Us and Them – First-line Management and Change Resistance

Rønningstad, Chris

doi:10.18291/njwls.v8i2.106152

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…As the innovation policy initiative ends up in public sector organisations, the first-line manager's role as a "change agent" comes into play (Balogun, 2003;Huy, 2002;Rønningstad, 2018). While hierarchies have been increasingly flattened over the years, power and responsibility have become more distributed, leaving first-line managers with more operational assignments (Balogun & Johnson, 2004;Høyrup, 2012;Rønningstad, 2018). This affects change processes that take time and require a persistent focus and systematic effort.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As first-line managers are present in day-to-day operations, they are uniquely suited to follow up, inquire and encourage employees to engage in innovative practice (Beaudan, 2006;Rønningstad, 2018). They are closest to the employees who harness innovative potential, and they also have the power to create an environment that promotes innovation in the public sector (Høyrup, 2012;Wihlman et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Managers’ support for workplace innovation in the public sector: Wedged between expectations and conditions

Lidman¹,

Gustavsson²,

Eriksson³

2022

EJWI

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Over the past few years, public policy interventions have been initiated to promote public sector innovation. These top-down initiatives have been aimed at generating bottom-up movement, and first-line managers are believed to play an important role in this transformation. However, little is known about the challenges first-line managers face in their role as agents of change. This article therefore explores the expectations and conditions that first-line managers face when innovation support is implemented in municipalities. The article draws on 23 interviews with participants from three Swedish cases where innovation support has been implemented in the municipal context. The findings reveal that a multitude of expectations pointing towards an explorative logic are placed on first-line managers to lead, dare and support in connection with employee-driven innovation, but the conditions under which they operate point towards an exploitative logic. The managers find themselves wedged between high expectations and a lack of mandate, resources and organisational support for workplace innovation in the public sector context.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managers’ support for workplace innovation in the public sector: Wedged between expectations and conditions

Lidman¹,

Gustavsson²,

Eriksson³

2022

EJWI

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“…However, poor vertical alignment, excessive managerial workload, and poor functional support have been identified as key obstacles to successful development work among FLMs (18). In fact, one central hindrance to the development and implementation of needed changes in healthcare is deficient practical operationalization of strategies (19)(20)(21) and a lack of vertical alignment within organizations (22). In eldercare, studies have reported challenges regarding vertical alignment due to insufficient resources and followup in the implementation process (20,23,24).…”

Section: Supportive and Hindering Conditions For Trustworthy Implemen...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To support organizational capability, development leaders (DLs) and change-supporting functions at different organizational levels can support the conversion of resources generated in development projects into improved practice at operational levels ( 25 – 27 ), i.e., trustworthy management. Methodological and contextual knowledge along with legitimacy in communicating and negotiating between organizational levels are key features of these roles ( 21 , 28 ). There is little knowledge of the work and importance of DLs in managing necessary development work of different kinds during pandemic crises.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development Work in Swedish Eldercare: Resources for Trustworthy, Integrated Managerial Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dellve

Williamsson

2022

Front. Public Health

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The extensive needs for developments of eldercare addressing working conditions, care quality, influence, and safety was highlighted during the pandemic. This mixed-method study contribute with knowledge about capability-strengthening development work and its importance for trustworthy managerial work, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Questionnaire data and narratives from first-line managers immediately before (n = 284) and 16 months into the pandemic (n = 189), structured interviews with development leaders (n = 25), and documents were analyzed. The results identify different focuses of development work. Strategic-level development leaders focused the strengthening of old adults' capabilities. While operational-level leaders approached strengthening employees' capability. First-line managers' rating of their trustworthy managerial work decreased during the pandemic and was associated with their workload, development support and capability-strengthening projects focusing employees' resources. The study demonstrates the gap between strategic and the operational levels regarding understanding of capability set and needed resources for strengthening capabilities and trustworthy, integrated managerial work regarding safety, influence, and quality conditions for old adults and employees.

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“…The most critical stage of any change plan is the implementation which determines how the process can go forward. Therefore, the role of first line managers is the most important in this process (Ronningstad, 2018). Unfortunately, very few studies have been done in this area although it is considered the most important part of the whole process of bringing about change to organizations.…”

Section: The Difficulty Of Being the Change Agent And The Aftermath Omentioning

confidence: 99%

How Change Efforts in Public Organizations Overlook the Most Important Aspects of the Process

Kalantari¹

2020

UCPA

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The basic tenant of this article is dealing with the consequences of bringing about change to particularly public organizations. It argues that change is a must for any organization regardless of its nature due to the fact that everything inside and outside of any organization is in a state of change. Therefore, leaders of the organizations have to determine the direction of the forces that affect their organizations in order to bring meaningful changes to them. The article argues that the literature on organizational change does not realistically embrace the consequences and conditions for bringing about successful changes. Most of the literature deals with certain steps to follow in order to change organizations while the most important part of the change process is usually ignored. This work believes that in studying organizational change more attention has to be given to the organizational culture and attempts to change it. In addition, there has to be more focus on the "change agent" and how he can overcome employee resistance to change. In other words, in order to bring a successful change to an organization, the world of the "change agent" has to be taken into consideration and possible obstacles that he faces need to be studied.

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Us and Them – First-line Management and Change Resistance

Cited by 12 publications

References 40 publications

Managers’ support for workplace innovation in the public sector: Wedged between expectations and conditions

Managers’ support for workplace innovation in the public sector: Wedged between expectations and conditions

Development Work in Swedish Eldercare: Resources for Trustworthy, Integrated Managerial Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic

How Change Efforts in Public Organizations Overlook the Most Important Aspects of the Process

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