Craig Matheson
Biographic Data
| ID | 3659433 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Craig Matheson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Craig |
| FAMILY NAME | Matheson |
| SIGNATURE | MATHESON C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 43 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Identifying and Explaining Organizational Cultures in the Public Sector
This article identifies and explains different cultures within the Australian Public Service (APS) using the interaction ritual (IR) theory of Randall Collins. It argues that such cultures vary along two dimensions: power and status. On the power dimension, we may distinguish three cultures: that of the order givers, that of the order takers, and that of those who both give and take orders. On the status dimension, we may distinguish localistic a…
Politics and Public Policy
The Motivation of Public Sector Employees
This article argues that psychological factors determine the content of people’s work motivations but that social factors determine their relative importance. The author identified six universal human needs and corresponding rewards, orientations to work, organizational control methods, and types of involvement. The author used data from a public sector organization to illustrate these orientations. He used Randall Collins’s ritual interaction th…
Understanding the Policy Process
Do Henry Mintzberg's writings make an enduring, invaluable contribution to our understanding of the contemporary public policy process? Mintzberg argues that organizations display eight structural configurations and corresponding coordinating mechanisms. Such structural configurations are shaped by a variety of contingency factors, especially power and environmental ones. Using Mintzberg's work, eight policy modes, corresponding to structural con…
In Praise of Bureaucracy? A Dissent From Australia
This article explores whether bureaucracy creates alienation, through a case study of the Australian Public Service. By examining the structural determinants of seven job characteristics, it shows that alienation is generated by six features of bureaucracy: its clerical work, control imperative, organizational structures, impersonality, instrumental rationality, and language. The author argues that by de-bureaucratizing and closely aligning indiv…
Are clerical workers proletarian? A case study of the Australian Public Service1
This paper explores whether clerical workers have been proletarianized by using the Australian Public Service (APS) as a case study. It shows that before the late 1980s the market, work and status situations of APS clerks were predominantly proletarian since they were typified by limited career prospects, low skill requirements, restricted autonomy; low organizational status and estrangement from senior management. This proletarian class situatio…
Policy Formulation in Australian Government
Studies of the policy process in Australia have focused on particular institutions or decisions rather than on its overarching properties. One such property is the vertical and horizontal ‘axes’ of policy‐making. The former comprises hierarchical relationships whereas the latter comprise relationships of bargaining, negotiation and persuasion. Vertical axes enable governments to take and enforce technically rational decisions in pursuit of consis…
The Sources of Upward Mobility within Public Sector Organizations
This article identifies four primary sources of upward mobility within public sector organizations, namely, ability, reputation, social credentials, and patronage. Ability is the single most important source, but the other factors taken collectively are at least equally as important. Reputation rests on three factors: ability, visibility, and demeanor. Social credentials comprise race, ethnicity, gender, education, personality traits, attitudes, …
Is the Higher Public Service a Profession
Professionalisation in the public services is regarded as essential but the concept is ambiguous and organisationally weak. Moreover, if not jeopardised by managerialism, public service professionalisation today faces some major barriers or limitations. Nonetheless, the public service may be able to maintain greater professional status with increased emphasis on job security, occupational closure and horizontal organisation. The prospects for suc…
Rationality and Decision-making in Australian Federal Government
The predominant view is that decision-making in Australian government is based on politics rather than rationality. This paper argues that while decisionmaking continues to exemplify incremental analysis, it does not for the most part exemplify incremental politics, that is, acts of negotiation, compromise and bargaining or 'partisan mutual adjustment'. This is the case for three reasons: decision-making conforms to models of rationality; the tec…
Weber and the Classification of Forms of Legitimacy
Weber and the Classification of Forms of Legitimacy
In Praise of Bureaucracy? A Dissent From Australia
This article explores whether bureaucracy creates alienation, through a case study of the Australian Public Service. By examining the structural determinants of seven job characteristics, it shows that alienation is generated by six features of bureaucracy: its clerical work, control imperative, organizational structures, impersonality, instrumental rationality, and language. The author argues that by de-bureaucratizing and closely aligning indiv…
Policy Formulation in Australian Government
Studies of the policy process in Australia have focused on particular institutions or decisions rather than on its overarching properties. One such property is the vertical and horizontal ‘axes’ of policy‐making. The former comprises hierarchical relationships whereas the latter comprise relationships of bargaining, negotiation and persuasion. Vertical axes enable governments to take and enforce technically rational decisions in pursuit of consis…
Understanding the Policy Process
Do Henry Mintzberg's writings make an enduring, invaluable contribution to our understanding of the contemporary public policy process? Mintzberg argues that organizations display eight structural configurations and corresponding coordinating mechanisms. Such structural configurations are shaped by a variety of contingency factors, especially power and environmental ones. Using Mintzberg's work, eight policy modes, corresponding to structural con…
