Gatenby, Mark, Rees, Chris, Truss, Catherine, Alfes, Kerstin and Soane, Emma 
ORCID: 0000-0001-6090-1212
(2015)
Managing change, or changing managers? The role of middle managers in UK public service reform.
Public Management Review, 17 (8).
pp. 1124-1145.
ISSN 1471-9037
Abstract
Drawing upon interview data from three case study organizations, we examine the role of middle managers in UK public service reform. Using theory fragments from organizational ecology and role theory, we develop three role archetypes that middle managers might be enacting. We find that rather than wholesale enactment of a ‘change agent’ role, middle managers are balancing three predominant, but often conflicting, change-related roles: as ‘government agent’, ‘diplomat administrator’ and, less convincingly, ‘entrepreneurial leader’. Central government targets are becoming the main preoccupation for middle managers across many public services and they represent a dominant constraint on allowing ‘managers to manage’.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rpxm20/current |
| Additional Information: | © 2014 Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group |
| Divisions: | Management Grantham Research Institute |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Apr 2014 13:57 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Nov 2024 20:51 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/56363 |
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