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By exploring the perceptions of cooperation between technostructure experts and middle line managers of different departments in three Swedish municipalities in a qualitative study, this paper contributes to an understanding of how gendered norms inscribed in type of work influence expectations on cooperation. Theories of principal-agent, stewardship, and partnership, and a gender perspective are used. The comparative analysis shows that despite changes in work roles under the influence of NPM, traditional norms about gender appear to be reproduced in the expectations of cooperation. The results illustrate how cooperation is shaped in contexts associated with feminine respective masculine work.

Den här boken handlar om chefer, experter och stödfunktioner i kommuner - och om deras administrativa arbete. Den kommunala sektorns administration har på några decennier förändrats genomgripande, både vad gäller omfattning, arbetsinnehåll och styrka. Inom flera områden har roller professionaliserats, och mer kraft och resurser har lagts på att styra organisationen med bakgrund i krav på granskningsbarhet, kommunövergripande policyer och mätbar måluppfyllelse. Det har kommit att påverka hela den kommunala organisationen. I den här boken redogör vi för hur samspel mellan olika administrativa funktioner (såsom chefer, stödverksamhet och staber) ser ut och förändras. Vi diskuterar också hur goda samspel kan se ut, och vad som krävs för att åstadkomma sådana. Boken riktar sig till alla med intresse för organisatoriskt samspel mellan chefer, experter av olika slag och servicefunktioner i dagens kommunala värld. Särskilt riktar den sig till studenter som läser utbildningar inom personal- och arbetsvetenskap, organisation och ledarskap, och offentlig förvaltning, samt till dem som arbetar med ledning och administration i kommuner.

Den här boken handlar om chefer, experter och stödfunktioner i kommuner - och om deras administrativa arbete. Den kommunala sektorns administration har på några decennier förändrats genomgripande, både vad gäller omfattning, arbetsinnehåll och styrka. Inom flera områden har roller professionaliserats, och mer kraft och resurser har lagts på att styra organisationen med bakgrund i krav på granskningsbarhet, kommunövergripande policyer och mätbar måluppfyllelse. Det har kommit att påverka hela den kommunala organisationen. I den här boken redogör vi för hur samspel mellan olika administrativa funktioner (såsom chefer, stödverksamhet och staber) ser ut och förändras. Vi diskuterar också hur goda samspel kan se ut, och vad som krävs för att åstadkomma sådana. Boken riktar sig till alla med intresse för organisatoriskt samspel mellan chefer, experter av olika slag och servicefunktioner i dagens kommunala värld. Särskilt riktar den sig till studenter som läser utbildningar inom personal- och arbetsvetenskap, organisation och ledarskap, och offentlig förvaltning, samt till dem som arbetar med ledning och administration i kommuner.

Introduction: Stress-related ill-health is one of the fastest-growing reasons for sick leave and an extensive societal problem. It affects the individual, the workplace, and society at large. People can experience stress in all areas of everyday life and often cope by stopping prioritizing themselves. Agenda 2030 third goal aims to promote good health and well-being for all and ensure people's opportunity to reach their full potential and contribute to society's development. However, the focus is often on interventions to rehabilitate people back from ill health, not to promote their health. The aim was to explore what the risk factors, and what promotes well-being in people with stress-related ill-health from both a work and everyday perspective. Method Through mixed methods with both quantitative tree analysis of 218 people before entering a work rehabilitation program, and qualitative content analysis of concluding notes of 54 people after the intervention a compilation was made. Results The findings of the studies show a highly relational process, where it is impossible to divide life into private and work, and presupposes balance in everyday life in multiple dimensions. It also indicates that risk factors aren’t about gender, age, or education- but about complex occupational patterns in daily life and a lack of social context. Conclusion: Work and everyday life are highly intertwined. Perhaps the key to promoting our health and preventing stress-related ill-health is not to scale down on occupations and sleep more, but to add more meaningful occupations that give us a sense of participation and fellowship.

