Part I. Defining culture 1. Public management as a cultural phenomenon. Revitalizing societal culture in international public management research - Kuno Schedler and Isabella Proeller 2. Cultural characteristics from public management reforms worldwide - Geert Bouckaert 3. The poetics of management, and the politics of organizational cultures. A sociological view on NPM-Reforms in Switzerland - Christoph Maeder 4. Reforms of central government coordination in OECD-Countries: culture as counterforce for cross-national unifying process? - Eva Beuselinck, Koen Verhoest and Geert Bouckaert Part II. Artefacts of culture 5. Public manager's religiosity: impacts on work attitudes and perceptions of co-workers - Barry Bozeman and Alex Murdock 6. Public administration modernization: common reform trends of different paths and national understandings in the EU countries - Gerhard Hammerschmind, Rentate E. Meyer and Christoph Demmke 7. Determinants of confidence in the civil service: an international comparision - Steven Van de Walle 8. Cultural evolution of organizations from bureaucracy to hyperarchy and netcentricity: reaping the advantages of it and modern technology -Fred Thompson and Lawrence R. Jones 9. Time out? - Christopher Pollitt Part III. Country perspectives 10. Culture and public management reforms: a review and research agenda on the basis of experiences in Switzerland - Martin Koci 11. Governance reform outcomes through cultural lens: Thailalnd - Bidhya Bowornwathana 12. Descontructing administrative culture: exploring the relationship between cultural patterns and public sector change in the UK and Germany - Eckhard Schröter 13. Triggering change through culture clash: the UK civil service reform program, 1999-2005 - Tony Bovaird 14. E-Government in Asia: how culture affects patterns of adoption - Clay Wescott