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Supervising Professional Work under New Public Management: Evidence from an ‘Invisible Trade’[Note 1. The authors acknowledge the assistance of the UK Department ...]
Author(s) -
Kitchener Martin,
Kirkpatrick Ian,
Whipp Richard
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
british journal of management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.407
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1467-8551
pISSN - 1045-3172
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8551.00162
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , autonomy , limiting , ideal (ethics) , ideal type , work (physics) , public relations , control (management) , social work , new public management , professional standards , service (business) , sociology , public administration , business , political science , management , law , economics , marketing , engineering , public sector , social science , mechanical engineering , politics
This paper assesses the extent to which the new public management (NPM) project has succeeded in replacing the custodial mode of professional work supervision with a more bureaucratic approach. The paper conceptualizes the key components of each mode within two ideal types of professional work supervision. It then draws on findings from a study of local‐authority social service departments to consider current arrangements against these ideal type configurations. The findings demonstrate that elements of the bureaucratic mode have emerged unevenly. So far, they have not displaced the emphasis that the supervisors of professional work place on protecting autonomy and limiting management control systems. This suggests that custodial approaches to the supervision of professional work may be more resilient than has been assumed within previous analyses of NPM.