Non‐élite employees’ perceptions of organizational change in English local government

Abstract

Setting the sceneThis paper presents the findings of a major quantitative study of employee attitudes survey within eight English local authorities. A representative sample of eight English local authorities, two from each of the major authority types (London boroughs, metropolitan districts, county councils and "shire" districts) were selected. These four authority types represent the strategic local authorities in England. In London and the six other metropolitan conurbations (Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire) there is only one tier of local government responsible for the provision of all local authority services. However, elsewhere in England there are two tiers of local government. These are the county and district councils which have the responsibility for service provision divided between the two tiers.The responses from the survey were then analysed using a management typology developed during qualitative research conducted in the same authorities which sought to ascertain élite perceptions of the organizational change process. In total 100 strategic élites were interviewed. The results of the qualitative research are reported elsewhere (Asquith, 1996).Following a brief summary of the typology, highlighting the main characteristics of each of the authority types, this paper will deal with the composition of the targeted population of non-élite actors. There is a general analysis of the overall rate of return from the various segments of the sample. Thereafter a detailed discussion will assess the results of the survey for each of the quantifiable items which were contained within the survey questionnaire. However, before this can be dealt with, it is essential to outline the basis on which the questionnaire was designed. Specifically what were the aims and objectives of the exercise and what hypotheses were to be tested by it?The emergence of "managerialism" or "new public management" has had major impacts on the roles and functions of public sector organizations in a number of countries (Hughes, 1994). In terms of English local government, this impact can most clearly be seen through the introduction of a number of management techniques more traditionally associated with the private business sector. Examples of this can be seen in the introduction of compulsory

Contrasting Views of Results-Based Management Tools from Different Organizational Levels

“…Asquith (1998) found that communication accuracy weakens the further an employee is from the ''strategic centre' ' (pp. 265-266).…”

“…Compared to line workers, for example, twice as many senior managers believed that organizational promotions were based on merit. Similarly, a study by Andy Asquith (1998) examined the perceptions of middle managers and ''street-level operatives'' regarding three different management styles among eight local governments in England. Asquith found that the further employees were from the ''organizational strategic centre,'' the weaker their commitment to the organization's objectives.…”

New College Hierarchies?

“…The use in colleges of business terms and job titles, such as chief executive or finance director, as discussed earlier, can be seen as an external manifestation of 'managerialism'. Incorporation precipitated the introduction into FE of managerialism which had begun, by that time, to pervade the public sector not just in the UK but also in a number of other countries (Asquith, 1998;Dixon et al, 1998). The significant impact of managerialism on the FE sector has been recognized and debated (Elliot and Crossley, 1997;Randle and Brady, 1997).…”

Full Issue

“…Extensive interviews were conducted with managerial and political elites to ascertain the nature of change management in the early 1990s. The findings were reported in Local Government Studies (Asquith, 1997), along with the results of an extensive employee attitudes survey in the eight authorities conducted at the same time (Asquith, 1998). Further, the article adds to the growing body of knowledge relating to the changing role of local authority chief executives (c.f.…”