Resistance-driven Innovation? Frontline Public Welfare Workers’ Coping with Top- down Implementation

Høiland, Gry Cecilie; Willumsen, Elisabeth

doi:10.18291/njwls.v8i2.106153

Cited by 16 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Furthermore, while many articles suggest that managers delegate control to employees, employees may also take control themselves. Høiland and Willumsen (2018) reveal how employees resist and influence systemic innovation implementation via situated discretionary action, thereby linking the systemic and situated innovation activities.…”

Section: Employee Control In Situated Innovation Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptualising employee involvement in service innovation: an integrative review

Engen

Fuglsang

Tuominen

et al. 2021

JOSM

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PurposeEmployees are considered as important contributors to service innovation, but the literature is not unanimous about what employee involvement in service innovation entails. To advance theoretical understanding of the topic, this paper develops a conceptual framework for analysing employee involvement in service innovations, reviews existing research on the topic and proposes a research agenda.Design/methodology/approachDifferent modes of employee involvement in service innovation are distinguished based on two dimensions: (1) the intensity of employee influence on service innovation and (2) the breadth of the innovation activity in which employees are involved. This conceptual framework is abductively developed through a literature review of empirical service innovation studies to identify and analyse whether and how these modes of employee involvement are manifested in the service innovation literature.FindingsThe findings delineate six modes of employee involvement in the reviewed service innovation studies. Employees are primarily seen as having a strong influence on situated innovation activities but a limited influence on systemic innovation activities. The findings show that more research is needed to assess the connections between different modes of employee involvement.Practical implicationsThe findings can be used by practitioners to assess the possibilities different modes of employee involvement may bring to service innovation activities.Originality/valueThe proposed conceptual framework and the analysis of current research and research gaps in service innovation studies provide a clear research agenda for progressing multidimensional understanding of employee involvement in service innovation.

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Section: Employee Control In Situated Innovation Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptualising employee involvement in service innovation: an integrative review

Engen

Fuglsang

Tuominen

et al. 2021

JOSM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Accordingly, our findings showed how a national policy initiates local innovation and how a national policy becomes a local priority. Considerable amounts of innovation in public services and frontline work processes have been initiated by the central levels of government with the intention that they are implemented in a top-down manner and disseminated at the frontline level of public service organizations [ 57 ]. In this way, national governments can initiate innovation processes through policy documents, regulations, and funding, and the local government, which is closer to citizens, can initiate, develop, and activate the innovation processes [ 58 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Welfare Technology in Long-term Care Services: Nationwide Cross-sectional Survey Study

Rostad¹,

Stokke²

2021

J Med Internet Res

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Background Welfare technologies are often described as a solution to the increasing pressure on primary health care services. However, despite initiating welfare technology projects in the health care sector and different government incentives, research indicates that it is difficult to integrate welfare technology innovations in a complex and varying setting, such as long-term care. Objective We aim to describe the types of welfare technology and the extent to which welfare technology is provided in long-term care (ie, nursing homes and home care services); examine whether the extent of welfare technology provision differs on the basis of municipal characteristics (ie, population size, centrality, the proportion of older inhabitants, and income); and identify how local governments (ie, municipalities) describe their efforts toward integrating welfare technologies in long-term care. Methods Quantitative and qualitative data about welfare technology from a larger cross-sectional survey about the provision of long-term care services in Norwegian municipalities were combined with registry data. Representatives of 422 Norwegian municipalities were invited to participate in the survey. Frequencies were used to describe the distribution of the types and extent of welfare technologies, whereas the Fisher exact test and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance were used to determine the association between the extent of welfare technology and municipal characteristics. Free-form text data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results A total of 277 municipalities were surveyed. Technology for safety was the most widespread type of welfare technology, whereas technology for social contact was the least prevalent. Two-thirds of the sample (183/277, 66.1%) in nursing home and (197/277, 71.1%) in home care services reported providing one or two different types of welfare technology. There was a statistically significant association between the extent of welfare technology and population size (in both nursing homes and home care services: P=.01), centrality (nursing homes: P=.01; home care services: P<.001), and municipal income (nursing homes: P=.02; home care services: P<.001). The extent of welfare technology was not associated with the proportion of older adults. The municipalities described being in a piloting phase and committing to future investment in welfare technology. Monetary resources were allocated, competency development among staff was initiated, and the municipalities were concerned about establishing collaborations within and between municipalities. Home care services seem to have a more person-centered approach in their efforts toward integrating welfare technologies, whereas nursing homes seem to have a more technology-centered approach. Conclusions Many municipalities provide welfare technologies; however, their extent is limited and varies according to municipal characteristics. Municipal practices still seem dominated by piloting, and welfare technologies are not fully integrated into long-term care services. Innovation with welfare technology appears top-down and is influenced by national policy but also reflects creating a window of opportunity through the organization of municipal efforts toward integrating welfare technology through, for example, collaborations and committing personnel and financial resources.

