Street-level Bureaucracy Theory Research Articles

“User participation? Isn’t that what i do all day?” Implementing user participation in Norwegian mental health outpatient clinics: a street-level bureaucrat perspective

ABSTRACT In 2019, care pathways for specialist mental health services were officially launched in Norway. These pathways were designed according to several goals to improve services. One of the overall goals was to increase user participation. The purpose of this study was to examine how professionals, in their role as street-level bureaucrats, interpreted the overall goal of increased user participation and how this interpretation influenced the involvement of patients in treatment facilitation. A case study was conducted at one outpatient clinic for adults in western Norway using 10 qualitative, in-depth interviews with treatment personnel. Additionally, user participation in the care pathway was evaluated. The results indicated that mental health professionals interpreted the overall goal as indicating that user participation are integrated into professional practice, not something that could be isolated alone. Furthermore, the idea of involving patients in treatment decisions was rejected by utilizing two coping strategies: one strategy was understood as a mechanism of ‘routinizing’, whereby providers promoted the method they practice, and the other strategy was a mechanism of ‘rationing’, whereby providers became gatekeepers of access to certain services. By investigating street-level bureaucracy theory and related coping mechanisms, this study shows how these two mechanisms may move the provision of care away from patients to benefit themselves in a public service gap where there are never enough resources.

Between a rock and a hard place: Introduction program teachers’ narrated experiences of residency and citizenship language requirements in Scandinavia

This study investigates how language requirements for residency and citizenship influence the professional identities and sense of agency of introduction program language teachers throughout Scandinavia. While Denmark introduced formal language requirements two decades ago, language requirements were effectuated in Norway starting in 2017. In Sweden, requirements have been proposed, but not introduced. The data comprises narrative interviews with 24 experienced language and literacy teachers. Drawing on street-level bureaucracy theory and narrative positioning analysis, the study shows that the introduction of formal requirements represents a turning point in teachers’ professional narratives that are recognized as a gradual reduction of agency and a narrowing of the space where professional identities can be negotiated. Whereas the Swedish teachers largely identify as students’ agents, Norwegian and Danish language teachers to a larger extent, yet partly unwillingly, negotiate their professional roles at the intersection between policy and professional standards and in dialog with the policy demands.

Protecting vulnerability. An international comparison of social workers as street-level bureaucrats during the COVID-19 lockdown

Protecting vulnerability. An international comparison of social workers as street-level bureaucrats during the COVID-19 lockdown

Changing context, changing work? Comparing rural and urban contexts in social services provision in Italy

PurposeThe study compares the social services functioning in two local contexts, one urban and one rural, in the same Italian region, to understand how contextual features affect frontline workers' work.Design/methodology/approachBy applying the framework of the street-level bureaucracy theory (SLB) and proposing a framing of the spatial contexts under analysis, the present study adopts a qualitative approach. In particular, semi-structured interviews were conducted among street-level workers, decision-makers and privileged witnesses.FindingsThe study shows how the typical features of the rural and urban Italian contexts analyzed impact differently on the working conditions of frontline workers, leading to substantive differences in the possibility of exercise their role at the street-level.Originality/valueThe article contributes to a wider understanding of social services provision in a highly fragmented system like the Italian one by taking into consideration contexts that are usually little investigated in SLB and welfare studies in the Mediterranean Europe area: those rural and, in particular, those belonging to the so-called “inner areas”.

“You're only a receptionist, what do you want to know for?”: Street-level bureaucracy on the front line of primary care in the United Kingdom

IntroductionIn care settings across the globe non-clinical staff are involved in filtering patients to the most appropriate source of care. This includes primary care where general practice receptionists are key in facilitating access to individual surgeries and the wider National Health Service. Despite the complexity and significance of their role little is known of how the decision-making behaviors of receptionists impact policy implementation and service delivery. By combining the agent-based implementation theory of street-level bureaucracy with a tri-level analytical framework this work acknowledges the impact of the decisions made by receptionists as street-level bureaucrats and demonstrates the benefits of using the novel framework to provide practical insight of the factors influencing those decisions. MethodsA secondary analysis of qualitative data gathered from a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with 19 receptionists in the United Kingdom in 2019 was used to populate a tri-level framework: the micro-level relates to influences on decision making acting at an individual level, the meso-level influences at group and organizational levels, and the macro–level influences at a societal or policy level. ResultsAt the micro-level we determined how receptionists are influenced by the level of rapport developed with patients and would use common sense to interpret urgency. At the meso-level, influences included their position at the forefront of premises, the culture of the workplace, and the processes and protocols used by their practice. At the macro-level, participants described the impact of limited health service capacity, the lack of mandatory training, and the growth in the use of digital technologies. ConclusionsStreet-level bureaucracy, complemented with a tri-level contextual analysis, is a useful theoretical framework to understand how health workers, such as receptionists, attempt to provide universality without sufficient resource, and could potentially be applied to other kinds of public service workers in this way. This theoretical framework also benefits from being an accessible foundation on which to base practice and policy changes.

