Search Results

Canada: Spreading managerialist ideas through politically independent bodies

Denis Saint-Martin

in Building the New Managerialist State: Consultants and the Politics of Public Sector Reform in Comparative Perspective

Compared to Britain, no political entities have resisted ‘specialists’ in the government or the creation of a style of administration that involved better training in modern management techniques. ... More

Compared to Britain, no political entities have resisted ‘specialists’ in the government or the creation of a style of administration that involved better training in modern management techniques. Canada's civil service has never been aristocratic; political leaders attempt to provide openings in civil service for individuals whose identities are associated with region and language. This chapter analyses the reforms that PRECEDED the 1989 Public Service 2000 initiative to observe how the Canadian state's experiences with bureaucratic reform affected the views of policy makers and the access of managing consultants to decision-making centres. This chapter gives a brief history of managerialism in Canada and cites specific cases such as Glassco to emphasize its prior bureaucratic experiences that may also have been influenced by American practices.Less

The Limits of Knowledge Management: Why So Many Barriers Still Exist

Georg Von Krogh, Kazuo Ichijo, and Ikujiro Nonaka

in Enabling Knowledge Creation: How to Unlock the Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and Release the Power of Innovation

Although some companies would indeed assert that knowledge creation is an essential in their processes, especially companies focused on innovation and high-technology firms, experiencing conflicts ... More

Although some companies would indeed assert that knowledge creation is an essential in their processes, especially companies focused on innovation and high-technology firms, experiencing conflicts and tensions within the company is unavoidable, as supporting and sustaining such knowledge creation is, without a doubt, an arduous task. Because traditional management techniques may no longer be appropriate in dealing with the process of knowledge creation, organizations and their members are bound to encounter several different barriers to sharing knowledge. Regardless of the managerial style imposed within a company, barriers to knowledge will still occur as the processes involved will concern various degrees of intellectual capabilities and human relationships. This chapter sheds light on such barriers, which can be classified into two interrelated categories — individual and organizational.Less

Should Financial Flows Be Regulated? Yes

Gerald Epstein

in Reforming the International Financial System for Development

This chapter argues that policies to better manage international capital flows should be part of the government “toolkits” of monetary and financial policy in facing the difficult challenges arising ... More

This chapter argues that policies to better manage international capital flows should be part of the government “toolkits” of monetary and financial policy in facing the difficult challenges arising from the global financial crisis. It first discusses the economic arguments for and against using capital controls, prudential regulations, and other “capital management techniques” to manage international financial flows. It then reviews empirical evidence on the impacts of such measures and the types of controls that governments can use to manage international capital flows, along with the costs, benefits, and effectiveness of different types of controls. It also considers the different policies countries have successfully implemented to achieve macroeconomic and financial stability, enhance policy space, and achieve other national development goals.Less

Choice of technique

Fiona Hicks and Karen H. Simpson

in Nerve Blocks in Palliative Care

This chapter discusses choosing the right technique to manage patients with pain. Before the World Health Organization provided the analgesic ladder and a wider range of drugs and routes became ... More

This chapter discusses choosing the right technique to manage patients with pain. Before the World Health Organization provided the analgesic ladder and a wider range of drugs and routes became available, some anaesthetists used peripheral and regional nerve blocks and spinal drug delivery. The general principles of nerve blocks are discussed, along with their indications and counterindications. The techniques, equipment, and environment needed to perform nerve blocks are examined in the next section. The chapter also discusses the drugs used for nerve blocks and the general complications associated with them, and concludes with a discussion on aftercare.Less

Spinal drug delivery

Fiona Hicks and Karen H. Simpson

in Nerve Blocks in Palliative Care

This chapter discusses spinal drug delivery, a pain-management technique that was discussed in Chapter 5. This technique was suggested more than 25 years ago, when opioid receptors were discovered in ... More

This chapter discusses spinal drug delivery, a pain-management technique that was discussed in Chapter 5. This technique was suggested more than 25 years ago, when opioid receptors were discovered in the spinal cord. The author presents the practical anatomy of the spinal canal, the anatomical issues in palliative care, and intrathecal drug delivery (ITDD) and epidural drug delivery. The chapter concludes that a multi-disciplinary approach is crucial for successful patient selection and management when one is considering spinal drugs. The various techniques for spinal drug delivery and spinal drug administration are discussed, along with the required equipment, drugs, and possible complications associated with these methods.Less