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“…Employeedriven innovation can be defined as ''the development and implementation of new organizational forms, service concepts, modes of operation, and service processes in which ideas, knowledge, time, and creativity of employees are actively used'' (Høiland & Willumsen, 2018;Klitmu¨ller, Lauring, & Christensen, 2007;referred by Wihlman et al 2014, p. 162). In a study of the relationship between middle management resistance and adaptation strategies for centrally initiated change instructions and employee driven innovation, Høiland and Willumsen (2018) point out that the strategies can be conceptualized as value-based, resistance-driven innovation. This is a type of employee-driven innovation that arises as one by-product of resistance and adaptation, which creates value for the organization's core activities.…”

Section: Research On Public Innovation and Middle Managersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We analyze the stories from one department that dealt with the limits of a tight budget in the municipality. The imposed innovations in the unit seemed to be transformed to value-motivated resistance-driven innovation from a ground level that included the employees in the process (Høiland & Willumsen, 2018). We wanted to investigate how the managers' stories related to policy changes and imposed innovations.…”

Section: The Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“There Is a Lot of Community Spirit Going On.” Middle Managers' Stories of Innovation in Home Care Services

et al. 2019

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Background: There is a need for qualitative studies on imposed innovation in home care services in welfare societies. The municipalities are key actors in the field of innovation in the public sector. As innovations often are interpreted to be in conflict with values in health care, we need knowledge on how policy changes and imposed innovations are understood and handled by middle managers working in the sector. Aim: We aim to explore how middle managers react to imposed innovation in health services through their storytelling. The research question was ''What can middle managers' stories of imposed innovation tell us about their role in, and some important prerequisites for, innovation processes in municipal health-care services?'' Methods: A narrative study of experiences with municipal innovation among middle managers in Norway. In this article, we do a thematic analysis of interviews with seven female middle managers who work in a home care service department. Findings: The study develops an understanding of which frameworks are required within a home care service to meet constant demands for innovation. Innovations are understood by the managers as results of policy changes and new public management demands and as a troublesome burden. We find the prerequisites for implementing innovations to be (1) trustbased management, (2) flexibility and dynamics, (3) continuity of care, and (4) emphasis on competence. These prerequisites are further interpreted in relation to dominant discourses on innovation at the macro, meso, and micro levels within the storytelling contexts. Conclusion: Imposed innovations require a negotiating practice in cross-disciplinary environments at all levels in the organization.

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Resistance-driven Innovation? Frontline Public Welfare Workers’ Coping with Top- down Implementation

Cited by 16 publications

References 21 publications

Conceptualising employee involvement in service innovation: an integrative review

Conceptualising employee involvement in service innovation: an integrative review

Integrating Welfare Technology in Long-term Care Services: Nationwide Cross-sectional Survey Study

“There Is a Lot of Community Spirit Going On.” Middle Managers' Stories of Innovation in Home Care Services

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