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- Björk, Lisa, 1981
(författare)
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Contextualizing managerial work in local government organizations
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is about managerial work in local government organizations. The purpose is to explain important aspects of managerial work with the help of a contextual perspective. The focus is on managers at the operational level of education, health and social care services, and technical services. Two research questions are raised. The first question considers the relationship between context and managerial work: how does organizational context influence managerial work, and how does managerial work influence organizational context? The second question is about contextual variations within the municipal sector: does the organizational context for lower-level managerial work vary between differently gendered municipal services, and, if so, how can this variation be explained? In order to answer these questions, I have used a cross-level and comparative research design. The design is cross-level in the sense that I consider how factors at different analytical levels interact. The design is comparative in the sense that the services have been strategically selected to represent differently gendered municipal contexts. The theoretical framework evolved mainly from management, organization, and gender theory. With the help of Gary Johns’ (2006) framework of organizational context, I outlined a model of how to understand the relationship between context at different levels and managerial work practice. Other central concepts in the thesis are Yvonne Hirdman’s (1988) idea of an omnipresent gender system and Joan Acker’s (1990) notion of gendered organizations. The empirical work of the thesis consists of three quantitative studies (Study I, II and IV) that are based on a two-wave survey of over 400 operations managers in five different types of services, and one qualitative study (Study III) based on eight interviews with managers, politicians and controllers in two different organizations. In the first study, the impact of organizational traits on the unnecessary and unreasonable tasks in managerial work is investigated, using multilevel regression analysis. The aim of the second study was to provide a measure that can be used in order to evaluate and compare organizational conditions for managers in different types of services. The third study is an investigation into how the generic traits of the New Public Management have been implemented in differently gendered local government organizations. Lastly, the fourth study explores variations in organizational conditions in differently gendered services. The first overall conclusion of the thesis is that the relationship between managerial work and context is recursive. Organizations are arenas of conflict in which different stakeholders try to turn their ideas into governing formalities. Managerial work practice is to a large extent governed by the formalities that constitute the organizational context, which would in turn cease to exist if not for the daily work practices of managers and other organizational actors. The second conclusion is that there are systematic differences in organizational conditions between differently gendered services, and therefore a structural approach to gender is an important complement to more individualistic views on differences in male and female managerial behaviour.
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| 2. |
- Björk, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Det kontrollerade chefskapet : variationer i genusmärkta verksamheter
- 2011
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Ingår i: Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv. - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet. - 1400-9692 .- 2002-343X. ; 17:4, s. 79-94
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Även om ett flertal studier undersöker betydelsen av New Public Management (NPM) för välfärdsstatens organisationer finns det få komparativa studier av NPM inom olika verksamheter. I denna studie intervjuas kommunala chefer i syfte att jämföra hur NPM omsätts i praktiken inom en teknisk verksamhet och en omsorgsverksamhet. Resultaten visar att verksamheternas genusmärkning innebär olika förutsättningar för cheferna att hantera NPM.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Björk, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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I shouldn't have to do this : Illegitimate tasks as a stressor in relation to organizational control and resource deficits
- 2013
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Ingår i: Work & Stress. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0267-8373 .- 1464-5335. ; 27:3, s. 262-277
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The performance of tasks that are perceived as unnecessary or unreasonable - illegitimate tasks - represents a new stressor concept that refers to assignments that violate the norms associated with the role requirements of professional work. Research has shown that illegitimate tasks are associated with stress and counterproductive work behaviour. The purpose of this study was to provide insight into the contribution of characteristics of the organization on the prevalence of illegitimate tasks in the work of frontline and middle managers. Using the Bern Illegitimate Task Scale (BITS) in a sample of 440 local government operations managers in 28 different organizations in Sweden, this study supports the theoretical assumptions that illegitimate tasks are positively related to stress and negatively related to satisfaction with work performance. Results further show that 10% of the variance in illegitimate tasks can be attributed to the organization where the managers work. Multilevel referential analysis showed that the more the organization was characterized by competition for resources between units, unfair and arbitrary resource allocation and obscure decisional structure, the more illegitimate tasks managers reported. These results should be valuable for strategic-level management since they indicate that illegitimate tasks can be counteracted by means of the organization of work.
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| 5. |
- Björk, Lisa, 1981, et al.
