Impact of institutional complexity on the role of middle managers as agents of change in the public sector
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Date
15/08/2023Item status
Restricted AccessEmbargo end date
15/08/2024Author
Toscani, Denise
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Abstract
The last 30 years has seen a rise in international public sector reform, as
governments attempt to reduce public expenditure, and this trend shows little sign of
abating. In the UK public sector reform has led to the introduction of multiple and
contradictory logics around the organisational design and management of public
services. Middle managers are a key group in public sector organisations often
tasked with implementing these reforms and whilst much has been written about
middle managers as change agents how this role is impacted by environments of
institutional complexity has been largely neglected. This study seeks to explore how
middle managers experience and respond to institutional complexity as they engage
in a program designed to change the delivery of their housing repairs service based
on a new logic. The predominant method of data collection is 78 semi-structured
interviews carried out in two research settings over a period of 3 years.
An analysis of the data revealed that as new logics are introduced to the public
sector existing logics remain creating a highly contested and ambiguous
environment. Within this environment little was done by policy makers and senior
managers to mediate the impact of contradictory logics on middle managers, and
they were left to balance or fail to balance the resulting tensions. In response many
managers resorted to survival strategies including cheating and justifying, some
managers were adept at selecting, blending, and layering logics to influence the
direction of the change and a few managers refused to ‘play the game’ these
managers were often perceived as resistant to change.
A key strength of this thesis is in the linking of three streams of knowledge, middle
managers as change agents, institutional logics, and public sector administration
practice to provide insights for the progress of managerial practice, empirical
evidence for the expansion of current theoretical models of micro-responses to
institutional logics and a suggested framework for the consideration of those involved
in the design and delivery of public services to mediate the tensions experienced by
middle managers. For many decades, the value of middle managers has been much
debated with many voices suggesting middle managers are no longer needed. This
thesis is one of a growing line of narratives that demonstrates that middle managers
are needed more than ever in today’s ambiguous and contested environments.