Ian Kirkpatrick is a Senior Lecturer in Organisation Behaviour at Leeds University Business School. He has conducted various research projects on management in public services including a major national study of social services funded by the Department of Health. His research interests are mainly in the area of management and employment change in public organisations and professional services firms. Recent books include: The Management of Children's Residential Care (with Richard Whipp and Martin Kitchener) and The Politics of Quality (edited with Miguel Martinez-Lucio). Stephen Ackroyd is Professor of Organizational Analysis in Lancaster University Management School where he is Head of the Department of Organization, Work and Technology. He has conducted various research projects in the NHS over the last twenty years (both alone and with doctoral students). Most of this research in the NHS has shared a focus on the organisation of professional groups within hospitals. This is only one of his research interests, however, and his recent books include: Organizational Misbehaviour (with P. Thompson), Realist Perspectives on Management and Organizations (edited with Steve Fleetwood) and The Organization of Business. Richard Walker is Associate Professor at the Centre for Urban Planning and Environmental Management at the University of Hong Kong and Professor of Public Management in the School of City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University. His research interests are in the implementation of management reforms and the determinants of performance in public organizations. Recent books include: Evaluating Public Management Reforms (edited with George Boyne, Catherine Farrell Janet Law and Martin Powell).
