The effect of systematic misperception of income on the subjective poverty line

Income Distribution;macroeconomics

Explaining willingness of public professionals to implement new policies: A policy alienation framework

Nowadays, public professionals are often unwilling to implement new policies. We analyse this problem using an interdisciplinary approach, combining public administration and change management literature. From public administration, we use the policy alienation concept, consisting of five sub-dimensions: 1.strategic powerlessness, 2.tactical powerlessness, 3.operational powerlessness, 4.societal meaninglessness and 5.client meaninglessness. These are considered factors possibly influencing the willingness of professionals to implement policies (change willingness). We test this model in a survey among 478 Dutch mental healthcare professionals implementing a new reimbursement policy. First, perceived autonomy (operational powerlessness) significantly influenced change willingness. Second, the meaninglessness dimensions proved highly significant. Strategic and tactical powerlessness were insignificant. This means that clarifying a case for change is important in policy implementation by professionals, while participation on a strategic or tactical level seems less relevant. These insights help in understanding why public professionals embrace or resist implementing particular policies

Three ways to minimise professionals’ resistance to governmental change using the policy alienation model

Why do public service professionals resist some changes, while embracing others? Lars Tummers is an expert on the analysis of ‘policy alienation’. He has studied problems that professionals working in a range of sectors – including healthcare, social security and education – face in implementing new government policies. The conclusions he draws challenge the common assertions as to why professionals show resistance to adopting change

Policy Alienation: Analyzing the experiences of public professionals with new policies

Currently, there is an intense debate on the pressures public professionals face in service delivery. Many professionals show increasing discontent toward policies they have to implement. In healthcare, psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists demonstrated against plans of the government to implement Diagnosis Related Groups (Diagnose Behandeling Combinaties, DBC’s). Furthermore, many secondary school teachers had difficulties identifying with the Second Phase policy (Tweede Fase). These examples are not unique: public professionals often appear to have difficulties identifying with the policy they have to implement. This can have severe consequences for policy performance, but also for the work lives of these professionals. To date, there is no coherent, theoretical framework for analyzing this topic. In this study we build a theoretical framework of ‘policy alienation’. Policies in healthcare, social security and education are analyzed, using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. We selected policies which had a high degree of policy alienation, as well as policies which were more positively received. The conclusions of this study challenge common assertions about the reasons for resistance of public professionals towards policies. For instance, we found that professionals often agree with the business goals of new policies. They are unwilling to implement such a policy not because it focuses on business goals, but because it would not achieve those business goals. Furthermore, we nuance the impact of profess

Professionals zijn vervreemd van beleid

Professionals in de publieke sector zijn vervreemd van overheidsbeleid, waardoor de uitvoering van dat beleid hapert. Dat is geen angst voor verandering, maar werkers in de zorg en het onderwijs vinden nieuw beleid vaak zinloos. Politici moeten ophouden professionals van tekortkomingen te betichten ..

Policy alienation of public professionals: the effects

Nowadays, many public professionals face identification problems towards public policies they have to implement; that is, they experience policy alienation. We conceptualize policy alienation, starting from the sociological concept of alienation and showing how this can be used in the realm of policy implementation. Policy alienation occurs when a professional a) perceives he cannot influence the policy b) perceives the policy as meaningless and c) experiences conflicts between different groups (for example clients and management) because of the policy. We explore the effects of policy alienation by applying it to Dutch high school teachers implementing a new policy intended to prepare students better for higher education, in a small case study based on content analysis. We observe that when teachers experience policy alienation, their job satisfaction decreases. Next, the perceived workload of teachers implementing the policy increases when they experience policy alienation. Last, teachers experiencing policy alienation seem to be less effective in implementing the policy

The role of epithelial-to-mesenchymal plasticity in ovarian cancer progression and therapy resistance

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal of all gynecologic malignancies and the eighth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. The main reasons for this poor prognosis are late diagnosis; when the disease is already in an advanced stage, and the frequent development of resistance to current chemotherapeutic regimens. Growing evidence demonstrates that apart from its role in ovarian cancer progression, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) can promote chemotherapy resistance. In this review, we will highlight the contribution of EMT to the distinct steps of ovarian cancer progression. In addition, we will review the different types of ovarian cancer resistance to therapy with particular attention to EMT-mediated mechanisms such as cell fate transitions, enhancement of cancer cell survival, and upregulation of genes related to drug resistance. Preclinical studies of anti-EMT therapies have yielded promising results. However, before anti-EMT therapies can be effectively implemented in clinical trials, more research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms leading to EMT-induced therapy resistance

A simultaneous wage and labour supply model with hours restrictions

Labour Market;Production Function;labour economics

Test your self-leadership skills. How good are you in leading yourself?

When most people think of leaders, they think of famous people like Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, or (when talking about toxic leaders), Adolf Hitler. But why not think about ourselves in term of a leader? Academics and professionals interested in ‘self-leadership’ chose this path. Self-leadership literature can provide important lessons for professionals. Self-leadership has been shown to result in greater career success, more job satisfaction and less stress. Read this blog to test your own self-leadership skills and improve them