The financial crisis forces public managers to implement cutbacks within their organization. We argue that adopting a change management perspective contributes to our understanding of cutback management by adding a focus on managerial behaviour regarding cutback-related organizational changes. Relying on change management literature, this paper develops a framework for the analysis of cutback management connecting the context, content, process, outcomes and leadership of cutback-related change. From this it follows that managers can be positioned at the intersection of various imperatives, both externally and internally, such as their political leaders and their own subordinates. A research agenda is proposed.

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Despite efforts to increase gender diversity and equality worldwide, women are still underrepresented in leadership positions in public bureaucracies. This article speaks to the debate on how organizational context, more specifically organizational decline, may influence gender representation in such leadership positions. Based on role congruity theory and glass cliff theory this article empirically examines whether and how excessive workforce reductions are associated with changes in the representation of women in leadership positions in Dutch civil service organizations. Panel analyses on administrative data show that women's representation in leadership positions varies over time, but is not significantly affected by excessive workforce reductions. Overall, the analyses do not provide evidence for a glass cliff for women in Dutch civil service organizations. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

PurposeThis illustrative case study describes and evaluates drivers of effective inter-organizational collaboration to mitigate the impact and spread of COVID-19 among homeless people in two cities in the Netherlands. The aims of this study are: (1) to explore the strategic and operational policy responses in two local integrated care settings at the start of the crisis, (2) to identify best policy practices and lessons learned. The authors interpret and evaluate the findings by combining insights from the population health management (PHM) and collaborative governance literature.Design/methodology/approachThe authors describe and illustrate the experiences of two Dutch municipalities, Rotterdam and The Hague, in the early policy responses to sudden operational challenges around the impact of COVID-19 on homeless people as experienced by local decision-makers, medical doctors and clients.FindingsThe authors show that best policy practices revolve around (1) using data and risk stratification methods for identifying and targeting populations at-risk in local policy making, and (2) having an inter-organizational data sharing architecture in place ex ante. These two factors were clear prerequisites for tailor-made policy responses for newly-defined groups at risk with the existing and well-documented vulnerable population, and executing crisis-induced tasks efficiently.Originality/valueThis paper is among the first to illustrate the potential of combining collaborative governance and PHM perspectives to identify key drivers of effective local governance responses to a healthcare crisis in an integrated care setting.

Public managers need to interact with their political principals when managing cutbacks. However, research on cutback management did not put much emphasis on this interaction. We analyse how the interaction between public managers and political principals develops during cutbacks, and how this affects cutback management. We analyse these interactions between political principals and public managers as a public service bargain. This study employs an in-depth qualitative case study on recent cutbacks in the Dutch penitentiary system. The results show that cutbacks put the interaction between public managers and political principals under pressure. As political principals feel that public managers’ loyalty towards them is violated, they centralise decision making. Consequently, public managers are withheld responsibility for cutback management. Strong resistance to cutbacks from public managers and subsequent political uproar leads to both actors having to find a new balance in the bargain. Furthermore, it leads to changes in both the content (what is cut back back) and the process (how are cutbacks decided upon and implemented) of cutback management. The first conclusion of this study and our contribution to the cutback management literature is that if we want to understand the work and behaviour of public managers during cutbacks, we cannot neglect the political context public managers work in. Second, we contribute to the literature on PSBs, as we conclude that cutbacks, even if they do not impact the institutional, formal part of the bargain, have the potential to affect public service bargains and thus, the interactions between public managers and political principals.