Productivity and communication are two administrative ideals that have received substancial emphasis in public management theory and practice. A major, although not adequately tested, assumption in government is that improved intra- and inter-organisational communication among goverment officials, managers, and employees; and closer contact among provider agencies, their service clienteles, and other non-client public will improve service productivity. More open and more accurate information flow among key participations in the service delivery process is assumed to result in greater productivity and better feedback on performance.

Without denigrating the importance of sound communication, this paper examines situations where the need to communicate with elected officials, voter, and service clients jeopardises efforts to improve productivity and service delivery. It explores the ethical implications for managers when the right-to-know in a democratic society conflicts with government's efforts to improve productivity and performance by identifying four types of productivity and communication conflict and noting some of the legal, administrative, and political causes of such conflict. By using s trifocal conceptual lens involving (productivity-communication-ethics), public managers can gain a more realistic, accurate understanding of some key issues and value choices they must resolve.

Volume 19

Numbers 11-12