The Sources of Upward Mobility within Public Sector Organizations
This article identifies four primary sources of upward mobility within public sector organizations, namely, ability, reputation, social credentials, and patronage. Ability is the single most important source, but the other factors taken collectively are at least equally as important. Reputation rests on three factors: ability, visibility, and demeanor. Social credentials comprise race, ethnicity, gender, education, personality traits, attitudes, …
Identifying and Explaining Organizational Cultures in the Public Sector
This article identifies and explains different cultures within the Australian Public Service (APS) using the interaction ritual (IR) theory of Randall Collins. It argues that such cultures vary along two dimensions: power and status. On the power dimension, we may distinguish three cultures: that of the order givers, that of the order takers, and that of those who both give and take orders. On the status dimension, we may distinguish localistic a…
Is the Higher Public Service a Profession
Professionalisation in the public services is regarded as essential but the concept is ambiguous and organisationally weak. Moreover, if not jeopardised by managerialism, public service professionalisation today faces some major barriers or limitations. Nonetheless, the public service may be able to maintain greater professional status with increased emphasis on job security, occupational closure and horizontal organisation. The prospects for suc…
Weber and the Classification of Forms of Legitimacy
Is the Higher Public Service a Profession
Professionalisation in the public services is regarded as essential but the concept is ambiguous and organisationally weak. Moreover, if not jeopardised by managerialism, public service professionalisation today faces some major barriers or limitations. Nonetheless, the public service may be able to maintain greater professional status with increased emphasis on job security, occupational closure and horizontal organisation. The prospects for suc…
Rationality and Decision-making in Australian Federal Government
The predominant view is that decision-making in Australian government is based on politics rather than rationality. This paper argues that while decisionmaking continues to exemplify incremental analysis, it does not for the most part exemplify incremental politics, that is, acts of negotiation, compromise and bargaining or 'partisan mutual adjustment'. This is the case for three reasons: decision-making conforms to models of rationality; the tec…
The Sources of Upward Mobility within Public Sector Organizations
This article identifies four primary sources of upward mobility within public sector organizations, namely, ability, reputation, social credentials, and patronage. Ability is the single most important source, but the other factors taken collectively are at least equally as important. Reputation rests on three factors: ability, visibility, and demeanor. Social credentials comprise race, ethnicity, gender, education, personality traits, attitudes, …
Policy Formulation in Australian Government
Studies of the policy process in Australia have focused on particular institutions or decisions rather than on its overarching properties. One such property is the vertical and horizontal ‘axes’ of policy‐making. The former comprises hierarchical relationships whereas the latter comprise relationships of bargaining, negotiation and persuasion. Vertical axes enable governments to take and enforce technically rational decisions in pursuit of consis…
In Praise of Bureaucracy? A Dissent From Australia
This article explores whether bureaucracy creates alienation, through a case study of the Australian Public Service. By examining the structural determinants of seven job characteristics, it shows that alienation is generated by six features of bureaucracy: its clerical work, control imperative, organizational structures, impersonality, instrumental rationality, and language. The author argues that by de-bureaucratizing and closely aligning indiv…
Are clerical workers proletarian? A case study of the Australian Public Service1
This paper explores whether clerical workers have been proletarianized by using the Australian Public Service (APS) as a case study. It shows that before the late 1980s the market, work and status situations of APS clerks were predominantly proletarian since they were typified by limited career prospects, low skill requirements, restricted autonomy; low organizational status and estrangement from senior management. This proletarian class situatio…
Understanding the Policy Process
Do Henry Mintzberg's writings make an enduring, invaluable contribution to our understanding of the contemporary public policy process? Mintzberg argues that organizations display eight structural configurations and corresponding coordinating mechanisms. Such structural configurations are shaped by a variety of contingency factors, especially power and environmental ones. Using Mintzberg's work, eight policy modes, corresponding to structural con…
The Motivation of Public Sector Employees
This article argues that psychological factors determine the content of people’s work motivations but that social factors determine their relative importance. The author identified six universal human needs and corresponding rewards, orientations to work, organizational control methods, and types of involvement. The author used data from a public sector organization to illustrate these orientations. He used Randall Collins’s ritual interaction th…
Politics and Public Policy
Identifying and Explaining Organizational Cultures in the Public Sector
This article identifies and explains different cultures within the Australian Public Service (APS) using the interaction ritual (IR) theory of Randall Collins. It argues that such cultures vary along two dimensions: power and status. On the power dimension, we may distinguish three cultures: that of the order givers, that of the order takers, and that of those who both give and take orders. On the status dimension, we may distinguish localistic a…
Political science (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Politics (5 works) · Public Administration (5 works) · Public relations (5 works) · Public Administration (4 works) · Public sector (4 works)