Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

NHS Trust Chief Executives as Heroes?

  • Published:
Health Care Analysis Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper presents a reading of the transcripts of interviews withNHS Trust Chief Executives. Using a poststructuralist understanding ofthe interviews, it privileges a reading that (ironically) representsthese Chief Executives as heroes. Following the classic hero story line,they leave the civilized order of home and journey into a threateningwilderness where they encounter dangerous and magical things butovercome them all because of their masculine characteristics such asrationality, strength and resourcefulness. One way in which thesestories can be understood to have significance is that they(misleadingly but powerfully) portray management as obvious andnecessary by evocatively drawing on a myth of ancient origin. The piececoncludes with some reflections on the ontological implications of theanalysis and reflexive comments on the production of truth as aproblem.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alvesson, M. and Karreman, D. (2000) Taking the Linguistic Turn in Organizational Research: Challenges, Responses, Consequences.' Journal of Applied Behavioural Science 36(2), 136-158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvesson, M. and Skoldberg, K. (2000) Reflexive Methodology: New Vistas for Qualitative Research. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barthes, R. (1973) Mythologies. London: Paladin Grafton Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellavita, C. (1991) The Public Administrator as Hero, Administration and Society 23(2), 155-185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowles, M. (1997) The Myth of Management: Directions and Failure in Contemporary Organizations', Human Relations 50(7), 779-803.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brower, R.A. (1971) Hero & Saint: Shakespeare and the Graeco-Roman Heroic Tradition. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calas, M.B. and Smircich, L. (1992) Re-writing Gender into Organizational Theorizing: Directions from Feminist Perspectives. In: M. Reed and M. Hughes (Eds.), Rethinking Organization: New Directions in Organization Theory and Analysis (pp. 227-253). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, J. (1949) The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: Pantheon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Checkland, P. (1997) Rhetoric and Reality in Contracting: Research in and on the National Health Service. In R. Flynn and G. Willims (Eds.), Contracting for Health: Quasi-Markets and the National Health Service (pp. 115-134). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chia, R. (1996) Metaphors and Metaphorization in Organizational Analysis: Thinking beyond the Thinkable. In: D. Grant and C. Oswick (Eds.), Metaphor and Organizations (pp. 127-145). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chia, R. (1997) Essai: Thirty Years on: From Organization Structures to the Organization of Thought. Organization Studies 18(4), 579-604.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chia, R. (1998) Introduction. In: R. Chia (Ed.), In the Realm of Organization: Essays for Robert Cooper (pp. 1-11). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, R. (1990) Organization/Disorganization. In: J. Hassard and D. Pym (Eds.), The Theory and Philosophy of Organizations: Critical Issues and New Perspectives (pp. 167-197). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, H. and Mannion, R. (2000) Clinical Governance: Striking the Balance between Checking and Trust. In: P. Smith (Ed.), Reforming Markets in Health Care: An Economic Perspective (pp. 246-267). Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derrida, J. (1981) Dissemination. London: The Athlone Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferlie, E., Ashburner, L., Fitzgerald, L. and Pettigrew, A.M. (1996) The New Public Management in Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fineman, S. and Gabriel, Y. (1996) Experiencing Organizations. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flax, J. (1990) Thinking Fragments: Psychoanalysis, Feminism & Postmodernism in the Contemporary West. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flynn, R and Williams, G. (1997) ‘Contracting for Health. In: R. Flynn and G. Willims (Eds.), Contracting for Health: Quasi-Markets and the National Health Service (pp. 1-13). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flynn, R., Williams, G. and Pickard, S. (1996) Markets and Networks: Contracting in Community Health Services. Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fournier, V. and Grey, C. (2000) At the Critical Moment: Conditions and Prospects for Critical Management Studies. Human Relations 53(1), 7-32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabe, J., Kelleher, D. and Williams, G. (Eds.) (1994) Challenging Medicine. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabriel, Y. (1999) Organizations in Depth: The Psychoanalysis of Organizations. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gergen, K. (1992) Organization Theory in the Postmodern Era. In: M. Reed and M. Hughes (Eds.), Rethinking Organization: New Directions in Organization Theory and Analysis (pp. 207-226). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ham, C. (1995) The Grey Suits Deserve Better Treatment. The Independent (10 June), 15.

