Navigating the contradictions of public service modernisation; the case of community engagement professionals

A commitment to public service reform has been a guiding theme of Labour administrations in Britain since 1997. These modernisation policies and practices formed the context for our research, using psychosocial approaches to analyse the contradictory impacts of modernisation agendas on social development workers' motivations, professional values and the ways in which they identified and addressed ethical dilemmas in their work. Professionals responded to modernisation agendas in varying ways. While some welcomed the changes, others raised concerns, posing questions for the future about the potential impact on the motivations and values of the next generation of public service professionals.