How is the New Public Management applied in the occupational health care system? - decision-makers' and OH personnel's views in Finland

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In many countries occupational health care system is in change. Occupational health studies are mainly focused on occupational health substance and content. This study offers new perspectives on municipal OHS and its operations from management perspective.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>The aim of this study is to analyse how New Public Management (NPM) doctrines are applied in the Finnish occupational health care system (OHS). The main focus is to describe and compare the views of decision-makers' and OH workers within the framework of NPM.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The data were collected by semi-structured interviews from 17 municipal decision-makers' and 26 municipal OH workers. Data was analyzed by examining coded data in a theory-driven way according to Hood's doctrine of NPM.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The doctrines were not as compatible with the OH personnel view as with the decision-makers' view. Decision-makers and OH personnel highlighted the strict criteria required for operation evaluation. Moreover, decision-makers strongly accentuated professional management in the public sector and the reorganization of public sector units. These were not equally relevant in OH personnel views. In OH personnel views, other doctrines (more attention to performance and accomplishments, emphasizing and augmentation of the competition and better control of public expense and means test) were not similarly in evidence, only weak evidence was observed when their importance viewed as medium by decision-makers. Neither of the respondents group kept the doctrine of management models of the private sector relevant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The NPM and Hoods doctrine fitted well with OH research. The doctrine brought out view differences and similarities between decision-makers and OH personnel. For example, policymakers highlighted more strongly the structural change by emphasizing professional management compared to OH personnel. The need for reorganization of municipal OH, regardless of different operational preconditions, was obvious for both decision-makers and OH personnel. The adaptation of more clarify management to a municipal context is not trouble-free. The municipality systemic structure, complex operational environment, and reconciliation of political and officer authority set challenges to management of municipalities.</p

The use of Personal Development Plans in the workplace: A literature review

It is evident that in the current knowledge economy learning does not stop after graduation. Learning for a profession is only a starting point for learning in the profession. One tool to enhance learning in the profession is a personal development plan (PDP). Although this tool is very popular to date, there is no review study available to inform researchers and practitioners about effects and conditions enhancing the effectiveness. Therefore, we conducted a systematic narrative literature review, selecting empirical studies to research PDPs in the workplace. The purpose of this review-study was to analyze the literature on the goals that PDP assessment is being used for in the workplace, its effectiveness to reach those goals and the desirable supporting conditions that will enlarge its effectiveness. The results highlight nine clusters of goals PDP assessment is used for, namely: professional development; reflective learning; providing evidence; documenting; certification, selection, and promotion; external mobility; coaching; stimulating confidence; and organizing. Furthermore, the small amount of empirical evidence on the effectiveness of PDP assessment (N studies = 54) indicates that the instrument is effective for personal or continuing professional development, stimulating reflection and improving professional practice. There nevertheless exists a gap between the popularity of this tool and the availability of evidence of its effectiveness. Moreover, almost all studies researching PDPs took place in an educational or healthcare setting. Finally, only the support received from a coach or supervisor and the time and resources provided have been researched as supporting process conditions and were found to have positive effects. In most other included articles the supportive conditions are no object of study but are theoretically discussed and argued upon. It is clear that to inform human resource development professionals using PDPs, more studies systematically investigating the effects of the tool and the supporting process conditions are necessary

Perspectives on Age and Continuing Professional Development for Nurses: A Literature Review

The need for nurses to participate in continuing professional development (CPD) is growing to keep abreast of rapid changes in nursing care. Concurrently, the nursing workforce is growing older. Ageing leads to changes in biological, psychological, and social functioning. Little is known about the effects of age-related changes on nurses’ CPD. A literature review was conducted to examine whether and how CPD differs across age groups. A framework with five perspectives on age was used in an attempt to distinguish factors contributing to these age differences. Given the limited research on this topic with respect to nurses, we also included studies of workers in general. The literature search revealed 27 relevant studies. In general, older workers appeared less likely to participate in CPD, when considering formal learning activities and late-career workers (older than 50/55 years). We found no clear age patterns for motivation to participate in CPD, for learning outcomes, and for participation in informal and non-formal learning activities. The study showed that more nuanced results are found when studies distinguish at least three age groups. By using different perspectives of age, a comprehensive overview of age-related factors in CPD was generated and gaps in current research were identified. Recommendations for further research are discussed, such as the need for research on whether the types of learning activities that nurses undertake change with ageing. Keywords: Continuing professional development, Age differences, Nurses, Older workers, Workplace learning, Literature revie