Implications of new public management and modernization policies within the national probation service : an interpretative approach

This thesis focuses on the implications of New Public Management and Modernization reform policies in the National Probation Service. In an attempt to understand how National Probation Service employees .make sense of those reforms, actors' organizational context, their organizational identity and roles have been explored. The study takes interpretivist, qualitative approach. It is based on ethnographic data, collected over a one-year period in an English regional probation service (RPA). In the course of the fieldwork, forty. five employees were interviewed. Data were also collected through participant observation, and analysis of formal documents. Empiric,al and theoretical contributions emerge from this thesis. The former relate to control, organizational identity, and role issues in the probation service, while the latter relate to resistance

Favouritism: exploring the 'uncontrolled' spaces of the leadership experience

In this paper, we argue that a focus on favouritism magnifies a central ethical ambiguity in leadership, both conceptually and in practice. The social process of favouritism can even go unnoticed, or misrecognised if it does not manifest in a form in which it can be either included or excluded from what is (collectively interpreted as) leadership. The leadership literature presents a tension between what is an embodied and relational account of the ethical, on the one hand, and a more dispassionate organisational ‘justice’ emphasis, on the other hand. We conducted 23 semi-structured interviews in eight consultancy companies, four multinationals and four internationals. There were ethical issues at play in the way interviewees thought about favouritism in leadership episodes. This emerged in the fact that they were concerned with visibility and conduct before engaging in favouritism. Our findings illustrate a bricolage of ethical justifications for favouritism, namely utilitarian, justice, and relational. Such findings suggest the ethical ambiguity that lies at the heart of leadership as a concept and a practice

L'impatto delle logiche manageriali sulla costruzione dell'identità organizzativa nel settore pubblico

Dottorato di ricerca in Impresa, stato e mercato, XIX ciclo. A.a. 2007-200

Implications of new public management and modernization on control: The case of an English regional probation service

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of new public management and modernization reform policies on control in the probation service. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes interpretivist, qualitative approach. It is based on ethnographic data, collected over a one-year period in an English regional probation service. In the course of the fieldwork, 45 employees were interviewed. Data were also collected through participant observation and analysis of formal documents. Findings – The paper suggests that new public management and modernization reform policies are interpreted by organizational actors as control mechanisms per se. Originality/value – Findings can be relevant for understanding the “control” side of the reform policies in the public sector. To date those policies have been mainly considered as driven by change rather than by control

Enhancing Sustainable Development Goals in Higher Education.pdf

   Purpose. From a leaderful practice perspective, this case study focuses on illustrating the impact of the synergic use of collaborative online and face-to-face international learning approaches for enhancing the integration of sustainable development goals (SDGs) into master’s (M) level curricula. Higher Education (HE) institutions have a relevant role in implementing the United Nations agenda for sustainable development and there is an ongoing debate on how HE can contribute to shape individuals driven by responsible values, attitudes, and beliefs.  Case. We focus on the outcome of a partnership between two HE institutions, in the UK and USA. Two course teams jointly designed a consultancy-type experiential module that involved an initial block of collaborative online international learning and a second face-to-face one. The aim of the module was to allow mixed student teams from both institutions to provide consultancy to non-profit organisations based in the USA.  Outcome. The initiative generated a distinctive dynamic where the student teams and the non-profit organisations prolonged their relationship to beyond the duration of the project. It also established a stronger connection between the two HE institutions which identified a greater overlap between their respective underpinning institutional values. Finally, the case was displayed as inspirational for responsible management education at the PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) Global Forum. Originality/value. Our case study shows how the adoption of a leaderful practice outlook can act as a key action enabler on all three levels that reflect the direction of mainstream scholarship on the integration of SDGs into HE curricula: underpinning paradigms, attitudes and behaviours, and agile pedagogical approaches. With our case we show that the partnership between institutions that strive to integrate SDGs experiential learning international initiatives into Higher Education M level curricula has a generative power that goes beyond mere curriculum design. It can give rise to ‘unexpected’ outcomes. In our specific case, it generated incremental innovation in collaborative modes of learning, and it provided a context for accelerating the construction of a collective social responsibility ethos among students from different countries, institutions, and academic backgrounds. </p