Discretion and its effects: analyzing the role of street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement styles

ABSTRACTThis research examines the intricacies of street-level bureaucracy, focusing on how bureaucrats’ discretionary powers affect their enforcement strategies during face-to-face interactions with clients. The study constructs an in-depth theoretical framework that blends elements from street-level bureaucracy theory and implementation studies. Structural equation modeling reveals a significant positive correlation between bureaucratic discretion and the perceived meaningfulness to clients, highlighting the roles of facilitation and accommodation enforcement style in determining enforcement approaches. However, the legalistic enforcement approach tends to create adverse impressions among clients and confines the decision-making capabilities of bureaucrats. The findings shed new light on street-level bureaucrats’ complex enforcement styles and behaviors, underscoring the critical interplay between their perceptions and enforcement methods in shaping their approach to policy implementation and public engagement. The study concludes by discussing these findings’ theoretical and practical implications, thereby enriching the conversation surrounding public administration theories and personnel management within public sector institutions.

On the Frontline of Global Inequalities: A Decolonial Approach to the Study of Street-Level Bureaucracies

Abstract This article aims to contribute to street-level bureaucracy (SLB) theory by bringing to the forefront the experiences and perspectives of the Global South. Our argument is that mainstream literature in this field overlooks the social tensions that are more explicit in developing societies, resulting in a structurally limited analytical framework. We identify two key factors from the Global South that are often underestimated: the high degree of social inequalities that fundamentally affect state–citizen relationships, and the ways in which the state itself reflects and reproduces these inequalities. Our critique represents a step toward decolonizing the field and highlighting the conceptual contributions that studies from and of the Global South can offer. By examining the experiences of the Global South, we can gain insights into the crises societies in the Global North are also experiencing. Our article aims to contribute to SLB theory by emphasizing the value of incorporating these perspectives into the study of SLB.

Discretion and Interpretation of Indonesia Social Forestry by Local Forest Bureaucrats: Evidence from Yogyakarta Special Region Province

Social forestry policies can be effectively implemented if lower forestry bureaucrats can translate these policies on an operational scale. In the Street Level Bureaucracy theory, the discretion of front-line bureaucrats also colors the course of public policy implementation. This study aims to explore the discretion and interpretation of Indonesia social forestry policies by local forestry bureaucrats. This research uses a documentary study, using policy documents issued by the Provincial Government of Yogyakarta and interview materials of 14 source persons from the local forestry bureaucrats and forest farmer group collected by Lutviah (2019). The results show some policy instruments regulate the mechanism and profit-sharing of social forestry management. The discretion prove the local forestry bureaucrats prefer forestry partnership cooperation schemes to the licensing schemes (i.e., community forestry or Hutan Kemasyarakatn). Ecotourism environmental services are also preferred to the timber forest products due to the complexity and complicated procedures for timber harvesting. This study indicates that there is a creative discretion of local forestry bureaucrats in implementing Indonesia social forestry with the motive of obtaining local revenue from social forestry schemes, but some policy recommendation should be improved by the central government to accelerate the adoption of social forestry nationally.

IMPLEMENTATION OF ADOPTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: PERSPECTIVES FROM PRACTITIONERS IN THE WESTERN CAPE

In South Africa adoption as a form of alternative care had decreased despite a supportive legal and policy environment. This qualitative exploratory study explored adoption policy implementation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four social workers and two magistrates implementing adoption in the Western Cape. Data were thematically analysed using Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracy. Results indicate significant problems in implementation, including lack of adoption services by the Department of Social Development (DSD) social workers; overuse of foster care; and difficulties in registration of the birth of abandoned babies and babies assumed to be foreign. Recommendations for practice are provided. Keywords: adoption, alternative care, legal and policy framework, legal policy framework, policy implementation, practitioners, street-level bureaucracy

A Burocracia de Nível de Rua na Discricionariedade Docente

ABSTRACT This study aims to analyze teacher’s performance as a street-level bureaucrat and the role of teachers’ discretionary power in schools. The article presents result of a survey carried out in 2019, in a public school in São Gonçalo/RJ. Its theoretical contribution seeks a dialogue with assumptions of Lipsky’s Street-Level Bureaucracy theory (1980), in order to understand politics in its last phase of execution and the action of the subjects. The results showed an important teacher’s discretionary power as a factor in the reconfiguration of the school’s public policies, especially in relation to its interaction with the other actors involved in the implementation process.

