Impact of institutional complexity on the role of middle managers as agents of change in the public sector

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.