Managing operations in professional organisations : interplay between professionals and managers in court workflow control

Abstract

In recent years, professional service operations management (PSOM) has gained attention in the literature as the importance of studying professional service settings from the operations management perspective has been acknowledged. Professional service organisations need to enhance their efficiency, which has prompted interest in research which focuses on how these organisations manage their operations. This need is especially evident in professional public organisations, such as courts of justice, where the resources are limited, and the efficiency needs remarkable. The literature addressing PSOM has focused on assorted themes but lacks a perspective on the central planning and control elements of operations management. Workflow control is one of these essential elements, because it concentrates on the concretisation of production plans and policies at a daily operational level. The objective of the thesis is to explore how workflow control is realised as an interplay between professionals and managers in one type of professional public organisation – a court of justice. To explore the realisation of workflow control, the tasks of both professionals and managers are identified. The study is conducted as a qualitative case study applying the grounded theory method. The study’s case organisation is the Insurance Court of Finland.

The study introduces a hybrid model of workflow control which describes how workflow control is realised as an interplay between professionals and managers. The study highlights that both professionals and managers play an important role in workflow control, and they conduct different types of task that are needed to control the entire workflow of the organisation. Professionals are identified as having great but limited selfmanagement in workflow control. Managers aim to affect the self-management of professionals in workflow control in different ways to respond to the efficiency needs of the organisation. The study makes an important contribution to the existing research on PSOM by providing new insights into the under-researched area of workflow control through an exploration of its realisation and its elements in a professional public organisation.