Our research directly informs our teaching. The group leads the MSc in Public Policy & Management and makes contributions to the full suite of undergraduate, postgraduate and executive education programmes at King's Business School.
Undergraduate teaching
Staff members from the Public Services Management & Organisation department members contribute to various informal pathways through our undergraduate programmes, leading modules on public management, the theory and methods of organisational research, and studies of work and technology.
MSc in Public Policy & Management
We lead the highly regarded MSc in Public Policy & Management, an advanced interdisciplinary programme covering the management, organisation, funding, administration, and delivery of public services.
Postgraduate research (PhD)
We attract an impressive and thriving cohort of research students, examining cutting-edge topics and concerns. Each year we have fully-funded studentships available to excellent propspective PhD researchers, so please do get in touch with a potential supervisor within the department if you’d like to join us.
The Department of Public Services Management & Organisation has three themes that reflect our key research interests:
-
the management and organisation of public services, including studies of co-production in regulation and governance; the roles of social enterprises, private companies and philanthropic foundations in public service provision; outcome-based commissioning in the public services; and the evaluation of public programmes and initiatives;
-
professional work, including studies of new occupational and professional roles; professional expertise and skills; professional identities and leadership; interaction and collaboration in the workplace; and the impact of new technologies on work practices;
-
theory & methods of organisational research, including developments in relation to Cambridge Social Ontology and the theory of social positioning; histories of economic thought and management studies; the analysis of organisational documents; statistical analysis for policy evaluation; and the use of audio-visual data in organisational research.
We conduct our research:
-
in a range of settings, including health & social care, education & training, transport, local government, the utilities, financial markets, museums & galleries – crossing the public, private and third sectors
-
using a variety of research approaches, from in-depth qualitative analyses, through to large-scale labour market studies
-
in multi-disciplinary research projects, funded by the ESRC, EPSRC, Medical Research Council, Nuffield Foundation, National Institute for Health Research, Department of Health & Social Care, and more
-
in partnership with departments from across King's, universities in the UK and across the globe, and non-academic organisations, such as the Royal Academy, College of Optometrists, Royal College of Nursing, NTT Communications Lab, Pembroke House and the Elton John AIDS Foundation
The department generates well-cited publications in public management and organisation studies, as well as more broadly across sociology, economics, philosophy, political science and health services research.
Research projects
Principal investigators:
Andrew LaBonte.
Using of video and traditional methods, this project investigates how novices acquire the competence that is needed to work at extreme height.
Project status: Ongoing
Principal investigators:
Sylvaine Tuncer,
Christian Heath,
Paul Luff.
This project studies the interactional organisation of competition in auction sales, comparing the conventional and more recent formats.
Project status: Ongoing
Principal investigators:
Dirk Vom Lehn,
Christian Heath.
We are undertaking studies of how people experience exhibits in interaction with others and of how they embed information in their interaction at the exhibit.
Project status: Ongoing
Principal investigators:
Christian Heath,
Paul Luff.
Surgical procedures rely upon an array of tools and implements. Even brief delays can threaten the performance and lead to tensions within a surgical team.
Project status: Ongoing
Principal investigators:
Paul Luff,
Sylvaine Tuncer,
Christian Heath,
Menisha Patel.
Recently there has been a great interest in developing robots and artificially intelligent systems that interact with humans in more natural ways.
Project status: Ongoing
Principal investigators:
Paul Luff,
Sylvaine Tuncer,
Christian Heath.
These projects draw on workplace studies to suggest enhancements to innovative systems to support collaborative work.
Project status: Ongoing
How England's vocational education and training (VET) system could better support the school to work transitions of young people who don’t go to university.
Project status: Ongoing
Principal investigators:
Paul Luff,
Jon Hindmarsh,
Christian Heath,
Sylvaine Tuncer.
This project builds on research on collaboration in the operating theatre to investigate how the use of surgical robots reshapes the distribution of work.
Project status: Ongoing
Principal investigators:
Alec Fraser,
Clare Coultas,
Alexis Karamanos.
This service evaluation takes a methodological approach to explore a public health intervention with significant public management implications in South London.
Project status: Ongoing
Principal investigators:
Linh Dan Nguyen.
This research explores social interaction during interactive museum programmes, including both on-site guided tours and online collaborative art programmes.
Project status: Ongoing
The applied character of much of our work means that the Department of Public Services Management & Organisation’s work is high impact and we contribute to key debates in policy and practice through our work as members and advisors to expert panels and committees.
The Department of Public Services Management & Organisation submitted three high quality impact case studies to the last UK Research Excellence Framework and many of our members have key advisory roles.
For instance, colleagues have become members or advisors to groups such as the Number 10 Policy Unit; the Independent Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours; the ESRC Caucus on Innovation; the Health Education England ‘Talent for Care’ Implementation Group; and the NHS England Healthcare Support Worker Recruitment, Task and Finish Group.
28 September 2022
Research finds improved outcomes for patients with long-term conditions when paired with health…
20 April 2022
Elton John AIDS Foundation programme was effective in finding previously unknown cases of HIV
23 February 2022
Dr Clare FitzGerald led evaluation of the Departure of Culture, Media and Sport's Life Chances fund…
7 December 2021
It's not just about selling your house
31 March 2021
King’s MSc students help Young Westminster Foundation put young people’s experiences in the borough…
15 December 2020
Role provides a new route into nursing but more work needed to define its function in the wider team…
18 November 2020
Valuing the contribution of maternity and nursing support workers
24 August 2020
New research has analysed the effectiveness of apprenticeships across the public sector workforce
16 June 2020
The Co-Gov project explores how best to engage citizens in co-creating & producing public services
15 June 2020
The role of technology in tackling health inequalities