Transcript Document

chapter
15
Managerialism & Social welfare
By Janet Newman
Introduction
• This chapter focuses on social welfare in the UK
through the 1980s and 1990s
• The key elements of the social welfare system in the
UK are , Health ,Housing , Education , welfare and
children care .
• Newman explores the key themes in the restructuring
of welfare services in the UK.
• The author addresses the significance of the new
managerializm for decision making with reference to
the impact of the development on professional decision
making.
Introduction
• Managerialism as defined by Newman
means designing welfare systems as if
they are businesses. That is imitating a
market by introducing measures like internal
competition and performance measurement .
This is seen as an attack on classic
bureaucracy . It is described by some as
“enterprise” where the only virtuous
organisational type is enterprise & not
bureaucracy.
Post-war welfare state
• Bureaucratic administration was a rational, rule
bounded & with a hierarchical approach
• It provided the organizational context in which
welfare professionals, doctors , teachers and
social workers exercised their professional
judgment .
• This combination of administrative rationality
& professional expertise guaranteed
– the neutrality of the welfare state
– protected the exercise of professional judgment
• However , this regime was not without its critics
Critics
•
Socialist, feminists & anti-racists directed their critics
at professionals & bureaucrats.
1. Public choice theory (Neo-Liberal).
• Public choice theory is a branch of economics that
study the decision-making behavior of voters,
politicians and government officials from the
perspective of economic theory. It can be considered as
a bridge between economics and political science.
A- Politicians do not devote their lives for our benefits
• are motivated by self interest
B - Bureaucrats are self- interested utility-maximizers & will not carry out
always the wishes of politicians
• even if expressing public good
C- Inefficiency is in the best interest of bureaucrats
2. New Right Thinking (Neo-Conservatism)
• Focused on the social consequences not on
economic inefficiencies ( as in Neo-liberal)
• Focused on paternalism of the regime or the
“Nanny State Effect”
–
–
–
Encouraged dependency culture
Undermined self-reliance
Undermined moral welfare of society
•
Ex. Provision of housing & benefit to lone parents
encouraged unmarried women to have children
3. Political and bureau-professional powers were
seen to threaten any cultural change unless
there are yields to them.( local governments
verses central governments)
15.1 Dismantling the old organization
• The different forms of critics legitimated the
introduction of new managerial techniques and
the strengthening of managerial power.
• The success of this new managerialism is based
on its vision of the power of management to
transform rule-bound , inert & bureaucratic
corporations into dynamic & competitive
enterprises
• “Efficient management" is the key to waste
control , diminishing political powers and
introducing economies to the system and making
more self reliant citizens.
Bureaucracy is:
Management is:
Rule-bound
Inward-looking
Compliance-centered
Ossified
Innovative
Externally oriented
Performance centered
Dynamic
Professionalism is:
Management is:
Paternalist
Mystique-ridden
Standard-oriented
Self-regulating
Customer-centered
Transparent
Results-oriented
Market-tested
Politics are:
Management is:
Dogmatic
Interfering
Unstable
Pragmatic
Enabling
Strategic
15.2 Managerialism as discourse
• Managerialism does not form a unified body of
knowledge, but can be understood as a set of
discourses, each of which draws on a different
knowledge base. Each discourse is a structured
set of ideas which has an internal coherence.
• Studying different discourses of managerialism
can help to unlock some of the changes in the
roles, practices & purposes that accompanied
the process of welfare state restructuring
Managerialism Discourses
I. Neo-Taylorism
•
•
Characterized by cost control & decentralization.
Based on an assumption that :
–
Workers are individual units responding directly to fairly
simple incentives and punishments
Managerial control of the workforce could be enhanced by
the application of scientific principles of work design & an
organizational structure of scientific management.
–
•
When applied to public management, it refers to a
–
Strengthening of the control & measurement of work
through mechanisms such as:•
•
•
–
Target-setting
Performance indicator
Monitoring & control of the work process
Functional & mechanistic orientation .
• This discourse offers roles based on
– The elimination of waste
– Cost control
– Performance management
• The dominant language is based on :- Calculations
– Counting
– Measuring
– Assessing
• The focus is on inputs rather than outputs . It focuses on the first
two E’s ( economy and efficiency)
Conclusion
• Rather than getting rid of bureaucracy, it has sometimes
reproduced it.
• Meeting the financial target is the top priority for Neo-Taylorism
II. The Excellence Approach Discourse
•
Peters & Waterman conducted a study where they by
identified the ingredients of the US corporation’s
success and found the importance of “The
organizational culture”. They found that :The stronger the culture and the more it is directed
towards the market-place the less need is there for :-
•
–
–
–
•
The role of top management is
–
–
•
Policy manuals
Organizational charts
Detailed procedures & rules
To build a strong unified culture
Encourage workforce commitment rather than exerting
detailed control over work process
The mode of control is affective rather than directive
• This discourse has a strong link with a set of
related discourses such as :
– Human resources management
– Leadership & staff empowerment
– Focus on last E ( effectiveness)
Conclusion
• It gave rise to very different sets of injunctions.
• Achieving service improvement & satisfying
customers is the Excellence Approach essence.
