THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MANAGEMENT KNOWLEDGE: MANAGEMENT TEXTS IN ENGLISH HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATIONS (original) (raw)

ABSTRACT: We explore which management texts and associated knowledges are found in a major public services field: English health care. We initially wondered whether Evidence Based Management based texts might be present but we found few such examples. Instead, we found management texts written by authors from American business school and management consultancies. We argue their ready diffusion relates to two macro level forces: (i) the influence of the underlying political economy of public services reform and (ii) a strongly developed Business School/management consulting knowledge nexus. This macro perspective theoretically complements existing explanations operating at the meso or middle level of analysis which examine diffusion processes within the public services field, and also the more micro literature which focusses on agency from individual knowledge leaders.