At Your Service
Examining Disparities in the Salaries of Hospital Chief Executive Officers in the United States
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lesley Clack, Rachel Ellison
This study explores disparities among salaries of hospital CEOs in the United States. A common belief in hospital management is that male, Caucasian CEOs make significantly larger salaries than females and other races. Analysis of salary data was conducted utilizing online hospital salary databases. Demographic data were also collected. Results confirm that disparities do exist across the spectrum. The implications of this study are significant for the field of healthcare management as disparities can affect both social dynamics and organizational culture. Understanding where disparities lie is the first step towards bridging the gap and reducing barriers for cultural diversity within healthcare management.
The Relationship between Government and Civil Society Organizations: "Nobody Gives You Power; You Just Take It"
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tihomira Trifonova
The place and role of civil society has been the topic of a heated debate in many arenas, with priority on the academic and political. It is regarded as important for a variety of reasons, among them its impact on “social capital,” its role in public service delivery, and its political role. The functions of the civil society, such as articulating citizens’ interests and demands, defending their rights, and meeting their needs are deemed to be central to democratic accountability. In performing these functions, the civil society organisations (CSO) enter into several types of relationships with the governing authorities (Najam, 2000) and allegedly transform the power relations. This paper examines those relationships from a number of perspectives in an attempt to apprehend their nature, including what power is involved, how it influences the other side in the relationship, which relationships are productive, and what drivers they create. It analyses the changing forms and spaces of power through institutional arrangements and street-level strategies, with a focus specifically on the dimensions of public service delivery and political work, and investigates what is behind claims of increasing marketisation, managerialism, de-politicization, and convenience interactions. The conclusions are based on research and observations of national and various European CSOs, a qualitative dataset from interviews, and a structured questionnaire data. The analytical framework departs from strategic institutional interests, dwells upon whether reality gets strained by rhetoric and discusses the strength of identified explanatory factors.
The Demise of Accountability in Public Services: The Hidden Scourge of Sepsis
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Paul Stepney
Sepsis will be used as a focus to examine the demise of accountability in public services. Accountability is a contested concept and sepsis demonstrates what happens when accountability is eroded. Accountability is a slippery and contested concept in social policy, consequently, theoretical insights from Foucault and Habermas will help inform the debate. On 15 January 2013 my good friend and former colleague, Peter Henriques, died of Sepsis. Peter was a fit, healthy fifty-two-year-old man who was at the peak of his academic and professional career. Up until that sad day I had barely heard of sepsis and knew very little about it. However, when I began to research the condition I was shocked to discover that sepsis is responsible for more than 250,000 deaths every year in the United States and 44,000 deaths each year in Britain. Approximately 50% of deaths are due to late diagnosis and inadequate treatment by medical practitioners, thus preventable. During the past ten years the problem has been brought to the attention of doctors, policy makers, and managers (www.rorystauntonfoundation.com), so why has so little seemingly been done at a national level? The logical question that must be asked is who is responsible for not responding to this hidden sepsis challenge? The sepsis debate is intended to demonstrate what is at stake when accountability is eroded and what might be done about it.
