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This paper asks how values and beliefs around gender influence social norms regarding masking. Specifically, the paper explores how the gendered meme “Karen” fits into social media discussions on support for and opposition to the wearing of masks to fight the spread of COVID-19.

The authors analyze tweets containing the hashtags #Masks4All and #NoMasks over a three-week period, using adjacent hashtag analysis to determine the terms most associated with Karen in the pro and anti-mask communities associated with these hashtags.

Anti-maskers reference Karen more often than pro-maskers, although she is presented in negative terms with gendered overtones by those on both sides of the masking debate.

The paper highlights how hypermasculinity rhetoric impedes social change that normalizes mask wearing.

This paper describes two different services within the UK, both of which aim to better address the needs of offenders with personality disorder. Both services have been developed in the light of recent policy and practice guidance, which recognises the need to develop new ways of working with this hard‐to‐reach population.The importance of developing boundaries and optimistic therapeutic relationships in order to foster motivation and engagement is emphasised. It is within these that assessment and interventions to address risk, mental health and social integration issues can be undertaken. In addition, the need for different agencies to work together in partnership to better address these needs is also emphasised.Resettle is a stand‐alone service in the pilot stage whilst the probation link‐work role is a resource within an established community personality disorder service.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the views of all those involved in the giving and receiving of incentives — respondents, interviewers, field office staff, researchers and buyers of research.

The purpose of the paper is to examine the policy and organizational implications of gender imbalance in management, which research suggests exists in the NHS.

The research in this paper involved a qualitative approach with an analysis of élite interviews conducted with a non‐random sample of officials involved in health policy and interviews with a random sample of senior managers in NHS Scotland. The research formed part of a larger study, which explored the enablers and inhibitors to female career progression in various Scottish sectors.

The paper finds that gender imbalance in management exists in the NHS. This is manifested in a masculine organizational context, leadership and policy decision‐making process, which have implications for female career advancement opportunities and subsequently access to macro policy decisions.

The paper involved a sample (30 percent) of senior managers and examined policy processes in NHS Scotland. To improve the external validity of the findings further research should be conducted in NHS organizations in England and Wales.

The findings in the paper suggest that gender imbalance in management and a masculine organizational context and leadership style within the NHS create a less than conducive environment for female employees. This has practical implications in terms of levels of part‐time employment, career progression and attrition rates.

The paper adds to the debate of gender and organizational studies by examining the health sector, which has high levels of female employment but low levels of female representation at senior management levels. The paper therefore adds to an often‐neglected area of study, women in leadership and senior managerial positions. The paper is original in its approach by examining the micro and meso organizational dimensions which impact on women's ability to influence macro health policy.

Purpose – The chapter provides a review of the debates about the discipline of public administration and public management as art, craft, and science. Thus, the chapter includes a conceptualization of public administration and a discussion of public administration and public management research, scholarship, and practice. The review of the discipline includes a historical perspective and contemporary debates of public administration, new public management (NPM), public sector management, and governance in order to discuss the future trajectories and trends of the discipline.

Design/Methodology/Approach – A range of historical, seminal, and recently published scholarly works are reviewed and discussed, including also an analysis based on primary and secondary research of journal databases, conference proceedings, academic schools, and websites relevant to the discipline.

Findings – The study of government in various guises – whether public administration, public management, governance, public policy – will continue to develop, evolve, and fascinate scholars and practitioners. There will be a continued interest and study of the business of government with three possible trends: (1) a narrow focus on technocratic, managerial approaches in an attempt to provide solutions for more effective and efficient government; (2) a multidisciplinary approach to addressing complex social problems or “wicked policy” problems across narrow specialized interests for “greater principles” of society; and (3) methodological pluralism in the study of government, which may add to the depth or fragmentation of the discipline.

Research limitations/Implications – The research is limited to a review with some primary and secondary research. It provides scholars and practitioners with the conceptualization of public administration, public management and governance. The chapter provides a critical perspective of the state of research and scholarship with an argument that academics need to move beyond parochial debates within the discipline and provide practitioners with empirically based solutions to increasingly complex social and “wicked policy” problems.

Practical implications – This chapter provides scholars, students, and practitioners with (1) a conceptual understanding of public administration, public management, NPM and governance; (2) a historical and contemporary perspective of the discipline; and (3) a critical perspective of research and scholarship that will provide a debate on the state of discipline.

Originality/Value – The chapter is a synthesis and review of the discipline in terms of research and scholarship drawing upon international perspectives to provide a critical debate for scholars and practitioners.

