Making Work Invisible: New Public Management and Operational Work in Critical Infrastructure Sectors

Almklov, Petter Grytten; Antonsen, Stian

doi:10.1111/padm.12069

Cited by 45 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…In some types of work, such as the work of control room operators described here, the petroleum processing plant operators described by Kongsvik et al (2015) or infrastructure technicians described in Almklov and Antonsen (2014), creatively situating planned activities in a temporally unfolding situation is a core task. In all these settings, the workers deal with unique situational contingencies.…”

Section: Discussion: Some Propositionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of course, some things are easier to standardize and control in this way. More complex and situationally contingent work is hard to standardize (Almklov and Antonsen 2014), and much of what we regard as professional competence is left out. Moreover, the whole doctrine of accountability tends to skew our attention towards anticipating known risk, rather than being open for the unknown (see Wildavsky 1988).…”

Section: Briefly On the Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Situated Practice and Safety as Objects of Management

Almklov

2017

Beyond Safety Training

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This chapter focuses on the relationship between representations of work (rules, procedures, models, specifications, plans) and work as a situated practice, performed by real people in always unique contexts. Empirically, it is organized around two main examples, the first one being a discussion of the compartmentalization of safety seen in shipping and the railway sector. It shows how safety, as an object of management, has become decoupled from practice, and how current discourses about safety disempower practitioners and subordinate their perspectives to more "theoretical" positions. The second is based on a study of control room operators in a space research operations setting. Here safety in the sense of avoiding harm to people is not the main concern; rather it is the reliability and robustness of an experiment on the International Space Station that is at stake. This example serves as a starting point for discussing how the research and theory on industrial safety should address the different temporalities of different work situations. It also helps to discuss the role of rules and procedures to support safety, reliability and resilience within the field of safety science. Finally, some propositions about the relationship between situated practice and the management of safety are provided: how invisible aspects of situated work might be important for safety yet hard to manage, how procedures and rules might be integrated parts of situated work as much as representations of it and how different temporalities of work situations should be included in the theorizing of safety and resilience.

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Section: Discussion: Some Propositionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Briefly On the Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Situated Practice and Safety as Objects of Management

Almklov

2017

Beyond Safety Training

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“…However, in the case where the service being provided is well understood and its production and provision is easily quantifiable, NPM initiatives have been met with an overall higher degree of success and satisfaction (Pollitt, 2007). Unfortunately, there is still a lack of understanding and a limited amount of actual field data that explain how organizational changes made under NPM initiatives impact workers, especially those in a production environment (Pollitt, 2009;Andrews and Boyne, 2012;Almklov and Antonsen, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theatre-based learning to foster corporate legacy change

Descubes

McNamara

2015

Journal of OrgChange Mgmt

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Theatre-based learning to foster corporate legacy change Irena Descubes Tom McNamara Article information:To cite this document: Irena Descubes Tom McNamara , (2015),"Theatre-based learning to foster corporate legacy change", If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore post-Bolian reflexive theatre-based learning (TBL) theory and practice, in conjunction with meta-language and learning from experiences to address the gaps and silos between top-level macro strategy planning and operational micro-management on-going challenges in a contemporary new public management (NPM) major organizational change context. Design/methodology/approach -An investigation was carried out over three months at a major French utility in a praxis-related action research context (PRAR). TBL formats, i.e. "improvisational wrestling" and "improvisational cabaret", were adapted and put into practice. Findings -A reflective process in which participants developed an enhanced sense of ownership and interest in the targeted organizational structure was developed. It allowed for collectively created contextual in-house knowledge, innovative practices and tools that supported the change initiative.Research limitations/implications -The main limitation of this research is that it is case-based, restricting the generalizability of its findings. Future research could examine the general validity of improvisational TBL forms and the way they can contribute to the creation of participatory innovation oriented corporate cultures. Also, an interesting research question would be to investigate how organizations, once having undertaken NPM initiatives, can continue nurturing a collaborative practice-based organizational culture over the long-haul, showing a clear need for longitudinal studies. Practical implications -The present initiative and case study was deemed as successful by all stakeholders, and the programme of engaged change management sustainable and self-reinforcing. Originality/value -This study extends the knowledge of the role of arts in enhancing organizational reflection. To the best of the knowledge, the TBL formats employed have never been used previously in PRAR. The paper builds links between or...

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“…These works discuss performance differences related to educational level, age, experience, and wages. Almklov and Antonsen (2014) offer insight into the complex influences related to the reliability of outsourced work, and the literature that questioned the market oriented organizational models of New Public Administration reforms. Just as in a mathematical hypothesis, that is, without conceptual support, we also propose that:…”

Section: Causal Relationship Between Amount Of Human Capital and Prodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Productivity Antecedents of Brazilian Courts of Justice: Evidence from Justiça em Números

Louro

Santos

Filho

2017

BAR, Braz. Adm. Rev.

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Public sector managers and researchers have emphasized the importance of performance measurement. Nevertheless, few theoretical and empirical studies are found in Brazilian Judiciary Courts' literature. In order to empirically identify which variables (IT investments, own or outsourced human capital) are more relevant for improving productivity, the current research proposes a model using secondary data extracted from the Justiça em Números (Justice in Numbers) report, using structural equation modeling for the analysis. The results suggest that: (a) all variables are relevant for improving productivity in Brazilian Courts, confirming our first three theoretical hypotheses; and (b) own human capital has a greater impact on productivity than outsourced, confirming the fourth. For those who are responsible for reforms, this finding indicates that IT is not the most important investment. However a question remains: Seen as a cure for almost all problems in the public sector, is it possible to improve performance without hard IT investments? For future research there are some additional questions: Why is own human capital more relevant than outsourced? Which variables should be included in the model for improving the general significance? The answers can help improve Brazilian court productivity.

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Making Work Invisible: New Public Management and Operational Work in Critical Infrastructure Sectors

Cited by 45 publications

References 31 publications

Situated Practice and Safety as Objects of Management

Situated Practice and Safety as Objects of Management

Theatre-based learning to foster corporate legacy change

Productivity Antecedents of Brazilian Courts of Justice: Evidence from Justiça em Números

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