Förvaltningsakademin

En blogg från centrumbildningen Förvaltningsakademin vid Södertörns högskola.

Perceived Barriers to Decision Quality in Three Swedish Public Authorities

Författare Ilkka Salo Carl Martin Allwood Institutionen för psykologi

Göteborgs universitet

Abstract

Barriers to decision quality were reported by 473 administrative officers and investigators in three Swedish national public authorities: the Tax Agency, Social Insurance Agency, and Police Authority. In line with previous research, we assumed that limited possibilities to plan one’s work would hinder decision quality. Both disruption of workflow and high workload were reported to inhibit work planning, especially by police and social insurance workers. Moreover, time available (especially for tax and social insurance workers) and other actors involved in decision processes (especially for police and social insurance workers) were reported to inhibit decision quality. Differences between the organizations relate to organizational regulations, stipulated workload/time frames, distribution of responsibilities between actors, and urgent unplanned situations.

International Journal of Public Administration

Att vara kund till staten

Kapitel i bok, 

FörfattareTom Karlsson |Förvaltningshögskolan

Publikationsår2020Publicerad iStatlig förvaltningspolitik för 2020-talet: En forskningsantologi

Sammanfattning

Det har blivit allt vanligare att myndigheter pratar om kunder. Det kan handla om tämligen ytliga fall som när Transportstyrelsen hänvisar till kundtjänst på sina hemsidor. I andra fall handlar det om hur till exempel Pensionsmyndigheten mäter och utvärderar kundnöjdhet som indikation på om myndigheten möter de kvar om god kvalitet som ställs på den offentliga sektorn. Det kan också handla om till synes mer genom-gripande förändringar som när Försäkringskassan inom organisationen diskuterar medborgare som kunder, eller när Arbetsförmedlingen inför så kallade kundresor för att öka servicetillgängligheten i verksamheten. I det här kapitlet diskuterar jag statsförvaltningens olika försök att skapa förutsättningar för en kundroll inom statlig verksamhet. Syftet är att problematisera användningen av kundbegreppet inom olika statliga verksamheter.Länkar

FörlagStatskontoretFörlagsortStockholm

Objectifying trustworthiness: Market formation in the transport policy field

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift,

Författare Emma Ek Österberg |Förvaltningshögskolan

Publikationsår 2020 Publicerad i Financial Accountability and Management, 36 (1), 3-19

Sammanfattning

This paper addresses market formation in the public sector, particularly questions of how and why market arrangements for public services change, and what it means in terms of governance. The paper presents an in-depth empirical study of a case in the Swedish transport sector, building on sociological research into market formation, particularly the work of Callon, Méadel, and Rabeharisoa on the qualification of products. Given the demand for process-oriented research into market relations, especially in the public sector, this study empirically illustrates how and why roles, relations, and objects are maintained and transformed, and how these features are cocreated in practice. Although previous research has paid relatively little attention to product qualification, this paper demonstrates that it is useful to put this process at the center of the analysis. The present findings emphasize that how products came to be objectified, in terms of provider qualities rather than technical specifications, was the compromise that enabled various logics to be at stake simultaneously. The paper also contributes by demonstrating that NPM reforms of marketization can accommodate far-reaching attempts by public organizations to influence the market, which is especially relevant in markets in which public-sector organizations are dominant purchasers. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons LtdLänkar

The transformation of public officials: from democrats to meritocrats

Konferensbidrag

Författare Vicki Johansson |Förvaltningshögskolan Publikationsår2019

Publicerad iEuropean Group of Public Administration (EGPA) 11-13 September, Belfast

