Engagement, Resistance and Restructuring: A Legal Challenge

Somatechnics ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-287
Author(s):  
Nan Seuffert
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Legal Challenge ◽  
New Public ◽  
Collective Resistance ◽  
Management Policies ◽  
The Impact

The raft of neoliberal and new public management policies and discourses that have risen to prominence in universities in the last few decades, combined with steep decreases in public funding, have resulted in profound changes to all aspects of university functions across not just Australia and New Zealand, but many countries with comparable public university sectors. These changes have impacted on strategic priorities, faculty and administrative structures, terms and conditions of academic and administrative staff employment, academic freedom and the role that universities play in a democracy. Scholarship on the impact of neoliberal economic and new public management policies in universities has blossomed in recent years. This scholarship has included some discussion of the extent to which individual and collective resistance to these changes, by academics and others, is possible, and the potential challenges of such resistance. This article considers a legal challenge to a restructuring, or ‘organisational change’, proposal at a New Zealand university. It begins by analysing the legal challenge in the context of neoliberal economic and new public management policies in universities in Australia and New Zealand, with a focus on the implications of the changing governance policies and structures in universities, and academic engagement with, and resistance to, those policies. It then discusses the case, considering the issue raised in light of recent scholarship. It argues that the case is relevant today as an example of a form of collective resistance to problematic aspects of new public management policies in universities.

scholarly journals Trabalhadores estatutários e a Empresa Brasileira de Serviços Hospitalares

Argumentum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-228
Author(s):  
Janine Vieira Teixeira ◽  
César Albenes de Mendonça Cruz ◽  
Rita de Cássia Duarte Lima
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Work Process ◽  
Psychological Counselling ◽  
New Public ◽  
Collective Resistance ◽  
Process Work ◽  
The Impact

Percepção dos trabalhadores estatutários sobre a implantação da EBSERH no HUCAMPerceptions of statutarian workers about the EBSERH’s implementation in HUCAMRESUMO A nova abordagem da gestão pública traz consequências ruins para os trabalhadores. A pesquisa teve por objetivo analisar o impacto da implantação da Empresa Brasileira de Serviços Hospitalares – EBSERH - na saúde dos trabalhadores contratados pelo Regime Jurídico Único – RJU - do Hospital Universitário Cassiano Antônio de Morais – HUCAM. O método qualitativo incluiu: entrevistas com trabalhadores e gestores, utilizando um instrumento semiestruturado; dados institucionais de atendimentos psicológicos e absenteísmo. Emergiram as categorias: Consolidação da EBSERH: Implantação, Principais Mudanças e Processo de (Des) integração; Trabalho: Processo de Trabalho, Metas Pactuadas com o SUS e Conflitos; Adoecimento no Trabalho: Insegurança, Desrespeito, Falta de Reconhecimento e Exclusão. Os trabalhadores desenvolveram diferentes estratégias de resistência: do embate, contestar, ao silêncio, só observar. Eles não conseguiram desenvolver uma resistência coletiva às imposições, o que gerou conflitos entre os trabalhadores contratados pela EBSERH e os do RJU, transformando o local de trabalho em um lugar adoecedor.   ABSTRACT The new public management approach brings bad consequences for the workers. The main objective of the research was to analyze the impact of the Empresa Brasileira de Serviços Hospitalares – EBSERH – implementation, on the labour health of workers hired with “Regime Jurídico Único”,  from Hospital Universitário Cassiano Antônio de Morais.   The qualitative method included interviews of workers and managers with a semi-structured instrument, psychological counselling data and absenteeism data. The categories raised was: EBSERH’s Consolidation: Implementation, Main Changes, and the (Des)Integration Process; Work: Work Process, Goals contracted with the SUS, Conflict; Work Ilness: Insecure, Disrespect, Lack of Recognizing and Exclusion. The workers developed different resistances:  conflict, like contesting, silence, like only observing.  They didn’t develop a collective resistance against the requirements, and conflicts between EBSERH workers against RJU workers took place, changing the work space in a place of sickness.  

scholarly journals The Neoliberal University in Ireland: Institutional Bullying by Another Name?

