Professional services such as educational services, are increasingly managed and optimized in order to improve performances. Performances of students, teachers and school (boards) are measured and evaluated. Increasingly, rules and systems focus on outputs and control. Consequently, the ‘freedom’ of professionals such as teachers is reduced, or is perceived and felt to be reduced. There have been growing debates on the problematic effects of performance pressures. Often, public professionals are seen as ‘defenseless victims’ of systems and pressures – they are ‘professionals under pressure’. In this paper, we introduce a more positive way of understanding professionals and professional action in changing contexts. We see professionals such as teachers as ‘active agents’ who can develop and regain control over their own situation. Professionals can deliver quality, in spite of bureaucratic burdens and managerial intrusions. We call this ability professional capability: ‘the ability to proactively deal with work-related expectations, tasks and burdens in dynamic stakeholder environments’. This paper combines research on public administration, organizational sociology and occupational psychology, to generate a more productive understanding of proactive coping of professionals in public domains. We define and operationalize professional capacity, we explore sources and effects, and we develop hypotheses for further research. |
Beleid en Maatschappij
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Redactioneel |
Redactioneel |
Auteurs | Ewald Engelen |
Auteursinformatie |
Artikel |
Professioneel vermogenProactieve ‘coping’ door publieke professionals |
Trefwoorden | Public professionals, Teachers, performance pressures, proactive coping, professional capability |
Auteurs | Prof. dr. Mirko Noordegraaf, Nina van Loon MSc, Madelon Heerema MSc e.a. |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Artikel |
Naar een oplossing voor het afwikkelen van massaclaims op de financiële markten: inzichten uit een responsieve evaluatieEen reflectie op het toepassen van de methodiek voor responsieve evaluatie op een controversiële en juridisch complexe kwestie |
Trefwoorden | Mass claim disputes, financial markets, collective settlement, responsive evaluation, constructivist inquiry |
Auteurs | Mr. Bonne van Hattum en Dr. Anne Loeber |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
The discussion on how to resolve mass disputes stemming from faulty financial products among banks, insurance companies and other stakeholders in the Netherlands ended in deadlock. While diligent action is considered imperative, parties shy away from discussing options for settling damages suffered by consumers for fear of triggering mass claims themselves. To contribute to a new framework for resolving mass disputes, a responsive evaluation was conducted between 2011 and 2015. In such evaluation, the way stakeholders make sense of the situation serves as an organizing principle in knowledge production. This article discusses the methodical challenges implied in adapting the methodological guidelines for such inquiry to fit the ill-structured, controversial and complex legal issue and its highly politicized context. Because of a careful handling of confidentiality in the inquiry and a focused selection of participants on the basis of their proximity to the issue, the evaluation resulted in insight in options for resolving mass disputes that are supported by various parties. Furthermore, the evaluation itself served, it is argued, as a vehicle to overcome the deadlock by sensitizing stakeholders to the fact that they all aspire similar practical objectives and all acknowledge the need for cooperation on the issue. |
Discussie |
Van ‘vermogen wint’ naar ‘werkend vermogen’? |
Auteurs | Caelesta Braun en Albert Jan Kruiter |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Reflection and Debate initiates academically inspired discussions on issues that are on the current policy agenda. |
Discussie |
Belastingen in Nederland: liberaal noch sociaal |
Auteurs | Drs. Robin Fransman |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Reflection and Debate initiates academically inspired discussions on issues that are on the current policy agenda. |
Discussie |
Meer werk, minder vervuiling |
Auteurs | Drs. Wouter Koolmees |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Reflection and Debate initiates academically inspired discussions on issues that are on the current policy agenda. |
Boekbespreking |
De kredietcrisis moet historisch begrepen worden |
Auteurs | Dr. David Hollanders |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
In this feature authors review recently published books on subjects of interest to readers of Beleid en Maatschappij. |
Boekbespreking |
Is de toekomst actueel?Piketty’s extrapolaties nader bezien |
Auteurs | Prof. dr. Martin M.G. Fase |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
In this feature authors review recently published books on subjects of interest to readers of Beleid en Maatschappij. |
Column |
Bescheiden en pluriforme economen |
Auteurs | Dr. Robert Went |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
In a column a journal editor or an author expresses his or her opinion on a particular subject. |