  • Harding, N. and Learmonth, M. (2000) Thinking Critically: The Case of Health Policy Research. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 12(3), 335-341.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, S., Hunter, D., Marnoch, G. and Pollitt, C (1992) Just Managing: Power and culture in the NHS. Basingstoke: MacMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hearn, J. (1993) Emotive Subjects: Organizational Men, Organizational Masculinities and the (De)construction of ‘Emotions'. In: S. Fineman (Ed.), Emotion in Organizations (pp. 142-166). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homer (1980) The Odyssey. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hourihan, M. (1997) Deconstructing the Hero: Literary Theory and Children's Literature. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, D.; McHale, J.V. and Griffiths, L. (1997) Settling Contract Disputes in the National Health Service: Formal and Informal Pathways. In: R. Flynn and G. Willims (Eds.), Contracting for Health: Quasi-Markets and the National Health Service (pp. 1-13). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, D.J. (1996) The Changing Roles of Health Care Personnel in Health and Health Care Management. Social Science and Medicine 43(5), 799-808.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, D.J. (1994) From Tribalism to Corporatism: The Managerial Challenge to Medical Dominance. In: J. Gabe, D. Kelleher and G. Williams (Eds.), Challenging Medicine (pp. 1-22). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeffcut, P. (1994) From Interpretation to Representation in Organizational Analysis: Postmodernism, Ethnography and Organizational Symbolism. Organization Studies 15(2), 241-274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerfoot, D. and Knights, D. (1993) Management, Masculinity and Manipulation: From Paternalism to Corporate Strategy in Financial Services in Britain. Journal of Management Studies 30(4), 659-677.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilduff, M. and Mehra, A. (1997) Postmodernism and Organizational Research. Academy of Management Review 22(2), 453-481.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitchner, M. (2000) The Bureaucratization of Professional Roles: The Case of Clinical Directors in UK Hospitals. Organization 7(1), 129-154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Learmonth, M. (1997) Managerialism and Public Attitudes towards NHS Managers. Journal of Management in Medicine 11(4), 214-221.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCartney, S., Brown, R.B. andBell, L. (1993) Professionals in Health Care: Perceptions of Managers. Journal of Management in Medicine 7(5), 232-240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malamud, R. (1980) The Amazon Problem. In: J. Hillman (Ed.), Facing the Gods (pp. 47-66). Dallas: Spring Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mark, A. andBrennan, R. (1995) ‘Demarketing: Managing Demand in the UK National Health Service. Public Money and Management (July-September), 19-21.

  • O'Connor, E.S. (1995) Paradoxes of Participation: Textual Analysis and Organizational Change. Organization Studies 16(5), 769-803.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter, J. (1996) Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, C. (2000) Reading and Writing Organizational Lives. Organization 7(1), 7-29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulman, P.R. (1996) Heroes, Organizations and High Reliability. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management 4(2), 72-82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, R. (1989) Leading in the NHS: A Practical Guide. London: MacMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strong, P. andRobinson, J. (1990) The NHS under New Management. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, P. (1993) Postmodernism-Fatal Distraction. In: J. Hassard andM. Parker (Eds.), Postmodernism and Organizations (pp. 183-203). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorne, M.L. (1997) Myth-management in the NHS. Journal of Management in Medicine 11(2), 168-180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Traynor, M. (1999) Managerialism and Nursing: Beyond Oppression and Profession. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willmott, H. (1998) Towards a New Ethics? The Contribution of Poststructuralism and Posthumanism. In: M. Parker (Ed.), Ethics and Organization (pp. 76-121). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, F. (1996) Research Note: Organization Theory: Blind and Deaf to Gender? Organization studies 17(5), 825-842.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, M.,Ferlie, E. andFitzgerald, L. (1998) Achieving Clinical Behaviour Change: A Case of Becoming Indeterminate. Social Science and Medicine 47(11), 1729-1738.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Health & Social Care Management, The University of York, Alcuin College `D' Block, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK

    Mark Learmonth

Authors
  1. Mark Learmonth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Learmonth, M. NHS Trust Chief Executives as Heroes?. Health Care Analysis 9, 417–436 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013816919776

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013816919776

Search

Navigation