“WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF THE MANAGERS?” POWER TO ACT AND A JOB WELL DONE BY PUBLIC MANAGERS OF A FEDERAL INSTITUTE.
Manager. Public Service, Power to act, Job Well Done, Activity.
This study was dedicated to analyzing the work activity of senior manager-servants (campus general directors) of a Federal Institute in northeastern Brazil, based on the notions of well-done work, prevented activities, processes of precariousness of the activity of work and institutional management processes. The theoretical lenses used for this research were Organizational and Work Psychology and, in the Clinical bias, from the Activity Clinic and, in Administration, above all, Management Innovation. Thus, from the main objective, the description of the socio-professional profile of the directors participating in the research was carried out, through the application of an electronic questionnaire. Subsequently, through a semi-structured interview, the meaning of a job well done for the participants was identified. For the analysis of the work, a group was carried out and, through Clinical devices such as the Photo Workshop, Survey of Activities and Instruction to the Double, the quality of the work, the impediments and the articulation of the collective of managers were identified. 21 managers participated in the exploratory phase of the research and 7 in the clinical phase. A characteristic of this managerial group is that most of them, 86.36%, have only been in the public service for up to 10 years and 68.18% are assuming a unit general management position for the first time. Among the respondents to the questionnaire, 94.74% hold a teaching position and 63.16% consider work to be a source of both well-being and discomfort. It was found that the perspective of a job well done is related to what was prescribed, but when analyzing the actual work, numerous crossings were identified that prevent the feeling of a job well done. Some impediments to this work are related to the limitation of the power to act, especially in relation to budgetary issues and team composition. It is noteworthy that despite participation in collective management spaces, there is a feeling of loneliness in the act of managing and the existence of conflicts between central management (systemic managers) and the management of teaching units (general director). This is related to the organizational model, multicampi. In addition, the lack of meaning in work appears as an element that makes team management difficult. Managers also express difficulties in time management, demonstrating its relation to the assumption of responsibility by managers at other levels, as well as by servers in relation to the attributions of their positions. Thus, placing workers as protagonists in the analysis of their work, it was possible to identify the complexity, impediments and, above all, from the reflection of this collective, the strategies for improving the quality of work.