Managing Change, or Changing Managers? The role of middle managers in UK public service reform

Gatenby, Mark; Rees, Chris; Truss, Catherine; Alfes, Kerstin; Soane, Emma

doi:10.1080/14719037.2014.895028

Cited by 32 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(60 reference statements)

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“…Elbanna, Thanos, and Colak (2014), Nutt (1999) and Wooldridge and Floyd (1990), in particular, find that such participation results in improved implementation. And, there is good prima facie reason for thinking that such participation will also matter in the public sector, where middle managers, especially, play an increasingly important role in strategy implementation (Gatenby et al, forthcoming;Ridder, Bruns, and Spier 2006). Importantly, it is actually conceivable that the benefits of strategic planning for strategy implementation are attributable to the managerial involvement that thoroughgoing planning processes presuppose.…”

Section: The Role Of Formal Strategic Planningmentioning

confidence: 97%

Strategic Planning and Implementation Success in Public Service Organizations: Evidence from Canada

Elbanna

Andrews

Pollanen

2015

Public Management Review

133

146

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In this article, we examine the role that formal strategic planning plays in determining the success of strategy implementation in a set of more than 150 public service organizations from Canada. We also analyse the mediating effects of managerial involvement in strategic planning and the moderating effects of stakeholder uncertainty on the planning-implementation relationship. A structured online questionnaire was used to collect the data. Our findings suggest that formal strategic planning has a strong positive relationship with implementation, which, though mediated by managerial involvement, becomes even more salient in the face of stakeholder uncertainty. Several implications of these findings are discussed.

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“…Finally, there are four areas that have seen a significant increase in papers from a very low base. Innovation and change (Borins 2001;Gatenby et al 2015; van Buuren 2015; Van der Voet, Kuipers, and Groeneveld 2016, Torugsa and Arundel 2016), and strategic management and marketing (Burton 1999; Waeraas, Bjørnå, and Moldenaes 2015, Longo and Rotolo 2016; Hansen and Ferlie 2016) have seen significant increases. However, the most startling growth has been the increase in two areas.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Public management research over the decades: what are we writing about?

Osborne

2016

Public Management Review

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Public management research over the decades: what are we writing about? Public Management Review (PMR) has just completed its eighteenth volume. It commenced publication in 1999 with Blair as prime minister of the United Kingdom and Clinton as president of the United States, with the transformation of public management (and society) through IT and the internet barely begun, and with Lou Bega ruling the pop charts as a one-hit wonder with 'Mambo No. 5'. As part of a review of the evolution of PMR I recently completed a review of papers published in the journal then and now. This review comprised 103 papers from 1999 to 2002 covering 14 issues of the journal and 108 from 2015 to 2016 covering 16 issues-211 papers in total. 1 Of course, such a review has to be treated with utmost caution. It represents only one journal, not the field, can be skewed by special issues (though these do also represent topics that are/were central to the discipline), and is very much a survey of the 'quick and dirty' variety. Each paper was classified once only, against its prime topic. Nonetheless, it presents an interesting snapshot of the evolution of our preoccupations as public management researchers. Three trends are apparentthose topics that have decreased in interest, those that have increased, and those that have remained stable (Table 1). The first group is those topics that have decreased in researcher interest. There has been a slight decrease in papers focusing on public and social policy, i.e. from 9 to 5 per cent. The early period saw an interest with topics such as policy globalization and convergence (Carroll 1999), volunteering policy (Brudney and Williamson 2000) and the governance of the policy process (Sibeon 2000). More recently the focus has shifted to the policy process in relation to policy evaluation (Pattyn 2015), to policy professionals (van Engen et al. 2016), and to public policy and reform and social cohesion (Andrews, Guarneros-Meza, and Downe 2016). There has been a significant drop, however, in those papers exploring public management reform in general (from 16 to 4 per cent) and the New Public Management (NPM) and its implementation in particular (from 19 to 7 per cent). Thus the early period saw a plethora of empirical papers exploring such issues as privatization (Kawashima 1999), contracting (Christensen and Laegreid 2001) and managerialism (Doolin 2001). The more recent papers have moved towards a more evaluative and/or critical deconstruction of the NPMsuch as Aoki (2015), Wynen and Verhoest (2015), Alonso, Clifton, and Díaz-Fuentes (2015) and Dan and Pollitt (2015). The second group of topics are those where interest has maintained at a stable level between the two periodson performance management and accountability

