دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی روند بازرسی مدیریت تغییر: اصلاح سیستم قضایی ایتالیا - امرالد 2017

Abstract

Purpose – In 2009, the Italian Government initiated a national programme to improve the management of judicial offices. Programme implementation has been patchy and unsatisfactory in all but a few cases. Against this background, the Law Court of Milan has achieved exceptional results and is now recognised as a good practice benchmark for Italy. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this case in order to reconstruct the local conditions for successful implementation of the national programme. Design/methodology/approach – To test a theory of the programme based on leaders’ engagement, their access to managerial knowledge, and the transfer and consolidation of that knowledge, the present study applies process tracing, a qualitative method that uses Bayesian reasoning to improve the accuracy of within-case inferences. Findings – The analysis shows how programme and context features interacted to support change. In particular, while the national programme succeeded in providing resources for leader engagement and knowledge access, the transfer and consolidation of managerial knowledge depended largely on a brokerage function performed locally between consultants and magistrates. Originality/value – The paper sheds light on the local conditions for change management and does so by employing an innovative qualitative method that improves the reliability of within-case inferences.

9. Conclusions

The Italian courts are typical of organisations that resist administrative reform. Magistrates constitute a closed group with a homogenous culture, self-government, a weak organisational hierarchy, and few managerial competences. In addition, BPJO was weak and vaguely designed, with no governance at national level. This made the LCM’s success particularly interesting. To test whether and how the programme was responsible for success, and whether case-specific factors interacted with the programme, the present study builds and tests a theory of programme success based on leaders’ engagement, knowledge access, and knowledge transfer.

The LCM case points to an interplay of local and programme features that together account for the success of implementation. While knowledge access is confirmed with no notable qualifications, the evidence in respect of both leaders’ engagement and knowledge transfer warrants further comment. In relation to leaders’ engagement, BPJO represented a ready-made opportunity for would-be innovators. In fact, LCM leaders were active in reforming their office even before the launch of BPJO, but they needed the programme to support their engagement and to provide the necessary momentum. This tends to confirm the ability of public sector leaders to make use of national programmes and political opportunities as focal events in support of their reform projects (Abramson and Lawrence, 2001). It should also be noted that BPJO was not only an enabler (i.e. a provider of resources), but also served as a framework for envisaging a more comprehensive reform strategy, which is congruent with the importance of framing change management efforts within a wider vision (Kotter, 1996, 2014).