IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v15y2010i1p68-76.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Portfolio-Based Performance Appraisal for Doctors: A Case of Paperwork Compliance

Author

Listed:
  • John Martyn Chamberlain

Abstract

This paper discusses the findings of research exploring the conduct of portfolio-based performance appraisal within medicine. Portfolios are now used throughout medical school and junior doctor training, in later specialist training, as well as to support the implementation of annual NHS appraisal of doctors as part of their employment contract. They will also play a role in the new medical governance quality assurance process known as revalidation, when it is implemented in 2010. The paper discusses how the growth of portfolio-based performance appraisal within medicine is bound up with the growth of managerial systems of surveillance and control within western health care systems. Theoretically, it draws upon a Governmentality perspective to analyse doctor's accounts of the appraisal process. This views appraisal as an information panopticon that to better enable social control seeks to construct appraisees as calculable and administrable subjects. However, the paper highlights how the doctors interviewed used the tacit dimensions of their expertise to engage in creative game-playing toward appraisal, adopting a stance of paperwork compliance toward it. Paperwork compliance leaves a paper trail that makes it appear doctors have complied with the technical requirements of performance appraisal when in fact they have not. The paper concludes that current reforms to medical governance introduced to ensure the general public is protected from medical error and malpractice, provide sociologists with an invaluable opportunity to undertake a dedicated research program into the performance management of medical work.

Suggested Citation

  • John Martyn Chamberlain, 2010. "Portfolio-Based Performance Appraisal for Doctors: A Case of Paperwork Compliance," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 15(1), pages 68-76, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:15:y:2010:i:1:p:68-76
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.2099
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.2099
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5153/sro.2099?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berg, Marc, 1997. "Problems and promises of the protocol," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(8), pages 1081-1088, April.
    2. Armstrong, David, 2002. "Clinical autonomy, individual and collective: the problem of changing doctors' behaviour," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(10), pages 1771-1777, November.
    3. Salter, Brian, 2007. "Governing UK medical performance: A struggle for policy dominance," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 263-275, August.
    4. Hood, Christopher, 1995. "The "new public management" in the 1980s: Variations on a theme," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(2-3), pages 93-109.
    5. Barbara Townley, 1999. "Practical Reason and Performance Appraisal," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 287-306, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Spendlove, Zoey, 2018. "Medical revalidation as professional regulatory reform: Challenging the power of enforceable trust in the United Kingdom," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 64-71.
    2. Gale, Nicola K. & Kenyon, Sara & MacArthur, Christine & Jolly, Kate & Hope, Lucy, 2018. "Synthetic social support: Theorizing lay health worker interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 96-105.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mykhalovskiy, Eric & Armstrong, Pat & Armstrong, Hugh & Bourgeault, Ivy & Choiniere, Jackie & Lexchin, Joel & Peters, Suzanne & White, Jerry, 2008. "Qualitative research and the politics of knowledge in an age of evidence: Developing a research-based practice of immanent critique," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 195-203, July.
    2. Diamond-Brown, Lauren, 2018. "“It can be challenging, it can be scary, it can be gratifying”: Obstetricians’ narratives of negotiating patient choice, clinical experience, and standards of care in decision-making," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 48-54.
    3. Ian Hodge & William M. Adams, 2016. "Short-Term Projects versus Adaptive Governance: Conflicting Demands in the Management of Ecological Restoration," Land, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Timmermans, Stefan & Almeling, Rene, 2009. "Objectification, standardization, and commodification in health care: A conceptual readjustment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 21-27, July.
    5. Rosta, Miklós, 2013. "New Public Management: opportunity for the Centre, thread for the Periphery," MPRA Paper 68474, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Tóth, Balázs, 2021. "Milyen kapcsolatban állnak a közszféra reformjai a gazdaságpolitikai paradigmákkal? [How reforms of the public sector relate to the paradigms of economic policy]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(2), pages 205-222.
    7. Mr. Richard I Allen & Yasemin Hurcan & Peter Murphy & Mr. Maximilien Queyranne & Mr. Sami Yläoutinen, 2015. "The Evolving Functions and Organization of Finance Ministries," IMF Working Papers 2015/232, International Monetary Fund.
    8. repec:cuf:journl:y:2017:v:18:i:1:moreno-enguix is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Ferry, Laurence & Zakaria, Zamzulaila & Zakaria, Zarina & Slack, Richard, 2018. "Framing public governance in Malaysia: Rhetorical appeals through accrual accounting," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 170-183.
    10. Ahgren, Bengt, 2010. "Competition and integration in Swedish health care," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 91-97, July.
    11. Ouart, Lydia-Maria, 2010. "„Umrechnen auf täglich“: wie in Pflegegutachten Zahlen entstehen," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 135-165.
    12. Marco Giovanni Rizzo, 2014. "La relazione tra il livello di coinvolgimento nel processo di budget, il commitment verso gli obiettivi, la soddisfazione lavorativa e i relativi risvolti sulla performance manageriale. I risultati di," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1), pages 9-34.
    13. Higgins, Angela & Porter, Sam & O'Halloran, Peter, 2014. "General practitioners' management of the long-term sick role," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 52-60.
    14. Auranen, Otto & Nieminen, Mika, 2010. "University research funding and publication performance--An international comparison," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 822-834, July.
    15. Nigam, Amit, 2012. "Changing health care quality paradigms: The rise of clinical guidelines and quality measures in American medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(11), pages 1933-1937.
    16. Fusco, Elisa & Allegrini, Veronica, 2020. "The role of spatial interdependence in local government cost efficiency: An application to waste Italian sector," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    17. Jens Sörensen & Erik J. Olsson, 2020. "Shadow Management: Neoliberalism and the Erosion of Democratic Legitimacy through Ombudsmen with Case Studies from Swedish Higher Education," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-13, March.
    18. Louise Hoyle & Aimee Grant, 2015. "Treatment targets in emergency departments: nurses’ views of how they affect clinical practice," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(15-16), pages 2211-2218, August.
    19. Hyndman, Noel & Liguori, Mariannunziata & Meyer, Renate E. & Polzer, Tobias & Rota, Silvia & Seiwald, Johann, 2014. "The translation and sedimentation of accounting reforms. A comparison of the UK, Austrian and Italian experiences," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 388-408.
    20. Nijathaworn, Bandid & Chaikhor, Suwatchai & Chotika-arpa, Suppakorn & Sakkankosone, Suchart, 2015. "Monetary Policy and Foreign Exchange Management: Reforming Central Bank Functions in Myanmar," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 431, Asian Development Bank.
    21. Mats Alvesson & Dan Kärreman, 2007. "Unraveling HRM: Identity, Ceremony, and Control in a Management Consulting Firm," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 711-723, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:15:y:2010:i:1:p:68-76. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.