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“…Contrary to what some scholars have described as the impossibility of entrepreneurship in the public sector and warnings against attempting it (Currie, Humphreys, Ucbasaran, & McManus, 2008;Gatenby et al, 2015), we agree with those who say that such entrepreneurs do exist and get things done (Dacin, Goodstein, & Scott, 2002; Klein, Mahoney, McGahan, & Pitelis, 2010; Levy & Scully, 2007), although they behave differently from private sector entrepreneurs because of the different institutional context (Catney & Henneberry, 2016;Coyne, 2004; and the constraints, on them in trying to change institutions, which also differ from those in the private sector (Klein et al, 2010;Ostrom, 1965). Furthermore, it is argued that the success or failure of such entrepreneurs depends on the state, and whether it shows an active or a passive interest in what such entrepreneurs are doing.…”

mentioning

confidence: 82%

Administrative leaders as institutional entrepreneurs in developing countries: A study of the development and institutionalization of performance management in Ghana's public service

Ohemeng

Kamga

2019

Public Admin & Development

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Summary Performance management (PM) has become one of the most important reforms in the public sector in both developed and developing countries. Unfortunately, institutionalizing PM in the sector continues to be a major problem. Although a number of scholars continue to study the PM in the public sector from different theoretical perspectives, there has been paucity of research concerning the process of institutionalization. The few studies that have attempted to look at the process have done so from a “coercive isomorphism” perspective, especially through legislation. The lack of studies to examine the process of institutionalization has therefore created a gap, which needs to be filled. We therefore attempt to contribute to this discussion by exploring the role of institutional entrepreneurs and their impact on the development and institutionalization of PM in developing countries, with a particular focus on Ghana, a country obsessed with PM but was only able to institutionalize one in 2013 under the leadership of its Public Services Commission. How was the leadership of the PSC able to succeed where previous leaders could not? What characteristics did they display, and what strategies did they use to get things done? The research is a qualitative one.

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“…Gleeson and Knights, 2008). For them, organisational restructuring has meant enlarged roles, increased responsibility for decision-making and human resources management and greater emotional stress (Gatenby et al, 2014;Parris et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotions in leaders’ enactment of professional agency

Hökkä

Vähäsantanen

Paloniemi

et al. 2019

JWL

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Purpose Although there has been an increase in workplace studies on professional agency, few of these have examined the role of emotions in the enactment of agency at work. To date, professional agency has been mainly conceptualised as a goal-oriented, rational activity aimed at influencing a current state of affairs. Challenged by this, this study aims to elaborate the nature and quality of emotions and how they might be connected to the enactment of professional agency. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected in the context of a leadership coaching programme that aimed to promote the leaders’ professional agency over the course of a year. The participants (11 middle-management leaders working in university and hospital contexts) were interviewed before and after the programme, and the data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings Findings showed that emotions played an important role in the leaders’ enactment of professional agency, as it pertained to their work and to their professional identity. The study suggests that enacting professional agency is by no means a matter of purely rational actions. Practical implications The study suggests that emotional agency can be learned and enhanced through group-based interventions reflecting on and processing one’s own professional roles and work. Originality/value As a theoretical conclusion, the study argues that professional agency should be reconceptualised in such a way as to acknowledge the importance of emotions (one’s own and those of one’s fellow workers) in practising agency within organisational contexts.

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“…Moreover, despite healthcare institutions employing their own clinicians to become managers, there is evidence they become de-skilled when balancing the need to be change agents, diplomatic administrators and entrepreneurs while attempting to meet government policy-led targets (Gatenby et al, 2015). For many, the restrictions of policy-led management stifle their judgement to manage local issues flexibly and they may purposefully resist strategic objectives (Gatenby et al, 2014).…”

Section: The Proliferation Of Management Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A critical commentary on management science in relation to reforms after institutional National Health Service failures

Regan

Ball

2016

J Nurs Manag

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Aim(s) A discussion paper on the United Kingdom (UK) National Health Service (NHS) market reforms. Background NHS market reforms reliance on management science methods introduced a fundamental shift in measuring care for commissioning. Evaluation A number of key reports are discussed in relation to NHS market reforms and management science. Key issues NHS market reforms were influenced through a close alliance between policy makers, the department of health, free market think tanks and management consultancies. The timing of reforms coincided with reports on NHS failings and the evolution of measurement methods to focus on finance. Conclusions The balance in favour of measurement practises is of concern. Management science methods are criticised in the Francis Report yet promoted as the solution to some of the key findings; why may be explained by the close alliance. Implications for Nursing Management A return to principles of management involving consensus, trust and involvement to promote quality care and use management science methods to this end.

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Managing Change, or Changing Managers? The role of middle managers in UK public service reform

Cited by 32 publications

References 33 publications

Strategic Planning and Implementation Success in Public Service Organizations: Evidence from Canada

Public management research over the decades: what are we writing about?

Administrative leaders as institutional entrepreneurs in developing countries: A study of the development and institutionalization of performance management in Ghana's public service

Emotions in leaders’ enactment of professional agency

A critical commentary on management science in relation to reforms after institutional National Health Service failures

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