Towards a multi-actor theory of public value co-creation

This essay suggests changes to the theory of public value and, in particular, the strategic triangle framework, in order to adapt it to an emerging world where policy makers and managers in the public, private, voluntary and informal community sectors have to somehow separately and jointly create public value. One set of possible changes concerns what might be in the centre of the strategic triangle besides the public manager. Additional suggestions are made concerning how multiple actors, levels, arenas and/or spheres of action, and logics might be accommodated. Finally, possibilities are outlined for how the strategic triangle might be adapted to complex policy fields in which there are multiple, often conflicting organizations, interests and agendas. In other words, how might politics be more explicitly accommodated. The essay concludes with a number of research suggestions

The waking brain: an update

Wakefulness and consciousness depend on perturbation of the cortical soliloquy. Ascending activation of the cerebral cortex is characteristic for both waking and paradoxical (REM) sleep. These evolutionary conserved activating systems build a network in the brainstem, midbrain, and diencephalon that contains the neurotransmitters and neuromodulators glutamate, histamine, acetylcholine, the catecholamines, serotonin, and some neuropeptides orchestrating the different behavioral states. Inhibition of these waking systems by GABAergic neurons allows sleep. Over the past decades, a prominent role became evident for the histaminergic and the orexinergic neurons as a hypothalamic waking center

Co-research: a new methodology for new times

This article describes an innovative methodology based on inter-organizational collaboration between academics and practitioners, using a “co-research ” method that builds on but goes beyond the methodology of insider/outsider research teams. Co-research establishes a dialectical process of enquiry by drawing on the complementary perspectives, interests, skills, and knowledge bases of academics and practitioners. Co-research is based on a triad of research roles. First, the academic responsible for the research, who manages the research team and who contributes an “outsider” view of the organization. Second, the host manager employed by the organization being researched. This person brings an “insider” perspective on the organization. Third, the co-researcher from a different organization who carries out the research alongside the academic(s). He or she is an “insider” in that they are familiar with the type of organization being researched, but an “outsider” in that their own organization has a different context and processes. This article argues that co-research is effective in producing valid organizational research, partly through the harnessing of inside/outsider knowledge and partly through “surprise and sense-making” (Louis, 1980). The research paradigm is one of knowledge generation through a negotiated and dialectical approach to organizational processes

Recent Trends in Leadership: Thinking and Action in the Public and Voluntary Sectors

This report reviews recent developments in thinking and action in relationto leadership in the public and voluntary sectors, based on published and in press academic literature and in observed practices on the ground. The aim of the report is to stimulate discussion about the implications for leadership for health care

Leadership For Healthcare

Writing, advice and training on leadership is growing at a vigorous rate with various frameworks now competing for attention. Having a clear sense of which leadership ideas and practices are rooted in sound theory and convincing evidence, and which are more speculative, is vital for healthcare leaders. This book provides a coherent set of six lenses through which to scrutinise the leadership literature relevant to healthcare - leadership concepts, characteristics, contexts, challenges, capabilities and consequences. It offers a view of leadership beyond the traditional focus on the individual, and argues instead that leadership has to be understood and developed as a complex set of practices by many people within specific organisational and inter-organisational contexts and cultures. This framework is particularly valuable in the highly dynamic and changing context of the public and voluntary sectors generally, and of the NHS and the field of healthcare specifically. "Leadership for Healthcare" will be useful not only to those who have a formal or informal leadership position in a healthcare organization, but also to those in government, education, housing, leisure services, the police, fire services and the voluntary sector

Whole Systems Go! Leadership Across The Whole Public Service System

This report addresses the question: ‘What would it take to create more effective leadership of the whole governmental and public service system?

Co-research: insider/outsider teams for organizational research

About the book: Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research is an excellent resource for students and researchers in the areas of organization studies, management research and organizational psychology, bringing together in one volume the range of methods available for undertaking qualitative data collection and analysis. The volume includes 30 chapters, each focusing on a specific technique. The chapters cover traditional research methods, analysis techniques, and interventions as well as the latest developments in the field. Each chapter reviews how the method has been used in organizational research, discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using the method, and presents a case study example of the method in use. A list of further reading is supplied for those requiring additional information about a given method. The comprehensive and accessible nature of this collection will make it an essential and lasting handbook for researchers and students studying organizations

Creating the Public In Order To Create Public Value?

This paper extends and develops both the theory and the application of the notion of Public Value developed in Moore (1997) Creating Public Value, Harvard University Press, and transposes them into an alternative framework which starts with the public sphere and the collective as the primary units of analysis, rather than with the private market and the individual. The article addresses basic questions about public value, how, by whom and where is it produced, and how can it be measured. It argues that PV often depends upon processes of co-creation with citizens and users at the front-line. It also argues that public value is a contested concept which depends upon a deliberative process within which competing interests and perspectives can be debated. This requires the creation of a well informed “public” with the consciousness and the capability to engage actively in this kind of democratic dialogue