Abstract

A meritocracy like all other ”cracies” aside from democracy is a stratification system in which one group of citizens is given greater legitimacy than others to participate in society’s collective decision-making processes. Nevertheless, as societal decision-making systems meritocracy and democracy are entirely incompatible. Is a society a meritocracy (those with knowledge govern and make decisions) it is not a democracy (all members regardless of knowledge govern and make decisions). Here, it is necessary to point out that meritocracy as a societal decision-making system does not equalize with meritocracy as a recruitment system. In contemporary political-administrative systems meritocratic and democratic decision-making principals are at work parallel and simultaneously at the same time as both meritocratic and democratic values are cherished and regarded as legitimate. One reasonable proposition is that when two basic values are conflicting with time one value will be strengthened on the expense of the other; Are democratic values strengthen meritocratic values are weekend and vice versa. In this paper changing values among managers and senior public officials and managers in Swedish municipalities is analysed. The analysis is based on two identical surveys conducted 1980 and 2016 (i:e before and after the implementation of NPM-inspired reforms) where a representative sample of municipal managers and senior officials were given the opportunity to answer questions about their tasks, working conditions, as well as attitudes and values. Theoretically the paper takes its departure in theories of meritocracy and democracy as well as management theories. The analysis shows that NPM-inspired reforms have changed the context within which managers and senior municipal officials perform their tasks affecting both their role perceptions, interaction patterns and values. In comparison with their colleges from 1980, the municipal officials of 2016 to a higher degree cherish meritocratic and elitist democratic values. The changes are most profound within the care and education sector.

Public Administration in transition: Studying understandings and legitimations amongst middle managers within a government agency

FörfattareTom Karlsson |Förvaltningshögskolan

Publikationsår2019Publicerad iJournal of Language and Politics, 18 (1), 107-130

Sammanfattning

This article focuses on how common-sense knowledge is enacted by middle managers in order to make sense of contemporary public administration. Specifically, the article demonstrates how managerialization and market logics is embedded in actors’ perceptions of public administration and becomes manifested through understandings and legitimations. The article presents an analysis of conversational data from middle management positions within a Swedish government agency. The analysis demonstrates how actors categorize a traditional hierarchy together with contemporary ideas of consumerism. It is also demonstrated how actors draw on legitimations of authority and mythopoesis in order to make sense of and to understand their managerial role within the agency. As such, the article contributes to contemporary public administration literature and its discussion regarding the effects of embedding marketization logics on actor and organizational levels as well as to ethnomethodologically informed literature within the social science and humanities.

Länkar

ISSN1569-2159

Searching for managerial discretion: How public managers engage managerialism as a rationalization for increased latitude of action

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 

FörfattareTom Karlsson |Förvaltningshögskolan Publikationsår2019Publicerad iPublic Management Review, 21 (3), 315-333

Abstract

This article focuses on the managerial discretion that public managers experience. More specifically, it discusses how managerialism is an embedded ideological stance that influences understandings of public sector governance. I argue that managers’ perceptions of discretion are affected by these understandings. The analysis draws on empirical data from a longitudinal study, demonstrating how public managers engage discourses emanating from managerialism in order to rationalize increased discretion. The findings suggest that customer perspectives functions as a rationalizing factor for engaging public managers’ transition towards increased discretion. As such, this article contributes to knowledge about managerial discretion as well as managerialism.

Länkar

ISSN1471-9037E-ISSN1471-9045

Den offentliga verksamhetens villkor

Ahlbäck Öberg, Shirin

Uppsala universitet, Humanistisk-samhällsvetenskapliga vetenskapsområdet, Samhällsvetenskapliga fakulteten, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen.

Texten ingår i Snabbtänkt – reflektioner från valet 2018 av ledande forskare (Nord, Lars, Grusell, Marie, Bolin, Niklas och Falasca, Kajsa (red.), där närmare 100 forskare bidrar med 80 texter som analyserar och reflekterar över 2018 års val och valrörelse. Texterna är samlade i en gratis nedladdningsbar rapport, publicerad 10 dagar efter valet 2018.

Snabbtänkt är ett initiativ från forskningscentret DEMICOM vid Mittuniversitetet.

Abstract [sv]

I Sverige arbetar en tredjedel av arbetskraften i statlig eller kommunal regi. Väljarnas kontaktyta med den offentliga verksamheten är således stor, och ändå skulle jag säga att en sammanhållen diskussion om den offentliga sektorns arbete och organisation – s.k. förvaltningspolitik – har lyst med sin frånvaro i årets valrörelse. För vad vet vi om partiernas hållning till statsförvaltningen och den kommunala förvaltningen?

Ort, förlag, år, sidor

Sundsvall: Mittuniversitetet , 2018. , s. 1

1 3 4 5 6 7 14