Power relations between managers and politicians

The resign of managers in conjunction with university hospital mergers

Authors

  • Lars Nordgren Department of Service Management and Service Studies, Lund University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v19i1.15637

Keywords:

Leadership, Power relations, Resign, Subjectification, Trust, University hospital mergers

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to analyse how power relations drive hospital managers to resign in conjunction with three university hospital mergers in Sweden. Interviews were carried out with leading politicians and managers during two studies of mergers. In a third study, a paraphrased text from a previous study was used. Discourse analysis of the interviews revealed power struggles between politicians and managers, leading to situations of distrust. As the merger processes were additionally perceived to entail negative consequences for the patients and staff in the mass media the managers’ positions were undermined and they were in all the cases forced to resign by politicians. By using the notions of power relations and subjectification this power mechanism worked was analysed. Three themes emerged from the analysis; collision between values, displacement of responsibility and the resign of the manager. When leading politicians built alliances with leading professions in criticizing the hospital manager publicly, the manager lost trust.

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Author Biography

Lars Nordgren, Department of Service Management and Service Studies, Lund University

Lars Nordgren is Associate Professor in Service Studies at Lund University. He was a hospital manager 1983-1998 and was the manager of the section of Health Management at the department of Service Management at Lund University 2003-2008. His research interest is in the service sector with an orientation towards health management, leadership and marketization processes.

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Published

2015-03-15

How to Cite

Nordgren, L. (2015). Power relations between managers and politicians: The resign of managers in conjunction with university hospital mergers. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 19(1), 83–103. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v19i1.15637

Issue

Section

Original Articles

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