This paper explains a growing function in today’s public organizations: the technostructure. It reports on the outcomes of an educational programme to develop teams comprising HR, financial and organizational development managers in a Swedish municipality in order to achieve joint support to line managers. The three groups emphasized the importance of their dissimilar work areas and their differences vis-à-vis other administrative occupations with presumably simpler tasks, and showed their indispensability. The groups’ relations were strengthened, but not their actual joint support to line managers. The paper contributes to the literature on professionalized technostructures and organizational change. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The public sector faces a grave problem as far as managerial retention as the result of the increasing number of retirements and of voluntary resignations. Despite the vital interest in managerial turnover in the public sector, research is scarce. This study, which increases our understanding of why public sector managers leave their positions, takes a qualitative and narrative research approach in examining voluntary turnover. Interviews were conducted with operations managers (in education, social care, and technical activities) at three Swedish municipalities. We identify a multitude of environment push and pull factors with a focus on administrative support, supervisory support and illegitimate tasks. The narratives of managerial turnover reveal the complexity of the decision to leave or remain in a job, containing a mixture of push and pull factors, negative feelings, unmet expectations and extraordinary events. Three possible HRD actions to decrease undesirable managerial turnover are identified: re-work organizational structures; re-model job characteristics; and re-examine managerial turnover decisions as a long and complex process. Our hope is that the findings are used for ultimately create healthy organizations. © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Några av Sveriges främsta ledarskapsforskare ger i denna bok ökad kunskap för att förstå, styra och hantera organisatorisk komplexitet. Chefer i komplexa organisationer behöver hantera osäkerhet och överraskande händelseförlopp för att organisationen ska fungera väl. Det kräver att cheferna har förståelse för de förutsättningar som gäller i sådana organisationer, till exempel att beslut samproduceras i och utanför ledningsgrupper, att professionsföreträdare har ett betydande inflytande och att konkurrerande normsystem är vanliga. Ett annat särdrag är hur emotionellt krävande chefsarbetet är, med tryck inte bara från medarbetare utan även från anhöriga, brukare, den breda allmänheten, granskningsaktörer och media. Samtidigt kännetecknas komplexa organisationer av flertalet system som syftar till att reducera osäkerhet och styrproblematik, men som också i sig ställer särskilda krav på chefsarbetet. Kapitlen i denna antologi är fristående och ger ett antal kompletterande bilder av komplexitet – dess problematiker och ibland förslag på lösningar. De många exemplen kommer nästan uteslutande från offentlig sektor, eftersom den vanligen kännetecknas av omfattande komplexitet, men innehållet är relevant för alla komplexa organisationer. Boken är skriven för utbildningar i ledarskap på högskolenivå, för organisationsledningar, verksamhetsnära chefer och specialister i chefsfunktioner.

Komplexa organisationer är vanligen svåra att styra – och det gäller särskilt organisationer med starkt professionaliserade aktörer. Det beror på flera faktorer: att det är svårt att överblicka handlingars konsekvenser i sådana organisationer, att det inte är självklart att styrimpulser efterföljs eller att verksamhetens viktigaste procedurer ens går att följa upp. Dessutom kan det som sker på en hierarkisk nivå sakna koppling till det som händer på en annan – och det gäller särskilt for kärnverksamhet i relation till ledning.

The top municipal managers – the CEOs – hold an important role in the Swedish municipalities. He or she is the highest non-politically appointed official, in charge of the administration. Often the position has ensured stability in municipalities with high turnover on politicians and changing political majority, and with the position also comes a comprehensive and professional bureaucracy. The municipal services are extensive in Sweden, and are characterized by high competence, independence from state intervention and a wide-ranging scope. Politics and management usually work close to each other. However, this makes the position of the municipal CEO both influential and difficult, as she or he moves in and between major political issues but always has to be perceived as apolitical and objective. The position is formally unregulated and is often described in terms of understanding and making sense about a golden interface. In this paper we analyze the past, present and the future of Swedish municipal administrative governance based on the perspective of the municipal CEO. We also discuss effects of the development of the role and its performance. We conclude by suggesting how the role - and thus also part of the municipal governance - could develop in the future. Two theoretical frameworks form the basis of our studies. Institutional theory forms the basis for analyzing path dependencies and change. Theoretical concepts of leadership form the basis for studying the managerial role of the municipal CEO. The framework provides the starting point for our operationalization of questions to a questionnaire sent to all Swedish municipal CEOs every five years for a 20-year period (a total of five times starting in 1995). In addition to the survey data, we use longitudinally collected interview data as well as secondary sources. Our investigations reveal that the municipal CEO holds his or her position in a shorter period (increased turnover) grows older and the proportion o

In recent years the number of people working within the techno structure in public sector organizations has increased, for example within human resource, communication, financial control, and general administration, just as Mintzberg (1993) foresaw already in the beginning of the 1980’s[1]. Many of these occupations have initiated a professionalization process, which among other things has resulted in an increased focus on developing the profession itself, strengthening boundaries towards other occupations and functions, and elevating the jurisdiction. For example within local government human resource and communication functions the jurisdictional claim has been transferred from the operative, hands-on work to more strategic work and in partnership with strategic management[2]. The techno structure experts can be described as more professional, more knowledgeable and highly skilled, but also more detached from the everyday work of civil servants and operative managers trying to execute the public organization’s mission, hence creating public value. Professionalization within the local governments’ techno structure is theoretically interesting. For example there is a matter of gender, since women mostly inhabit the techno structure functions. It is also interesting from a cooperation and boundary work point of view, since different models of cooperation contain different logics of negotiations, conflict and agreements. And cooperation is hard to achieve, since that requires actual prioritization and redistribution of resources[3]. In this study our aim is to develop knowledge on cooperation models between the techno structure experts and line-managers in order to create sustainable and healthy organizing that can foster public value creation. Following Zhou, et al.[4] inter-occupational cooperation is defined here as working together across boundaries in order to achieve common goals, emphasizing the multi-actor and multi-occupational relationships. In order to inve