Sample collection as a social process: the influence of interaction between doping control officers and athletes on the implementation of anti-doping policy

ABSTRACT In anti-doping policy, the doping control process is approached from a technical point of view in which sample collection is a mechanical part of a standard procedure. In this study, we problematise that perspective by critically examining sample collection as a social process: an encounter between a front-line worker – the Doping Control Officer (DCO) – and a reviewed person – the athlete – who interact with each other. Building on Lipsky’s theory of street level bureaucracy and Goffman’s dramaturgical perspective, we analyse how sample collection works in practice, what strategies DCOs employ to deal with this intrusive process, and what influence their interaction with athletes has on the implementation of anti-doping policy. As DCOs have less clients, discretion, and autonomy, they differ from many other front-line workers. Nonetheless, sample collection is not a standardised practice that takes the same form and meaning independent of the situation at hand. DCOs and athletes make use of skills and strategies that allow them to follow strict procedures on the one hand and create a human, workable relationship on the other. Displaying dramaturgical loyalty, discipline, and circumspection, DCOs step out of their roles, show emotions and look for the boundaries of what is permissible. This does not necessarily mean that the reliability and credibility of anti-doping policy is at stake. It actually increases athletes’ confidence in doping procedures. It does, however, raise the question whether the ability of DCOs to apply discretion may elicit inequitable results in different settings worldwide.

A strategy is necessary. The policy–client conflict within different relational asymmetries: a comparison at the street-level

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the role of relational asymmetries in influencing the coping strategies adopted by frontline workers to deal with the policy–client role conflict.Design/methodology/approachA comparative analysis of three different services highlights the role of the service relationships characteristics in explaining similarities and differences in the strategies adopted by street-level bureaucrats (SLBs). The research is based on the secondary analysis of three case studies conducted in Italy: the reception system for homeless people, the job brokerage service in the public employment service and the dispute settlement procedure in the labour inspectorate.FindingsThe results underline the interaction between the characteristics of the service relationship and the different coping strategies adopted to deal with the policy–client conflict.Originality/valueThe contribution of this study is threefold. Firstly, the authors focus on the influence of the characteristics of the service relationship in terms of agency resources over SLBs’ strategies to face with users’ expectations. Secondly, the authors intend to discuss these issues analysing SLBs not only as agents with individual preferences. Thirdly, the research design allows the authors to return to the street-level bureaucracy theory its comparative essence, proposing a comparative strategy with an explorative intent.

Beyond the Front-Line: the Coping Strategies and Discretion of Lithuanian Street-Level Bureaucracy During COVID-19

This article presents the results of a project funded by the Research Council of Lithuania: ‘Public policy solutions and their improvement to overcome the COVID-19 crisis in Lithuanian municipalities: solution tools and service delivery.’ The research methodology is based on street-level bureaucracy theory and ongoing qualitative research in the form of interviews with social workers and doctors. Interviews were conducted in the Lithuanian municipalities which became the first COVID-19 hotspots in March-April 2020. The aim is to identify the response and coping strategies of street-level bureaucracy. The findings of current research suggest that the workload of street-level bureaucrats increased, the situation changed very rapidly, and there was a constant need to adopt rules and even recommendations issued by the ministry. Fear of COVID-19 infection, a lack of accurate information, uncertainty, and the possibility of allowing staff with children to leave the workplace led to staff shortages. This in turn motivated the administration and the remaining employees to look for suitable coping strategies.

Labour Input Logic of Street-Level Bureaucrats: Evidence from Chinese Market Supervision Commission

The theory of street-level bureaucracy and its relevant data have proven the expected duties of the frontline staff of local government may be excessive but their time spent working remains quite low. Using data from participatory observations of street-level officials in a Chinese city, this study reveals the logic of this labour input paradox. Organizational climate incentive and promotional incentive jointly influence the time allocation of street-level bureaucrats. The organizational climate incentive reflects the weak incentive characteristic of the maintenance function of labour; promotional incentives have a strong impact on motivation, which is characteristic of the promotional function of labour. These findings reveal the costs of the New Public Management movement in an organization lacking an effective promotion mechanism and a positive organizational climate incentive. This is a snapshot of the dilemma faced by China’s public organization reforms, but it is also a problem other country must solve.