Societies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Margaret Hodgins ◽  
Patricia Mannix McNamara
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

New managerialism and the pervasive neoliberalisation of universities is by now a well-established phenomenon. Commentaries explore the political and economic drivers and effects of neoliberal ideology, and critique the impact on higher education and academic work. The impact on the health and well-being of academic staff has had less attention, and it is to that we turn in this paper. Much academic interest in neoliberalism stems from the UK, Australia and the United States. We draw particularly on studies of public Irish universities, where neoliberalism, now well entrenched, but something of a late-comer to the new public management party, is making its presence felt. This conceptual paper explores the concept of neoliberalism in higher education, arguing that the policies and practices of new public management as exercised in universities are a form of bullying; what we term institutional bullying. The authors are researchers of workplace culture, workplace bullying and incivility. Irish universities are increasingly challenged in delivering the International Labour Organisation (ILO) principles of decent work, i.e., dignity, equity, fair income and safe working conditions. They have become exposed in terms of gender imbalance in senior positions, precariat workforce, excessive workload and diminishing levels of control. Irish universities are suffering in terms of both the health and well-being of staff and organisational vibrancy. The authors conclude by cautioning against potential neoliberal intensification as universities grapple with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper reviews neoliberalism in higher education and concludes with insight as to how the current pandemic could act as a necessary catalyst to stem the tide and ‘call out’ bullying at the institutional level.

scholarly journals Waiting for the next wave: trajectories, narratives and conveying the state of public sector reform

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evert Lindquist
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The State ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
State Sector ◽  
Democratic Reform ◽  
New Public

With the adoption of the State Sector Act in 1988, the New Zealand public sector revolution was in full motion. The Act was one of many initiatives that provided a new framework for government and managing public services (Boston et al., 1996; Scott, 2001). New Zealand rapidly became the poster child for what became known as the New Public Management, and an archetype scrutinised around the world. The audacity and intellectual coherence of the New Zealand model became a standard against which the progress of other governments was judged. These reforms were part of  a larger social and economic transformation which led to dislocation and democratic reform. In the crucible of introducing and implementing these reforms, and in the inevitable re-adjustment phases, New Zealand gained a reputation for continuous reflection on its progress by its political leaders, government officials and a small band of impressive academics.

scholarly journals Accounting for control of Italian culture in the Fascist Ethical State: the Alla Scala Opera House

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Bigoni ◽  
Warwick Funnell ◽  
Enrico Deidda Gagliardo ◽  
Mariarita Pierotti
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
Far Right ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Public ◽  
Cultural Domain ◽  
Opera House

PurposeThe study focusses on the complex interaction between ideological beliefs, culture and accounting by identifying during Benito Mussolini's time in power the contributions of accounting to the Italian Fascist repertoire of power in the cultural domain. It emphasises the importance of accounting in making the Alla Scala Opera House in Milan a vital institution in the creation of a Fascist national culture and identity which was meant to define the Fascist “Ethical State”.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts the Foucauldian concept of discourse in analysing the accounting practices of the Alla Scala Opera House.FindingsFinancial statements and related commentaries prepared by the Alla Scala Opera House were not primarily for ensuring good management and the minimisation of public funding in contrast to the practices and expectations of accounting in liberal States. Instead, the dominant Fascist discourse shaped the content and use of accounting and ensured that accounting practices could be a means to construct the Opera House as a “moral individual” that was to serve wider national interests consistent with the priorities of the Fascist Ethical State.Research limitations/implicationsThe study identifies how accounting can be mobilised for ideological purposes in different ways which are not limited to supporting discourses inspired by logics of efficiency and profit. The paper also draws attention to the contributions of accounting discourses in shaping the identity of an organisation consistent with the priorities of those who hold the supreme authority in a society.Social implicationsThe analysis of how the Fascist State sought to reinforce its power by making cultural institutions a critical part of this process provides the means to understand and unmask the taken-for-granted way in which discourses are created to promote power relations and related interests such as in the rise of far-right movements, most especially in weaker and more vulnerable countries at present.Originality/valueUnlike most of the work on the relationship between culture and accounting which has emphasised liberal States, this study considers a non-liberal State and documents a use of accounting in the cultural domain which was not limited to promoting efficiency consistent with the priorities now recognised more recently of the New Public Management. It presents a micro-perspective on accounting as an ideological discourse by investigating the role of accounting in the exploitation of a cultural institution for political purposes.