Out of the Blue Yonder: The Transfer of Systems Thinking from the Pentagon to the Great Society, 1961–1965

David R. Jardini

in Systems, Experts, and Computers: The Systems Approach in Management and Engineering, World War II and After

The present chapter explores RAND’s development of analytical management techniques for military purposes and the diffusion of these methodologies from the military context into broader social ... More

The present chapter explores RAND’s development of analytical management techniques for military purposes and the diffusion of these methodologies from the military context into broader social welfare policy-making applications. It concentrates on three main issues, first providing a brief discussion of RAND’s history, focusing on the processes of intellectual production at RAND and the ways in which the creation of techniques there was shaped by a military context. Second, the chapter traces the dissemination of RAND’s systems methodologies from the corporation’s quasi-academic setting to the highest echelons of the U.S. national security structure. Finally, it examines where and how RAND’s methodological innovations diffused beyond the military establishment into programs of the “Great Society.” In general, the chapter traces the consequences of Cold War technical development for American democracy and argues that the widespread adoption of centralized, elitist policy making in the federal government may have contributed to the alienation many Americans feel toward the national government.Less

Soft Capitalism Comes to India

Carol Upadhya

in Reengineering India: Work, Capital, and Class in an Offshore Economy

Chapter 4 describes the ‘New Age’ management ideas and ‘subjective’ techniques of organizational control that have been imported into the Indian IT industry, especially the promotion of ‘flat ... More

Chapter 4 describes the ‘New Age’ management ideas and ‘subjective’ techniques of organizational control that have been imported into the Indian IT industry, especially the promotion of ‘flat structures’, an informal work culture, and employee autonomy. It argues that the ideology of ‘soft’ management provides a powerful discursive framework through which actors interpret their experiences at work and fashion their selves and lives beyond work. The chapter examines how these ‘indirect’ management practices shape sociality in the workplace and the subjectivities of IT workers, how software engineers negotiate with the relations of power and forms of subjectification that the encounter at work, and how they navigate these complex workspaces while pursuing their own projects of self-fashioning and mobility. The chapter also addresses the question of power, agency, and identity in IT workspaces through an examination of the micro-politics of teamwork and the cultural politics of outsourcing.Less

Capitalism and the Rise of the Corporation Nation

Robert E. Wright

in Capitalism Takes Command: The Social Transformation of Nineteenth-Century America

Corporations are a well-established and the most prevalent economic institution in America. Incorporation was an effective method for coordinating physical capital, human capital, and money capital ... More

Corporations are a well-established and the most prevalent economic institution in America. Incorporation was an effective method for coordinating physical capital, human capital, and money capital that made it possible to take advantage of economies of scale and influence prices. In addition, it is central to the development of a credit base for financing the market system in general. However, these “economic” advantages became a political liability. Critics translated effective control over capital into a risky concentration of power and influence. Due to popular protest, the existing rules of incorporation were replaced with general procedures so that everyone was now entitled to the special privileges traditionally enjoyed by corporations. Yet the result was a rise in competition that renewed the focus on management techniques, which in turn shielded the corporation from public oversight and accountability. Financial capital did not give rise to capitalism. Rather, its appearance and proliferation were caused by capitalism.Less

The Worms Turn: 1962–72

in We'll Always Have Paris: American Tourists in France since 1930

The Marshall Plan had encouraged French businessmen to adopt American management techniques and use advertising to create mass markets. By 1950, the country noted for backward looking peasants and ... More

The Marshall Plan had encouraged French businessmen to adopt American management techniques and use advertising to create mass markets. By 1950, the country noted for backward looking peasants and penny-pinching small shopkeepers was boasting of technologically advanced industries turning out mass-produced consumer goods for a growing consumer market. The impressive increase in the number of American tourists able to travel to Europe, plus the fact that they were the most free spending of the foreign visitors in France, made them the prime targets for the French modernizers. The technocrats also tried to bring France's aging hotels up to American standards. Also, there was not much to attract tourists in the French “New Wave” films of the 1960s.Less