Analysis of Vocational Subject Teachers’ Response for the NCS Learning Module Based on M. Lipsky’s Street-level Bureaucracy Theory

목적 본 연구는 단위학교 일선교사들이 NCS(National Competency Standards; 국가직무능력표준)학습모듈로 교육과정을 운영하면서 겪게 되는 반응과 이에 따른 대응기제를 Lipsky의 일선관료제이론으로 분석한 것이다.방법 NCS학습모듈 대응 설문 조사(단위학교 전문교과 교사의 NCS 학습모듈 편성운영 및 현황실태와 대응 조사), NCS학습모듈 대응 심층 면담과 코딩하기(Lipsky의 일선관료이론으로 NCS학습모듈 편성운영과 대응 취합 및 분석), NCS학습모듈 대응기제 분석(NCS학습모듈 정책집행방향 제안) 등의 순서로 진행 되었다.결과 첫째, 정책결정과 정책집행은 그 성질 면에서 본질적인 차이가 없다는 것을 알 수 있었다. 정책결정기관과 정책집행기관인 단위학교나 일선교사 상호간에는 지금보다 개방적이고 순환성을 가질 수 있는 NCS학습모듈을 운영해야 한다. 둘째, Lipsky의 일선관료제이론이 본 연구에서 재정의되는 부분은 다음과 같다. Lipsky는 역할재정의(changing role expectations)에서 일선교사(관료)들은 정작 요구되는 일은 회피하고 자신들이 원하는 역할만 수행하는 결과를 가져올 수 있다고 우려했다. 그러나 본 연구조사에서 일선교사들은 NCS학습모듈 교육과정 편성운영에 있어 회피나 역할기피로 반응하고 대응하는 것이 아니었다. Lipsky의 역할재정의와는 다르게 NCS학습모듈 적응 메커니즘을 형성하고 있었다. 셋째, 일선교사들은 교육과정의 재량권으로 정책집행의 순응을 지향하고 있었다. 그 순응의 방법은 재량권에 의한 단순화와 정형화라고 분석 된다. Lipsky가 일선관료제이론에서 일선교사(관료)의 직무수행에 있어 상당한 재량권이 중요하다는 사실이 본 연구를 통해서도 확인할 수 있었다. 일선교사들은 재량권을 통하여 NCS학습모듈의 부족한 부분에 신속하게 대응하고 있었다.결론 본 연구는 NCS학습모듈을 운영하고 있는 단위학교 일선교사를 연구대상으로 Lipsky의 일선집행관료제이론을 통한 반응과 대응기제를 분석했다. 연구과정에서 Lipsky의 일선관료제이론과 일선교사들의 정책집행에서 분석된 반응이 재정의된 경우도 있었다. 왜 이러한 대응기제가 나타나는지는 후속연구를 통하여 분석해 볼 필요가 있다고 본다. 본 연구가 일선교사(관료)의 NCS학습모듈 정책집행과정을 연구하는데 조금이나마 도움이 될 수 있기를 바란다.

In the centre or caught in the middle? - Social workers' and healthcare professionals' views on user involvement in Coordinated Individual Plans in Sweden.

Fragmentation of social service and healthcare services has been given attention in many countries and a variety of strategies and models are used in attempts to remedy the problem. In a parallel development, demands have been made that users/patients should have more influence over their own care, and research has shown that user involvement can support the recovery process. This article focuses on how professionals view user involvement in collaborative efforts in care planning, using the Coordinated Individual Plan (CIP) in Sweden as an example. Since 2009, social service and healthcare agencies are required to draw up CIPs when they are judged to be needed, with the purpose of improving the care process. An additional purpose is to increase users' involvement in their own care. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2019 with 20 professionals working within social service and healthcare agencies for people with mental health and/or substance abuse problems in the Stockholm region. Analysis was by qualitative content analysis. Findings show that professionals study experience ambivalence concerning user involvement in care planning. On the one hand, they support the user´s own demands of services and, on the other hand, they correct the user´s demands to fit the range of services and organisation of care. The user/patient's position is expressed as vulnerable, caught between caregivers who often safeguard their organisational duties and economical restrictions. These findings reflect the conflict predicted by Lipsky's theory of street-level bureaucracy. Professionals are expected to act as advocates for the user/patient, while at the same time exercising a controlling and gatekeeping function. The question is raised whether a model such as CIP provides sufficiently for factors which can counterbalance the power of the professionals relative to the user/patient in care planning.

