I am interested to apply the theory surrounding the discretion of street-level bureaucrats to that of front line technicians, in the private sector, specifically aerospace. The accountability dilemmas developed by Thomann are of particular interest, but I am concerned that the validity of my dissertation could be undermined by applying this research to a for-profit organisation. My focus would be the customer support, “front line” environment, where multiple competing demands exist and implementation of policy can be complex.
Hi - personally I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to apply this framework in the private sector. The point of Lipsy’s framework is about the difficulty of mapping the complexities of the individual case onto the machinery of the state. It’s about public services as the full title of his book makes clear. I’ve referred to SLB in this Article Impossible Jobs or Impossible Tasks? Client Volatility and F...
Hi Kevin, thanks for the reply. Indeed, the majority of the research I can see refers to implementation of public policy. I had found some limited research, due to the hybridisation of public institutions (privatised), making reference to these actors and thought maybe I could extend it. I see some comparable elements, since certain industries are fully private, but heavily regulated, and considered therefore extending Lipsky's framework. Some of the motivations for frontline discretion seemed very similar, competing stakeholder demands etc. Thanks for the research, I will look at it.
This may not further your research, but it will entertain you along the way. Dilbert's Salary Theorem... We hear it all the time: "time is money" and as everyone knows, "knowledge is power." By definition, power is work over time; so knowledge must equal work over money. Solving for money, we get: money equals work over knowledge. Thus, the more you know, no matter how hard you work, you still get paid squat; but as knowledge approaches zero, money approaches infinity. This simple equation ($=W/K) explains bureaucracy and celebrity income.
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