• This form combined with Neo -Taylorism form
may be present in a single organization giving
rise to a mixed messages for the staff.
III.Consumerism & Quality Discourse
•
Consumerism view a service user
–
–
•
•
Not as a passive recipient of bureau-professional decision
But as an active participant in the process of defining needs
& wants ( i.e. enterprising )
The emphasis on customer was welcomed by many
professionals seeking to empower service users.
The idea of customer Centeredness, Quality and
Customer choice provided a new logic of legitimation
for government reforms
–
–
Changes is driven through the name of customer
Legitimation in terms of greater choice or increased
consumer power
Conclusion
• The discourse of consumerism implies shift in
roles , relationships and identities of welfare
providers
• They have to be
–
–
–
–
Responsive
Enabling
Empowering in their interaction with users
Judged according to their performances
IV. Business Entrepreneurship (The language of
business)
•
That is modeling welfare services on ideas & practices drawn
from the private sector.
It interacts with both Neo-Taylorism & the Excellence
discourses . In this discourse :-
•
–
–
–
Organizations should be more efficient with a firmer managerial grip on
performance.
Managers should have more freedom to respond to the demand of
customer.
Key figures are imported from industry & commerce to help transform
the institution of government.
 Conclusion
•
•
•
In Neo-Taylorism : managers are controllers
Excellence Discourse : managers are innovators & transformers
Business Discourse: managers are entrepreneurial actors.
15.3 Power, decision-making & the
reordering of relationship
• The focus is on the interaction between
managerialism & bureau-professionalism . Each
is the source of a different form of power , each
orders relationships in a particular way and each
gives rise to a different judgment in the process of
decision making. ( see table slide 21 )
• Concerning the 3 different forms of power , they
are:– Professional power
– Bureaucratic power
– Managerial power
A. Professional power
•
Based on the acquisition of special knowledge
& thus to claim expertise in making judgment
within a defined field of decision making and
thus affect resource allocation.
Knowledge
•
–
–
–
•
Enable professionals to diagnose problems
Identify & formulate needs
Categorize & treat “Clients”
Knowledge basis of professional bureaucracy
legitimate particular goals such as :–
Solving problems & treating clients
B.
Bureaucratic power
•
•
Decision making is based on the “Exercise of rules”
Viewed as a mean to ensure that decisions are made fairly on
the basis of equitable application of universal rules on
entitlement . It allowed discretion to the individual worker
within rules confines.
C.
Managerial power
•
•
Creates a conscious cost culture among employees.
Two strategies helped to define what or who should constitute
a legitimate demand on organizational resources adopted:1- “Cream skimming strategy which involves targeting a
service towards particular group users
2- “Boundary management” strategy which is concerned
with shifting cost between organizations.
Both form part of the managerial logic for decision making
•
•
Managerialism is based on the idea that managers must
be given the right to manage
• The place of managerialism in state restructuring was
more than simply a transfer of private sector practices
into welfare services , it was by itself undergoing
transformations. For-example in :a) Management/workforce relation : It should develop
direct relationship between managers & work force in
place of collective bargain.
b) Organizational & inter-organizational relationship:The
process of decentralization & the introduction of
market mechanism by process of fragmentation ,
diffusing and localization of decision making to
various parties is important.
Bureaucratic Professional Managerial
R
e
l
a
ti
o
n
s
h
i
p
Who has
access
Citizens
Gate keeping Legally
mechanism defined
entitlements
Extent to citizen
Access
knowledge of
shaped by
what is available
Clients defined
as having needs
Customers or
consumers
Professional
needs
assessments
Professional
groups
Rationing &
priority
setting
Cream skimming
& boundary
management
Basis of
decision
Application of Application of
universal rules professional
Limited
resources
Types of risk
taken into
account
Political
Financial,
organizational
knowledge &
expertise
Clinical or
social
15.4 The paradoxes of managerialism
• The idea that there has been a wholesale shift
from “old” public administration to a “new”
public management has been challenged as an
oversimplified view of change.Clark & Newman
raise two important difficulties in this shift.
1. Gaps between what is described in textbooks or
reports and what happens on ground
– Sometimes change is welcomed because it is seen to
bring benefits
– Sometimes it is actively resisted and if resistance is
strong enough , a particular initiative may be
modified .
2. They tend to tidy away some of the complexity &
messiness of change
–
Different managerial discourses may not easily fit together
since they require different management style . Hypocrisy
may occur . Tension may arise between an approach based on
winning commitment & giving staff responsibility for their
own performance on one hand and the constant monitoring &
checking by the center on other hand
• Some of the key tensions that may arise are between:
a) Centralization & decentralization
–
–
The key issues are the distribution of power between center
& periphery
The nature of the control systems put in place by the center
b) Flexibility & standardization ( due to centralization
tendency)
–
Ex. potential tension between central government or national
agencies and local government
c) Empowerment & control
– The requirement that welfare organization become
more business like implies a shift in culture
• Importance of the probity of process to achievement of
results
d) Management , policy & politics
– In practice it has been difficult to sustain a clear
boundary between policy (the realm of politics) and
administration
In conclusion : Evaluating Managerialism is not an
easy task . Efficiency has become the dominant
ethos in this new managerial regime but is not
sufficient as a single tool and as single imperative