Forms of Intervention in Public Sector Organizations: Generic Traits in Public Sector Reforms

Abstract

The present paper argues that recent research on public sector reforms offers few contributions to the body of knowledge on this topic because it adds little to the conclusions drawn during the first generation of research in this area. Although these later studies have often been context-specific and have explored the details of the process of change in some depth, it is rather difficult to compare their results or to make reasoned judgements of the comprehensiveness and centrality of the analysed change. Although most public sector reforms that affect hospitals, schools or social services are initiated and designed by national governments, individual case studies of local administrations often fail to capture the generic traits of nationwide reforms. However, public sector change cannot be approached as if it comprises collections of nominally independent local events. The present paper argues for two new approaches to the study of public sector change: (i) the systematic categorization of the different forms of governmental intervention under study and (ii) analysis of the ways in which these forms of intervention are linked and interact. Based on extensive empirical research, this paper suggests a generic classification of these forms of intervention that can be used in empirical research on comprehensive public sector change. Consequently, five interventions in public sector organizations are suggested, namely political intervention, intervention by laws and regulations, intervention by audit and inspection, intervention by management and intervention by rationalizing professional practice. The model is particularly well suited to the longitudinal analysis of complex public sector reforms. This approach provides a conceptual tool to distinguish between interventions based on different forms of knowledge and to investigate how they are linked to each other vertically and horizontally. We demonstrate the usefulness of the model by analysing two empirical examples of reforms in which a variety of interventions were imposed at the local level, through legislation as well as a spectrum of voluntary measures proposed by government agencies, by national associations for local and regional councils and by other national or regional actors.

Corporatisation and the Emergence of (Under-Managered) Managed Organisations: The Case of English Public Hospitals

“…Indeed, a primary objective has been to enhance 'management decision-making competency' at lower levels, 'shifting decision-making competency from external actors to the agency itself…' (Bejerot and Hasselbladh 2013;p. 1365).…”

“…2). Such change is assumed to have many benefits, principally giving managers enhanced freedom to pursue service innovation and making public services more 'business like' (Bejerot and Hasselbladh 2013;Verbeeten and Speklé 2015).…”

Vol 6, No 1 (2016)

“…The key aim of this paper has been to identify and discuss avenues for further research regarding teachers' working conditions in the light of current choice agendas, in an attempt to identify perspectives which have been less explored, and that can assist in pointing future research in directions that move beyond "more of the same" (Bejerot & Hasselbladh, 2013;Jensen & Smeby, 2014). Rather than taking on a normative approach and aligning with either previously described victimizing approach or the view of professionals as active agents, our review highlights the need to continue identifying and scrutinizing the complexities surrounding professional work.…”

“…The circumstances demonstrate the need for further attention to be paid to teachers' working conditions and how they relate to the current choice agenda, however, a shortage of studies focusing on this has been identified (Fredriksson, 2010;Forsey, 2010b;Parding, 2011). As Bejerot and Hasselbladh (2013) point out, there is a need to develop the ways in which public sector reforms, including the conditions for the professionals working in these organizations, are examined. In an attempt to address these concerns, the aim of this paper is to identify and discuss avenues for further research when it comes to teachers' working conditions in the light of current choice agendas.…”

Public quality – for whom and how? Integrating public core values with quality management

“…The application of QM programmes in public sector takes on many different forms. This includes, for example, policy development initiatives (Bejerot & Hasselbladh, 2013), performance measurement frameworks (Elg, Palmberg Broryd, & Kollberg, 2013;Pollitt, 2013), ISO 9000 (Moreland & Clark, 1998), EFQM models (Wiśniewska & Szczepańska, 2014), and quality improvement programmes (Berwick, 1989;Elg, Stenberg, Kammerlind, Tullberg, & Olsson, 2011). The focus on QM in public services is also evidenced by various forms of evaluations (Vedung, 2008) and audit (Pollitt & Bouckaert, 1999;Power, 1999).…”