Since 1994 there has been a strong public policy focus on drastically increasing both the quality and quantity of social service delivery. Although significant progress has been made in many areas, there is a growing sense of frustration within the public sector that too little has been achieved. This has resulted in a wide range of initiatives - all focused on improving "service delivery". Unfortunately, few have enjoyed widespread or sustainable success. This lack of success suggests that we do not yet properly understand the problem. Until we know exactly why something is not working, the likelihood of finding the most appropriate solution is slim. The aim of this paper is to approach the problem from a different angle. Instead of commencing with prescribing solutions for service delivery failure, we are trying to understand how the structure of the public sector facilitates or creates delivery problems. That is, we are