CLARK Michael, DENHAM-VAUGHAN Sally, CHIDIAC Marie-Anne
Journal article citation:
International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, 10(1), 2014, pp.4-16.
Publisher:
Emerald
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss critical perspectives on what has become a dominant approach to public sector management and leadership in England and sets out a new conceptual perspective on leadership to improve this situation, namely a relational one.
Design/methodology/approach: A review of key literature on the topics discussed.
Findings: A new relational perspective...
(Edited publisher abstract)
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss critical perspectives on what has become a dominant approach to public sector management and leadership in England and sets out a new conceptual perspective on leadership to improve this situation, namely a relational one.
Design/methodology/approach: A review of key literature on the topics discussed.
Findings: A new relational perspective on leadership and management is proposed, along with epistemological, ethical and practical considerations.
Research limitations/implications: The paper proposes this new approach to leadership and management in the public sector, but no empirical findings are discussed.
Practical implications: The perspective proposes that an explicit consideration of relationships and contextual factors should lie at the heart of leadership and management and all its practice.
Originality/value: This is the first time that a relational perspective on public sector management and leadership has been explicated.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Subject terms:
literature reviews, public sector, leadership, management;
International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, 6(2), June 2010, pp.25-38.
Publisher:
Emerald
...way for policy development and implementation and service improvement is a major challenge of leadership. This article describes the creation of the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE), and how it was designed to bring together the local, regional and the national in a form that would see policy and practice mutually developed and nurtured at all levels of governance.
The National Service Framework for Mental Health was the policy document that shaped how mental health services and their development were described within England during the 2002 to 2009 period. It was designed to raise the standard of local services, and eliminate variations of the provision of care. However, the authors suggest that a narrow, excessively top-down, mechanistic target-driven approach can lead to a prevailing culture of ticking boxes at the expense of real patient priorities. Government ministers and civil servants, however, are often caught in a tension between being too dogmatic, or alternatively too flexible and giving responsibility to local agencies, whereupon people may complain about a ‘postcode lottery’ in services. Balancing perspectives and narratives in a coherent way for policy development and implementation and service improvement is a major challenge of leadership. This article describes the creation of the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE), and how it was designed to bring together the local, regional and the national in a form that would see policy and practice mutually developed and nurtured at all levels of governance.
Subject terms:
leadership, mental health services, policy formulation, social care provision, evidence-based practice;