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Ethnographic research in an FE College (College X) between 2000 and 2005 was designed to uncover the extent to which quality self-assessment processes had effectively utilised productive motivational inputs (i.e. lecturer self-interest, intrinsic motivation, altruism and tacit knowledge) in line with New Labour's agenda of improved skills in students for employability and its egalitarian agenda of improved provision for disadvantaged students. The conclusion of such research was that top-down management within the college had limited the utilisation of productive motivational inputs because it created the context for contrived collegiality and impression management rather than course team reflection in line with New Labour's skills and egalitarian agenda. Research suggested that a more effective QSA process would require senior managers in College X to adopt a more distributed leadership style so that motivational inputs beyond selfinterest might be utilised, and to facilitate such leadership, a more de-centralised and trusting form of governance to shift the culture of College X from one of compliance with policy diktats to one of risk-taking and experimentation.

Ethnographic research in a further education College (Borough College) between 2000 and 2005 assessed the impact of performance indicators (PIs) within a department teaching GCSEs and A-levels. Research focused on PIs integral to the Learning and Skills Council funding formula, the Common Inspection Framework and newspaper league tables, and the extent to which these facilitated the utilisation of productive motivational inputs (e.g., lecturer and manager self-interest, altruism and intrinsic motivation) in line with New Labour's goal of students improving skills for employability and its egalitarian goal of needs-based equity for disadvantaged students. Research in Borough College provided significant caveats for the current Coalition government to consider in the design of performance indicators in 2013 relating to the nature of governance within which the use of PIs is situated. In particular, it suggests that an over-emphasis on the hierarchy form of governance at the expense of open systems to meet targets set may lead to the marginalisation of productive motivational inputs such as intrinsic motivation and tacit knowledge within internal policy and procedure. It also suggests that an over-emphasis on the rational-goal form of governance at the expense of self-governance may lead to a culture of performativity and student commodification if disadvantaged student cohorts are expected to achieve in line with the 'average' student encapsulated in national benchmarks.

Business and Law, University of East London. He is an academic member of the Charted Institute of Personnel and Management (CIPD) and has developed and lectured on organizational development, talent management, leadership and research methods modules for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes within the school. His research is particularly focused on the impact of education policy and governance on leadership and management, and the impact of this, in turn, on professionalism and teaching and learning in the Further Education sector.

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