Contextualizing managerial work in local government organizations

Abstract

This thesis is about managerial work in local government organizations. The purpose is to explain\nimportant aspects of managerial work with the help of a contextual perspective. The focus is on\nmanagers at the operational level of education, health and social care services, and technical\nservices. Two research questions are raised. The first question considers the relationship between\ncontext and managerial work: how does organizational context influence managerial work, and\nhow does managerial work influence organizational context? The second question is about\ncontextual variations within the municipal sector: does the organizational context for lower-level\nmanagerial work vary between differently gendered municipal services, and, if so, how can this\nvariation be explained?\nIn order to answer these questions, I have used a cross-level and comparative research design.\nThe design is cross-level in the sense that I consider how factors at different analytical levels\ninteract. The design is comparative in the sense that the services have been strategically selected\nto represent differently gendered municipal contexts.\nThe theoretical framework evolved mainly from management, organization, and gender theory.\nWith the help of Gary Johns’ (2006) framework of organizational context, I outlined a model of\nhow to understand the relationship between context at different levels and managerial work\npractice. Other central concepts in the thesis are Yvonne Hirdman’s (1988) idea of an\nomnipresent gender system and Joan Acker’s (1990) notion of gendered organizations.\nThe empirical work of the thesis consists of three quantitative studies (Study I, II and IV) that\nare based on a two-wave survey of over 400 operations managers in five different types of\nservices, and one qualitative study (Study III) based on eight interviews with managers, politicians\nand controllers in two different organizations. In the first study, the impact of organizational\ntraits on the unnecessary and unreasonable tasks in managerial work is investigated, using\nmultilevel regression analysis. The aim of the second study was to provide a measure that can be\nused in order to evaluate and compare organizational conditions for managers in different types\nof services. The third study is an investigation into how the generic traits of the New Public\nManagement have been implemented in differently gendered local government organizations.\nLastly, the fourth study explores variations in organizational conditions in differently gendered\nservices.\nThe first overall conclusion of the thesis is that the relationship between managerial work and\ncontext is recursive. Organizations are arenas of conflict in which different stakeholders try to\nturn their ideas into governing formalities. Managerial work practice is to a large extent governed\nby the formalities that constitute the organizational context, which would in turn cease to exist if\nnot for the daily work practices of managers and other organizational actors. The second\nconclusion is that there are systematic differences in organizational conditions between\ndifferently gendered services, and therefore a structural approach to gender is an important\ncomplement to more individualistic views on differences in male and female managerial\nbehaviour.

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