In 2002/3 the Health Foundation launched an ambitious five‐year Programme of investment in leadership development. This investment included resource for simultaneous evaluation (Lucas 2006). Against a background of unprecedented upheaval in healthcare systems in the UK, the Leadership Programme has evolved, encompassing initiatives aimed both at individuals and teams. The Programme has been refined to provide a more explicit focus on leadership for quality improvement. This article reviews what has been learnt from this investment to date, focusing on lessons both for practitioners and for academics.The focus of this paper is what has been learnt from running the Foundation's three individual leadership schemes over the past three years. The authors argue that to be effective talent spotting needs to develop rigorous mechanisms for identification of potential; that there needs to be a sustained focus on quality improvement outcomes if leadership programmes are to deliver more than personal development; that the most effective development is work rather than classroom‐based; and that organisational commitment for leadership development is critical if the full impact is to be realised. The authors draw on an extensive evidence base from the Programme evaluation, including some case studies.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that managerialism, as applied to the public sector, contributes to a gendered organisational culture that disadvantages female career progression.

The research was qualitative in approach and involved face‐to‐face interviews with male and female, clinical and non‐clinical managers (n=31) in Scotland's health service.

The main finding is that public sector managerialism, and consequent transactional and stereotypical masculine styles of management, inhibits female career progression.

Managerialism as currently applied in the public sector creates certain inefficiencies by limiting the potential of women, which has implications for female career progression in the public sector, succession management and the sustainability of services.

The paper adds to a growing body of evidence that stereotypical masculine styles of management create an organisational culture that affects female career progression. Furthermore, the paper will be of value in understanding the factors that impact on female career progression within the public sector, which is of importance given that the majority of public sector employees in the UK, particularly in the health sector, are female.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse gender representation in leadership and management in further and higher education organisations. It does this, through the lens of two perspectives on bureaucratic representation, a “liberal democratic” perspective and an alternative view which states that bureaucracies are not necessarily gender blind or women friendly. The paper reviews the reform and managerial environments, vertical and horizontal gender patterns in the sectors; undertakes empirical research which surveys staff in six case study institutions seeking responses on job roles and activities, career motivators and inhibitors, supportiveness of line managers, perceptions of organisational leadership and culture with regard to gender equality and career advance.

Secondary data were used from a variety of sources. Primary data were based on all staff surveys using online software symbolic network analysis program in case study institutions with n=4,522, representing one quarter of the population.

Non‐executive levels of management in both sectors were highly gendered and unrepresentative of the population. Vertical segregation was found at executive level too, though less in colleges than universities. In higher education, horizontal gendering – in subject areas – and the emphasis on subject knowledge and background with the connected gender segregation of research activity, played a crucial role in unequal gender representation patterns. In colleges, while there was horizontal subject‐based segregation, the lesser importance of research/subject background in the career dynamic has created opportunities to de‐couple subject background and career opportunity. Part‐time working, especially in colleges, had mixed effects in gender career terms. The research showed that in universities women spent greater proportions of time in teaching and administration vis‐a‐vis research compared to men. Work life balance was not a career inhibitor for women in higher education but was for women in colleges. Some other key similarities and differences in perceptions between men and women in both sectors are outlined, perhaps the most striking of which was that women in both sectors, while agreeing that opportunities policies are equal and fair, felt that institutional leadership could do more to advance the careers of women; men did not.

This is the first study of its kind to compare and contrast college and university sectors, and makes a significant contribution to understanding of gender representation in organisations. While, there are similarities between the sectors, this research has highlighted major differences which have importance for research, policy and managerial practice. The paper, in its conclusion, aims to stimulate action by suggesting some practical initiatives, based on the research.

This chapter explores differences in fringe, distant, and remote rural public library assets for asset-based community development (ABCD) and the relationships of those assets to geographic regions, governance structures, and demographics.

The author analyzes 2013 data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture using nonparametric statistics and data mining random forest supervised classification algorithms.

There are statistically significant differences between fringe, distant, and remote library assets. Unexpectedly, median per capita outlets (along with service hours and staff) increase as distances from urban areas increase. The Southeast region ranks high in unemployment and poverty and low in median household income, which aligns with the Southeast’s low median per capita library expenditures, staff, hours, inventory, and programs. However, the Southeast’s relatively high percentage of rural libraries with at least one staff member with a Master of Library and Information Science promises future asset growth in those libraries. State and federal contributions to Alaska libraries propelled the remote Far West to the number one ranking in median per capita staff, inventory, and programs.

This study is based on IMLS library system-wide data and does not include rural library branches operated by nonrural central libraries.

State and federal contributions to rural libraries increase economic, cultural, and social capital creation in the most remote communities. On a per capita basis, economic capital from state and federal agencies assists small, remote rural libraries in providing infrastructure and services that are more closely aligned with libraries in more populated areas and increases library assets available for ABCD initiatives in otherwise underserved communities.

Even the smallest rural library can contribute to ABCD initiatives by connecting their communities to outside resources and creating new economic, cultural, and social assets.

Analyzing rural public library assets within their geographic, political, and demographic contexts highlights their potential contributions to ABCD initiatives.