Professions, Paradoxes and Management: Empirical analysis of organizational change processes in a school setting

Reform of the public sector has been on the agenda in Denmark, as in many other western countries, during the last two or three decades. New Public Management (NPM) has had major implications for professions and the managers who are handling the changes and creating new organizations - “the front line providers and supporters of public services”, as they are described by Farrel and Morris (2003: 136). An overlooked aspect in the literature on professions is a focus on their processes in managing and impacting the changes when they are translated into practice (Sehested 1996; 2002, Ferlie et al. 2000, Farrel and Morris, 2003, Juel Jacobsen 2009). With an ethnographic approach and a concept of paradox as a lens to explore on-going processes, this paper investigates the interaction between management of professions in a Danish upper secondary high school. The purpose of the paper is to add to our understanding of management of professions. The following research questions frame the investigation: How do the professions manage their project when they are to create organizational processes of change that involve new understandings of their work, and what are the organizational implications? How do managers and professions respond to competing tensions? And what management characteristics are effective in attending to contradictory demands? The results of the empirical research seem to challenge basic assumptions generated by the classical professions` theory of autonomous and self-reliant professions (Larson 1977, Abbott 1988, Freidson 1986). These assumptions are repeated in newer organizational theory concerning professions (Ferlie et al 1996, Sehested 2002, Sognstrup 2003, Kragh Jespersen 2005) The empirical research of this paper, however, illustrates that the professions.&nbsp

Primus inter pares – paradokser, deadlocks og omveje i gymnasieledelse

Reform of the public sector has been on the agenda in Denmark, as in many other western countries, during the last two or three decades. New Public Management (NPM) has had major implications for professions and the managers who are handling the changes and creating new organizations - the front line providers and supporters of public services. This article investigates the changes initiated by organizational reforms as they are constructed in the interaction between managers and teachers in school contexts. The empirical basis of the article is case studies carried out in two types of Danish upper secondary high schools, Stx and Htx. The focus of investigation is the challenges and implica - tions for the actors involved in translating NPM reform into practice. The article uses an ethnographic approach and a concept of paradox as a lens to explore the ongoing micro-processes of change. As it is often the case, the managers are recruited among teachers according to the ‘primus inter pares ’ principle, i.e. the best among equals. Thus, they are former teachers, with the same academic background as the schools’ employees. The article argues that the position of a ‘primus inter pares ’ manager among professionals creates several paradoxes, deadlocks and detours, all of which strongly affect the work of change in the schools. The ‘primus inter pares ’ position not only creates unforeseen constraints in the management processes; but it also leads to organizational deadlocks. Organization - al paradoxes are reinforced when managers avoid managing out of respect for teachers’ autonomy in the new cooperative processes, while teachers express their need for more management in their efforts to fulfill the reform’s expectations.I denne artikel undersøger vi organisatoriske reformforandringer, som de konstrueres i inter-aktionen mellem ledere og lærere i skolesammenhæng. Det empiriske grundlag er casestudier i danske gymnasieskoler. Ved at benytte en etnografisk fremgangsmåde og et paradoksbegreb knyttet til en forståelse af professioner, undersøges mikroprocesserne, der er i spil i New Public Management-forandringer i skoleregi. I artiklen viser vi, at en position som primus inter pares-leder imellem de professionelle fører til adskillige paradokser, blokeringer og omveje, alle med effekt for arbejdet med forandringer i skolen. Konkrete paradokser identificeres ud fra det em-piriske materiale, og primus inter pares-ledelsens udfordringer udfoldes

Oversættelse af elevplaner i folkeskolen: Et casestudie i organisatorisk læringsperspektiv

Alice Juel Jacobsen, Michelle Nadia Werther and Stinne Tarp Klode Oversættelse af elevplaner i folkeskolen Et casestudie i organisatorisk læringsperspektiv. (Translation of pupil plans in the primary school A case study of organisatorial learning perspective). Since in 2006 the Danish parliament introduced pupil plans in the primary school they have been debated as a pedagogical evaluation tool. The aim of the pupil plans was to support teachers' work with systematizing summative and formative evaluation of the pupils' learning. It is the aim of the article to examine when possibilities for organisatorial learning arise in the work with the pupil plan. The article has been written against the background of a large case study about the use of the pupil plan in the Municipality of Greve (Klode and Werther, 2011). The article concentrates on two empirical examples of how and when the potential of organisatorial learning arises in connection with the teachers' interpretation of the intentions of the authorities and the leaders at Greve School. As a conclusion we will offer a suggestion of how Greve School can concretely work with and employ the organisatorial learning potential that has arisen.&nbsp

Oversættelse af elevplaner i folkeskolen: Et casestudie i organisatorisk læringsperspektiv

Alice Juel Jacobsen, Michelle Nadia Werther and Stinne Tarp Klode Oversættelse af elevplaner i folkeskolen Et casestudie i organisatorisk læringsperspektiv. (Translation of pupil plans in the primary school A case study of organisatorial learning perspective). Since in 2006 the Danish parliament introduced pupil plans in the primary school they have been debated as a pedagogical evaluation tool. The aim of the pupil plans was to support teachers' work with systematizing summative and formative evaluation of the pupils' learning. It is the aim of the article to examine when possibilities for organisatorial learning arise in the work with the pupil plan. The article has been written against the background of a large case study about the use of the pupil plan in the Municipality of Greve (Klode and Werther, 2011). The article concentrates on two empirical examples of how and when the potential of organisatorial learning arises in connection with the teachers' interpretation of the intentions of the authorities and the leaders at Greve School. As a conclusion we will offer a suggestion of how Greve School can concretely work with and employ the organisatorial learning potential that has arisen.&nbsp