Andy Adcroft

The (un)intended outcome of public sector performance measurement

Purpose – To consider the extent to which regimes of performance measurement in the public sector are fit for purpose, and the likely outcomes for public services and public sector workers of such performance measurement systems.Design/methodology/approach – The article considers four key issues: the context and content of performance measurement in the public sector, the specific examples of health care and higher education, the limitations of performance measurement systems, and the likely outcomes of performance measurement systems.Findings – Current systems of performance measurement in the public sector are unlikely to have a significant influence on improving services. The most likely outcomes of these systems is further commodification of services and deprofessionalisation of public sector workers.Originality/value – The article builds on established literature and offers a systematic metaphor‐driven critique of performance management in the public sector, and discusses the implications of this.

The mythology of feedback

Much of the general education and discipline-specific literature on feedback suggests that it is a central and important element of student learning. This paper examines feedback from a social process perspective and suggests that feedback is best understood through an analysis of the interactions between academics and students. The paper argues that these two groups will have their own mythology of feedback and that this will inform their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours in the feedback process. Where there are different mythologies, the outcome will be dissonance. The paper reports on a study in which a 15-item questionnaire was distributed to academics and students in a School of Law and a School of Management. Responses were received from 91 academics and 1197 students. The data suggests that academics and students have different perceptions of feedback and this creates dissonance as the two groups offer different interpretations of the same feedback events.

Missing the Point? Management education and entrepreneurship

The growth in management education generally, and entrepreneurship education specifically, has occurred at the same time as increasing importance is attached to management both as an activity for academic investigation and as a practical activity in both public and private sectors. This paper argues that the intellectual foundations of this growth are unsupported by a significant volume of evidence and so it is unlikely that the hope for economic outcomes will be achieved. In the specific case of entrepreneurship education, this paper recommends that the tension between prescription and recognition of the activity needs to be resolved by both academics and policy makers before the benefits of education in this area can be realised.

Support for new career academics: an integrated model for research intensive university business and management schools

The aim of this article is to examine the general and discipline-specific support needed by academics new to the profession. The article takes a social process approach to the examination of the experiences of new academics. The approach taken is, therefore, qualitative in nature and centres around a series of semi-structured interviews, carried out with new academics and senior managers in two research-intensive business schools in the UK. The research suggests that there are four crucial dimensions to successful career support for new academics: managing expectations, career management, mentoring and professional development. Whilst it is important to offer good practice in each of these dimensions, the article argues that it is the relationship between them which determines the quality of career support offered. The article offers a number of original insights into this issue, and contributes to both the literature on career support for new academics and to practice with a conceptual model which may have applicability across a number of different settings.

Is higher education in the UK becoming more competitive

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the extent to which recent changes in the UKs higher education sector are likely to increase the level of competition and change the behaviour of UK higher education institutions.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on a conceptual framework developed to understand competitive conditions and behaviours in order to provide an analytical device to guide the narrative of the paper. The paper draws on a number of national and international sources.Findings – It is likely that competition between UK higher education institutions will intensify in the future especially in light of the introduction of student tuition fees and this will lead to further changes in behaviour.Originality/value – The paper offers an original approach and conceptual basis to make a contribution to a growing debate about the future of the UK higher education sector.

A snapshot of strategy research 2002‐2006

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to assess both the philosophical underpinnings and contributions to knowledge made by research in the field of strategy in the five years between 2002 and 2006.Design/methodology/approach – The paper begins with a review of the literature on the philosophy, purpose, process and outcome of management research which leads to the development of a conceptual model. Following this, almost 4,000 articles from 23 journals are assessed on the basis of their philosophical underpinnings and contribution to knowledge. Findings are reported and implications are discussed.Findings – Most strategy research, especially in higher ranked journals, comes from a positivist perspective. Across all journals, most contributions to knowledge are in the form of stretching theory. There is a limited amount of reflective work in the strategy literature.Practical implications – Given the form and content of strategy research, it is increasingly unlikely that research will make the crossover from t...

The Crisis of Cost Recovery and the Waste of the Industrialised Nations

This paper argues the case for shifting the problem of advanced country competitivity onto the terrain of social accounting. It introduces new concepts such as cost recovery and social settlement, before presenting a range of empirical evidence which demonstrates the nature and extent of the current Western crisis about cash generation. The argument and evidence has important implications for policy. Under present conditions, free trade between high and low wage countries is likely to increase disemployment and encourage a pathological mutation of corporate behaviour and social institutions in the advanced countries.

Taking sport seriously

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce this special issue of Management Decision and discuss the key question “Should sport be taken seriously?”.Design/methodology/approach – The themes of the special issue are discussed and each paper is introduced.Findings – Sport should be taken seriously because it has a significance beyond the field of play. It has become a commodified activity which creates and consumes wealth and can be used as a context for management research.Originality/value – Rarely before has sport been taken seriously in a management research context. This guest editorial and the special issue that follows it begin that debate.

A new model for managing change: the holistic view

Purpose – In an age where organizational transformation is becoming more important to both the theory and practice of strategic management, the aim of this paper is to provide a model through which organizational transformation and strategic change can be understood in an holistic manner.Design/methodology/approach – In developing a model to explain organizational transformation, the paper draws on two different theoretical traditions. First, the paper draws on theories of political revolutions and, second, the paper draws on interpretative theories, in particular, speech act theory.Findings – The paper argues that in order to provide a realistic understanding of how and why an organization has attempted a transformational strategy it is important to consider four issues: the event which triggered the transformation, the program and process through which transformation was attempted, the outcome of the transformational strategy, and the myths which have been built up around the transformation.Originality/...

Theories, Concepts and the Rugby World Cup: Using management to understand sport

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to consider the versatility of management theory by testing it in a non‐management context, in this case sport in general and the Rugby World Cup in particular.Design/methodology/approach – The paper develops a theoretical discussion of performance and competitiveness into a conceptual model before using that model to analyse and discuss the causes of success and failure in the Rugby World Cup.Findings – Understanding the outcome of sporting contests is a complex activity. In the examples discussed, success or failure is the product of both the internal characteristics of the contestants and the external conditions of the contest itself. The findings of the research are robust in their reliability and validity.Originality/value – Originality lies in a number of areas. Theory is used to develop an original conceptual model and it is then tested in an original context. The value of the paper lies as much in the investigations it opens up as in the debates it closes.