Managers of street-level organizations play an important role in the successful implementation of public reforms. A prevailing view within the public administration literature is that this work involves the adaptation between reforms and local contexts, where divergence is viewed as a form of resistance to change. The paper challenges this prevalent reform-centric view by introducing a situation-centric perspective and coining the concept of situational work as a significant form of managerial work during implementation. Situational work encompasses managerial actions that ensure functional and well-ordered service delivery in local street-level organizations by accomodating everyday situational contingencies, including reform objectives, but also the interests and expectations of workers, clients, and local service partners. The concept of situational work, then, broadens the recognized scope of managerial activities that contribute to successful reform implementation, reconceptualizing divergence from reform design as constructive rather than as resistance to change. The paper draws on an extensive multi-wave study of a major organizational reform in Norway, based on observations of meetings as well as qualitative interviews of managers, union representatives, frontline workers and collaborating partners in six welfare service offices at three points in time (altogether 23 observation sessions and 173 interviews).

中文翻译：

---

抵制还是促进变革？基层管理者的情境工作如何促进公共改革的实施

基层组织的管理者在公共改革的成功实施中发挥着重要作用。公共行政文献中的一个普遍观点是，这项工作涉及改革和当地环境之间的适应，其中分歧被视为一种抵制变革的形式。本文通过引入以情境为中心的观点和创造情境工作的概念作为实施过程中管理工作的一种重要形式来挑战这种普遍的以改革为中心的观点。情境工作包括管理行动，通过适应日常情境突发事件，包括改革目标，以及工人、客户和当地服务合作伙伴的利益和期望，确保当地街道组织的功能性和有序的服务交付。因此，情境工作的概念拓宽了有助于成功实施改革的管理活动的公认范围，将与改革设计的分歧重新定义为建设性的，而不是对变革的阻力。本文借鉴了对挪威一项重大组织改革的广泛多波研究，基于三个时间点对六个福利服务办公室的经理、工会代表、一线工人和合作伙伴的会议观察以及定性访谈（共 23 次观察和 173 次访谈）。