Agency in the Discussion on Performance – Challenges and Management related to Multi-professional Work
Sanna Laulainen, Researcher, Department of
Health Policy and Management, University of Kuopio
Performance is the current demand from municipal services. Previously, performance was seen in terms of economy and efficiency. The concept also comprises aspects linked to effectiveness, quality, customer satisfaction and know-how (Lumijärvi 1999). Human resources are the key to performance, and therefore, it is important to examine the significance that personnel and other key agents assign it. What takes place when strategic discussion on performance meets everyday work? What kinds of conflict does this awaken in agents? Does the fact that most agents are female have an effect on the content of the conflicts and the ways of management?
Discussion on performance is both an explicit and implicit part of the everyday life of the work community. In this study on services for the elderly and child welfare, attention is paid to the content of the narratives from the research interviews and habits, especially in the light of conflict. The multi-professional context of the study is of particular significance.
The discussion on conflict is examined using content analysis to generate categories (for example, emotions concerning work and the nature of the work) and using discourse analysis to provide interpretation (for example, worker ant discourse). The content and discourse are analysed from the point of view of agency and managing. Agency is linked to small everyday practice and the wider sphere of having an effect. In the examination of agency, it is important to take the surrounding environment into consideration, as well as the conditions, prerequisites and the effects of agency. Agency can be approached either actively or passively (prioritisation, for example), and as such, is linked to the feeling of control and the actual or potential management ways of resolving conflict situations. In this way, the concept of management is multidimensional.
The examination of agency presents a challenge: how to go beyond the tension between the agent and structure (e.g. Giddens 1979, Archer 1995)? What is the relationship between agency and actions (e.g. Ruonavaara 2005) or management? The challenge is to find a theory or theoretical frame of reference that would provide content tools for the examination of agency in conflicts in the discussion on performance. In other words, which dimensions exist in addition to the dualism model and where do they come from? As women’s opinions are largely represented in the research data, its nature reflects issues specific to women. How significant is gender with regard to how and from where discussion on conflict is narrated, and how it is managed in narration and how these are interpreted?