Profile

Biography

With an undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology from Manchester University, I began my working life at The British Council, co-ordinating overseas development projects. I moved to The King's Fund in 1995, where I developed an interest in health service management and development. I moved to Newcastle upon Tyne in 1997 and began working at Northumbria University , conducting applied research in the field of quality and service improvement, with a specific focus on benchmarking, process redesign and organisational excellence in the public sector.

I joined The York Management School in 2005 and teach public sector management and related topics. My research interests include public management reform, policy implementation, identity at individual and collective levels and the interplay between them.

Departmental roles

Head of Programme: MSc Health Management

Research

Overview

My research experience derives from several years working on government-funded projects in areas of service improvement, quality management and organisational development across public and private organisations. I have developed a specific interest in policy implementation within the health and social care organisational setting.

My current PhD research began as a study of the introduction of a national policy initiative within a single healthcare organisation, through conversation with those individuals with responsibility for its implementation. The primary focus has been on the pragmatic, asking how the initiative has been implemented and who has been involved, using an interpretive framework to take into account the local context and implications of human thought, action and interaction.

This research contributes to the body of knowledge on self and identity focusing on how individuals recognize themselves and their responsibilities, paying particular attention to the manner in which identity emerges in collaborative response and active resistance to ‘other’. Here ‘other’ is focused around the various interests that construct a policy initiative as an active project for the shaping of both individual and collective thought and action.

My qualitative research skills include semi-structured interviews, participant and non-participant observation, action research, thematic coding, document analysis and secondary data analysis.

Publications

Full publications list

Journal Papers

Matykiewicz, L & Ashton, D (2005) Essence of Care benchmarking – putting it into practice. Benchmarking – An International Journal Special Edition on Health 12, (5), 467-481

Book Chapters

Inglis, S & Matykiewicz, L (2005) Demonstrating that improvement makes a difference i n Intra-organisational Spread: a practical framework for service improvement across healthcare. Kingsham Press. ISBN: 1-904235-48-4

Conference Papers

Matykiewicz, L & Ashton, D (2003) “Learning through Benchmarking” The Association of Healthcare technology & Management 3 rd International Conference , Warwick University Business School, 8 th -9 th September 2003

Matykiewicz, L & Lumsden, M. (2002) “Adding Value – factors for successful benchmarking” Conference Proceedings of The 7 th World Congress for Total Quality Management , University of Verona, Verona, Italy. 24 – 27 th June. Volume 2 pp 33-42.

Reports

Cantley, C & Matykiewicz, L (2005) A report on the evaluation of Stage One of the Dementia Services Collaborative. Dementia North, Northumbria University.

Matykiewicz, L & Yarrow, D.J. (2003) Reforming Emergency Care: Process Redesign of Support Services – Analysis of Pilot Site data and its contribution to the on-going process of Service Improvement. Centre for Business Excellence, Northumbria University, 25 pages.

Matykiewicz, L (2001). An investigation into whether diagnostic benchmarking is a potentially significant contributor to an SME's achievement of Service Excellence - description, analysis, interpretation and results. Centre for Business Excellence, Northumbria University.

Articles

Matykiewicz, L and Ramsden, J (2005) Continuing Professional Development: interaction with business. The Yorkshire and Humber Regional Review. Vol.15, Issue 1 (Spring). ISSN 0961-5334

Matykiewicz, L (2003) Raising Awareness and Building Capacity: a Regional Approach. PSBS News, Summer edition. Belmont Press. ISSN 1475-3367.