Public Management Reforms: One-Stop Shops to Digital Government

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Knox ◽  
Saltanat Janenova
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Digital Government ◽  
Citizen Satisfaction ◽  
Sector Model ◽  
New Public ◽  
One Stop ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New Phase ◽  
Over Time

The concept of one-stop shops started as a relatively modest idea of providing information to public service users under one roof and helping citizens to navigate the complexities of multiple providers. Over time a business sector model accelerated the development of one-stop shops into a new phase of digitization influenced by the emergence of New Public Management with its emphasis on putting users at the center of public services provision. Technological progress afforded citizens access to the state and, in turn, promoted state-to-citizens interactions through multiple channels, both digital and physical. One-shop shops became inextricably linked to e-government which impacted both the developed and developing world, including authoritarian states. Although evidence of the impact of one-shop shops is still limited, not least because the concept has morphed over time, key improvements are listed as increased citizen satisfaction, reduced corruption, and greater efficiency. The pace of development has been such that the future suggests a move from one-stop shops to “no-stop shops.”

The impact of new public management instruments on PhD education

2009 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 543-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Schneider ◽  
Dieter Sadowski
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
New Public ◽  
Phd Education ◽  
The Impact

Budgetary control of Australian police services and the new governance of security

2005 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoît Dupont
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
New Governance ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Police Services ◽  
New Public ◽  
Budgetary Control ◽  
Hybrid Actors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Police Activity

Through the example of the Australian police services, this article examines the impact of the New Public Management tools on strengthening administrative accountability. Governments, faced with increasing social demand for security, have launched into political auctions on the themes of police activity and social control. Relationships between the authorities and the police administrators have been redefined, mainly through more rigorous budgetary control. After a rapid examination of the administrative context that led to the implementation of programme budgeting — the main government tool in this area — the article examines the tensions that resulted from its introduction. Particular emphasis is placed upon the limitations of such a tool in the field of security, which is undergoing profound reconfiguration as a result of increasingly frequent cooperation between public, private and hybrid actors.

Administrative reform in China's central government — how much `learning from the West'?

2008 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Christensen ◽  
Dong Lisheng ◽  
Martin Painter
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Central Government ◽  
The West ◽  
Public Sector Innovation ◽  
Chinese Characteristics ◽  
New Public ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Impact

The prevailing interpretation in the scholarly literature is that public sector reform in China during the period of marketization has been driven primarily by internal, contextual factors rather than being under the sway of particular global reform models or theories such as New Public Management. The aim of this article is to move beyond arguing from inference that `Chinese characteristics' continue to be dominant and to inquire into the manner and extent of external influences on central government reform actors. We assume a `multi-causal' model in which both internal and external factors are present. From a survey of the literature on the reforms, we conclude that, while there are some `unique' features, most of the themes (and even the results) of modern Chinese reforms are not unique and have parallels in Western countries. Moreover, aside from the similarities in the content and substance of administrative reforms, the patterns and styles of reform in China and in the West in the past 20 years show marked similarities and parallels. Thus, external reform ideas and influences are being diffused through reform processes. Further empirical and theoretical analysis is required to establish the more specific nature of scanning and dissemination, or other forms of diffusion; the kind of learning that is taking place; and the impact that any imported models or templates actually have on reform proposals and outcomes in particular reform episodes. Points for practitioners • Whereas many scholars tend to believe the lip service the Chinese leaders pay to the `uniqueness' of China's public sector reforms and their `Chinese characteristics', their leaders have been very eager to `learn from the West'. • Emulation and learning at a global level are key aspects of contemporary public sector innovation and reform, even between jurisdictions that are seemingly very different from each other. • The development of sophisticated mechanisms for scanning and selective learning are key requirements for a rapidly developing public sector such as China's.

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