Street-level bureaucrat in the introduction programme – client-centred and authority-centred strategies to handle challenging working conditions

ABSTRACT Departing from the theory of street-level bureaucracy, this article uses a qualitative approach to examine employment officers’ perceptions of working in the Swedish introduction programme for newly arrived migrants. The programme is managed by the Swedish Public Employment Service, and the aim of the study is to illuminate how street-level bureaucrats perceive the prerequisites of implementing integration policy within the introduction programme, and how they respond to these prerequisites. The study shows that the interviewees perceive the working conditions as difficult, characterized by a pronounced tension between organizational demands and migrants’ needs. To manage this dilemma, the street-level bureaucrats apply several coping strategies, and we highlight two broad patterns of practice. Within the client-centred pattern, attempts were made to use discretion to assist the participants in accordance with their needs. Within the authority-centred pattern, the street-level bureaucrats applied a formal and rule-oriented understanding of their assignment, concentrating their efforts on maintaining the functionality of the introduction programme. The most important implication of the study is that it reveals a mismatch between the politically formulated integration policy and the actual needs of the migrants, as perceived by the interviewees. The current integration policy is heavily influenced by a workfare logic, causing the introduction programme to be focussed on providing support connected to labour-market matching. However the programme lacks adequate structures to support its participants to handle e.g. practical, health-related and psychosocial issues that would indirectly facilitate labour-market participation. Thus, this study encourages politicians and policymakers to formulate a more holistic integration policy.

Challenges in implementing emergency obstetric care (EmOC) policies: perspectives and behaviours of frontline health workers in Uganda.

Uganda is among the sub-Saharan African Countries which continue to experience high preventable maternal mortality due to obstetric emergencies. Several Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC) policies rolled out have never achieved their intended targets to date. To explore why upstream policy expectations were not achieved at the frontline during the MDG period, we examined the implementation of EmOC policies in Uganda by; exploring the barriers frontline implementers of EmOC policies faced, their coping behaviours and the consequences for maternal health. We conducted a retrospective exploratory qualitative study between March and June 2019 in Luwero, Iganga and Masindi districts selected based on differences in maternal mortality. Data were collected using 8 in-depth interviews with doctors and 17 midwives who provided EmOC services in Uganda's public health facilities during the MDG period. We reviewed two national maternal health policy documents and interviewed two Ministry of Health Officials on referral by participants. Data analysis was guided by the theory of Street-Level Bureaucracy (SLB). Implementation of EmOC was affected by the incompatibility of policies with implementation systems. Street-level bureaucrats were expected to offer to their continuously increasing clients, sometimes presenting late, ideal EmOC services using an incomplete and unreliable package of inputs, supplies, inadequate workforce size and skills mix. To continue performing their duties and prevent services from total collapse, frontline implementers' coping behaviours oftentimes involved improvization leading to delivery of incomplete and inconsistent EmOC service packages. This resulted in unresponsive EmOC services with mothers receiving inadequate interventions sometimes after major delays across different levels of care. We suggest that SLB theory can be enriched by reflecting on the consequences of the coping behaviours of street-level bureaucrats. Future reforms should align policies to implementation contexts and resources for optimal results.

STREET-LEVEL BUREAUCRACY AND PUBLIC POLICIES: ANALYZING EDUCATIONAL POLICY IMPLEMENTATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the implementation of educational policies and the roles of school professionals considering the street-level bureaucracy theory (LIPSKY, 1980). This study assumes that educational reforms elect schools as planning and administration centers, making them and the professionals working there responsible for new attributions which are motivated by improved autonomy, in addition to administrative and educational decentralization. In these contexts, which are marked by schools’ increasing empowerment, the discretionary power exercised by its professionals (teachers, principals, coordinators, among others) is a key element to understanding the availability and implementation of programs and their ability to either influence or change the design of educational policies on a local level. This perspective emphasizes the importance of considering those closer to actions deriving from such policies, that is, the actors who see the bottom-up process because they are in the lower end. According to Lipsky (1980), these are the so-called local policy agents or street-level public agents. As for schools, we understand that to enforce a certain policy, factors such as interpersonal influence, commitments, and informal negotiations are as important as formal processes and regulations. Finally, this study attempts to prove the impacts and contours assumed by changes in school dynamics in terms of translating local educational policies.

The Dilemma between Self-Protection and Service Provision under Danish COVID-19 Guidelines: A Comparison of Public Servants’ Experiences in the Pandemic Frontline

To explore how COVID-19 altered public service provision and what lessons were learned from the first months, this study draws on sickness absence data, employee feedback data, fieldwork among vulnerable families and qualitative interviews with public servants responsible for vulnerable youngsters, children and families in four Danish towns. The analyses find evidence of a dilemma between self-protection and service provision across towns and public servants from the police and social departments. A relationship between situational knowledge and service delivery arrangements is uncovered and used to discuss the role of autonomy in public service provision within street-level bureaucracy theory. Note: In the interests of space, street-level theory and the pandemic context underpinning the articles for this special issue are discussed in detail in the Introduction to the issue.