Kenen äänellä, millä asialla? Sosiaali- ja terveysjärjestöjen edustuksellisuus, toimintaympäristön muutokset ja operatiivisen johdon toimijuus.

Abstract

Throughout their history, Finnish social and health care associations have played a significant role in promoting societal interests or those of different groups of people. At the same time, they have been involved in multifaceted social activities, generated expertise, and produced different services. However, recent research suggests that the associations have been hybridised, and their operating methods adopted from other sectors are considered to have reduced their ability and possibilities for representativity. The aim of this study is to examine the representativity of social and health care associations and their executive directors as interpreters and definers of representativity. The main research questions are: (1) What is the representativity of social and health care associations like? (2) What kind of actors are the executive directors of these associations? In addition to the principal research material comprising interviews with 24 executive directors, two smaller data sets have been utilised: background data compiled from the materials of the interviewed executive directors’ associations; and exemplary data compiled from the documents of six different social and health care associations. The research materials were analysed using theoretical and data-driven content analysis. The results demonstrate the hybridisation of social and health care associations as increased professionalism and managerialism, which have resulted especially from the public management models and pressures of the public sector. As regards representativity, there has yet been no essential change in the long-term policies of the associations. A close relationship with the public sector and the promotion of structural, societal and institutional representation are important for representativity. Influencing legislation is at the core of representativity, which also more generally implies influencing politics, decisions, and different social values and attitudes. The different types of agency in operative management highlighted by the research (normative agency, mandate agency, office agency, and owner or principal agency) demonstrate that the position of executive directors is determined dynamically and through negotiations. The agencies manifest the central role of employees in interpreting and defining representativity. From the perspective of democracy in organisational activities, this can be regarded as a problem. On the other hand, it can be beneficial for the associations to provide their operative management with extensive agency based on each association’s strategic and situation-specific needs.