(författare)
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I shouldn’t have to do this: Illegitimate tasks as a stressor in relation to organizational control and resource deficits
- 2013
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Ingår i: Work & Stress. - 0267-8373. ; 27:3, s. 262-277
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Illegitimate tasks represent a new stressor concept that refers to assignments that violate the norms associated with the role requirements of professional work. Research has shown that Illegitimate tasks are associated with stress and counterproductive work behaviour. The purpose of the present study is to provide insight into the contribution of organizational properties on the prevalence of Illegitimate tasks in operative managerial work. Using the Bern Illegitimate Task Scale (BITS) in a sample of 440 operational local government managers in 28 different organizations, this study supports the theoretical assumptions that Illegitimate tasks are positively related to stress and negatively related to satisfaction with work performance. Results further show that 10% of the variance in Illegitimate tasks can be attributed to the organization where managers work. Multilevel referential analysis shows that the more the organization is characterized by competition for resources between units, unfair and arbitrary resource allocation and obscure decisional structure, the more Illegitimate tasks managers report. These results should be valuable for strategic-level management since they indicate that Illegitimate tasks can be counteracted by means of organization.
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| 6. |
- Björk, Lisa, 1981, et al.
(författare)
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Measuring capacity to perform across local government services – managers’ perceptions
- 2014
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Ingår i: International Journal of Public Sector Management. - 0951-3558. ; 27:1, s. 26-38
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – This study aims at developing a measure that can be used to evaluate organizational capacity to perform across local government jurisdictions, using operational managers' own assessments. Design/methodology/approach – The “management matters” literature that links organizational capacity to service performance is far from reaching any consensus on how to operationalize organizational capacity. In this study, over 400 operational managers were asked, at two different time points and in thirty different local government departments, about what opportunities they have to fulfill their responsibilities and about their perceptions of service performance. The data are factor analyzed, and the proportion of higher level variance of the resulting capacity measure is explored. Findings – Organizational capacity to perform represents a consistent measure that covers essential aspects of the managerial assignment and is empirically distinct, yet positively related to the managers' perceptions of service performance. Results further show that up to 12 percent of the variance in organizational capacity to perform can be attributed to the organization in which managers work. Practical implications – A service-neutral measure of organizational capacity to perform should be useful to strategic managers in organizations as guidance for resource allocation, and for the design of solid organizational structures and support systems for operational managers. Originality/value – Recent public management research indicates that rationalistic management models are often inadequately grounded in the day-to-day practices of operative managerial work. The construct of organizational capacity to perform presented in this study could be a valuable instrument that can bridge this strategic-operational disconnect and provide an insider perspective of the organizational prerequisites that underpin any public service achievement.
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| 7. |
- Härenstam, Annika, 1949, et al.
(författare)
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Dags att ge offentliga sektorns chefer bättre villkor för att leda.
- 2013
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Ingår i: Martin Kreuger, Lucia Crevani & Kristina Larsen (Red.) Leda mot det nya, en forskningsantologi om chefskap och innovation.. - Stockholm : VINNOVA. - 9789187537059 ; , s. 105-126
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Kankkunen, Tina Forsberg, et al.
(författare)
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New Public Management i kommunal praktik : En studie om chefers möjlighet att hantera styrning inom verksamheterna Vatten, Gymnasium och Äldreomsorg
- 2014
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Ingår i: ISM rapport. - Göteborg : Institutet för stressmedicin. - 1652-7089. ; 2014:15
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Denna studie belyser chefers möjligheter att hantera styrning inom olika kommunala verksamheter. Syftet med rapporten är att undersöka och jämföra hur styrning praktiseras inom den kvinnodominerade verksamheten ’Äldreboende’, den könsintegrerade verksamheten ’Gymnasium’, samt den mansdominerade tekniska verksamheten ’Vatten’. Analysen baseras på 30 intervjuer med linjechefer i fyra kommuner. För att förstå sammanhanget runt chefernas berättelser har även aktörer på kommunledningsnivå intervjuats. En utgångspunkt i studien är att jämförelser mellan olika organisatoriska sammanhang kan skapa lärande i arbetslivet.De deskriptiva resultat som presenteras i rapporten visar att styrning i linje med New Public Management har inneburit att cheferna upplever sig allt mer klämda mellan organisationens styrning och medarbetarnas och verksamhetens behov. Med New Public Management betonas styrning genom ekonomi, standardiserade processer, mål och uppföljning samt värderingar. De medverkande cheferna beskriver att detta har medfört målkonflikter som kan vara svåra att hantera. Det skiljer sig dock mellan verksamheterna hur målkonflikterna hanteras. Inom den mansdominerade verksamheten Vatten beskriver cheferna hur organisationen tar ansvar för målkonflikterna på ett sätt som möjliggör för cheferna att hantera dem. Inom Gymnasium och Äldreboende beskriver cheferna istället att de många gånger själva får hantera och ta konsekvenserna av målkonflikterna.Vi pekar sammanfattningsvis på fyra lärdomar kring chefens möjligheter att hantera målkonflikter. Dessa lärdomar handlar om hur arbetet organiseras, snarare än om chefernas individuella strategier. Vi talar om vikten av ett nära stöd, av att dela värld, av gemensamt språk och avgränsade mål och slutligen, vikten av tillit.
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