants, and critically revisited through a longitudinal analysis of documents. Finally, the Maltese experience is then compared with two additional cases of institutional transformation in the cultural heritage field: the British Museum and the Autonomous Superintendence of Pompeii. Common patterns and distinctive features of the three public management reforms are discussed. The contribution of the paper focuses on a crucial phenomenon in public sector reforms: institutional transformation. From a methodological point of view the rhetorical nature of these debates is addressed, while providing a more detailed reading of individual components of change processes. The need/benefit of comparison - particularly international comparison - is underlined.

Keywords: Museums management, cultural heritage management, institutional transformation, new public management, managerial rhetoric