Suchergebnisse

To date, only limited attention has been given in the literature to how, in a context of work intensification, many professional service organisations have engaged in a delegation of tasks to non-professional, subordinate groups. While some studies have reported this process, little is known more generally about its wider impact. A particular concern is the extent to which delegation, as well as being a necessary response to budgetary constraint, has also become a source of conflict and tension within public organisations. Focusing on the illustrative case of university librarians, this article seeks to address these issues. Using qualitative data collected from four institutions, the article reveals how, in recent years, there has been a trend towards delegation of routine professional operations. However, while this has facilitated the extension of professional services at limited cost, it has also led to rising conflict between professional and non-professional staffs within the hierarchy. Such conflict is found not only to have some negative implications for the way services are managed, but in the long term, could also pose a limited threat to the power and status of dominant professional groups.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how far plans to "modernize" hospital management in China are converging toward a global model of new public management (NPM) or represent a distinctive pathway.


Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on a systematic review of available secondary sources published in English and Chinese to describe both the nature and trajectory of hospital management reforms in China.


Findings
In China, while public hospital reforms bear many of the hallmarks of the NPM, they are distinctive in two key respects. First, the thrust of current reforms is to partially reverse, not extend, the trend toward marketization in order to strengthen the public orientation of public hospitals. Second is a marked gap between the rhetoric and reality of empowering managers and freeing them from political control.


Practical implications
This paper develops a framework for understanding the drivers and obstacles to hospital management reforms in China that is useful for managers, clinicians and policy makers.


Originality/value
In China, few authors have considered NPM reform in relation to healthcare. This paper contributes in better understanding current reforms taking place in China's expanding healthcare sector and locates these within broader theoretical and policy debates.

In recent times, the UK has witnessed a steady growth in the use of agency workers to fill core professional roles in public sector organizations. Similar trends have been noted elsewhere, particularly in Australia and the US. In this paper our objective is to explore some of the consequences of this growth, drawing on case study research on social services. We point to a number of problems associated with the management of agency workers and to the potentially negative consequences for the quality of services. These problems, in turn, may impact on key aspects of a (largely functional) public service employment model founded on strong internal labour markets, employment stability and collegial ethos. We also note that while there are ways in which public organizations can manage this situation, certain constraints may prevent them from doing so. Adapted from the source document.

In recent years there has been growing interest in analysing processes of change in professional service organizations drawing on the concepts of archetype theory. In this article, our primary goal is to question the validity of these ideas. A key weakness, we argue, stems from the continued legacy of functionalism in this approach and the limited role given to human agency. A further problem is the uncritical generalization of assumptions about professional organization and change, especially in the context of public services. These difficulties, we suggest, bring into question the usefulness of archetype theory as a general model for understanding change. They also point to the need to develop alternative approaches to these issues. In this article such an alternative is outlined, combining recent advances in the social theory dealing with the relationship between agency and structure with ideas from the sociology of professions.