Managers are key assets to the public sector in creating effective and healthy organizations. However, there are indications of high managerial turnover, which may decrease organizational efficiency, increase costs, and lead to a less favorable view of the public sector. In this article we review the literature on actual voluntary managerial turnover in the public sector in order to describe the state of knowledge and discuss the ways forward. Searching in three large databases, we found a total of 12 empirical articles on actual managerial turnover in the public sector from 1992 to 2014. The research is scarce, especially on lower management levels, and little knowledge is available for human resource professionals in their work to support managers in creating healthy and meaningful managerial roles. We argue that more research is needed to understand to what extent and why managers leave, and what the actual effects are. © Anna Cregård, Linda Corin, Katrin Skagert and School of Public Administration 2017

According to Action Agenda 21, which was adopted at the Rio Conference in 1992, sustainable development is a major objective for local and global development. Economic growth, good living conditions, and protection of the earth’s natural environment are important to all people in the world. This article focuses on one aspect of sustainable development, i.e. on environmental sustainability. Research shows that local government can take a leading position in protecting the natural environment and disseminating information on it among stakeholders. However, our knowledge about the dissemination of environmental information practices among stakeholders is limited. The purpose of this research is to fill a gap in current knowledge, to describe and compare the practical work with dissemination of such information among stakeholders in Swedish and Polish municipalities. The questions to be answered are: What environmental information is collected and produced by the local government? At what stakeholders is such information targeted? and What effects does it have on decision-making by stakeholders in the investigated municipalities? The study is based on state regulations, the homepages of municipal offices, and policy documents, official reports, and semi-structured interviews with key managers responsible for the protection of the natural environment in the studied municipalities. Data were collected from late 2015 to early 2017. This research indicates that dissemination of environmental information has a positive effect on the decision-making of internal stakeholders. In both countries, the municipal authorities follow the EU recommendations, resulting in innovative work and growing environmental awareness among the municipal authorities, the residents, and other stakeholders. Improvement of the natural environment is perceived as “a must” for the future. Nonetheless, especially larger municipalities face challenges because the production and dissemination of environme

According to Action Agenda 21, adopted at the Rio Conference in 1992, sustainable development should be realized as a major objective for local and global development. Economic growth, good living conditions, and protection of the earth's natural environment are very important to all people in the world. Ball et al., 2006; Marcuccio & Steccolini, 2005; Osborne and Ball, 2011; Lodhia et al., 2012 show that local government has a leading position regarding practical work and dissemination of information on sustainability among stakeholders. Schoolars like Wilmhurst & Frost, 2000; Deegan et al., 2002; Steccolini, 2004; Gonzalez and Perez-Chamorro, 2008 share the opinion that research focus mostly on content of information on sustainability, when analysing reports, brochures, or other documents, while knowledge about dissemination process of information on sustainability among stakeholders, and its effects on decision making by local authority is limited. The purpose in this paper is to compare the dissemination process of information on environmental sustainability among stakeholders and to explain its effects on decision making in two countries (Sweden and Poland). We ask: What do we know about the local governments’ practical work with the dissemination of information on environmental sustainablity among stakeholders within the Gothenburg Region in Sweden and the Lodz Region in Poland? What effects do the dissemination of such information have on decision-making by the local authority and on sustainable development in the chosen municipalities? The research is based on semi-structured interviews with key-respondents responsible for sustainable development in four municipalities in each region; homepages and official reports in the chosen municipalities, and state, regional and local regulations. Our research indicates that the dissemination of information on environmental sustainablity among stakeholders have a positive effect on decision-making by the local

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The spiritual leadership literature suggests that such leadership has a positive influence on organizations' productivity and profitability as well as on employees' enjoyment and well-being. In a qualitative study conducted at a Swedish abbey for nuns, using interviews, observations, correspondence, and documents, this research indicates that spiritual leadership may pose negative risks to organizations and their leaders. Risks in spiritual leadership that are indicated include a culture of narrow-mindedness and leadership rotation failure that can lead to rigidity and to the leader's work overload because of the demand for limitless empathy and for personal sacrifice. The findings should be viewed as an inspiration for further research.

Genomgången av Trafikverkets styrdokument visar att det förekommer en mängd varierande typer av styrning och implementeringar, vilande på vitt skilda logiker. Med kvantitet avses mängden implementeringar, och både styrdokumenten och fokusgruppsintervjuerna indikerar att det är en mycket stor mängd implementeringar som förutsätts i Trafikverkets organisation. I genomgången av Trafikverkets styrdokument framträder vid en närmre genomläsning tre olika kategorier av implementering, som vilar på tre olika implementeringslogiker. Den första kategorin utgörs av implementering av regler. Den andra kategorin som framträder i Trafikverkets styrdokument är implementering av mål och resultat. Den tredje kategorin av implementering inom Trafikverket som vi har kunnat identifiera i styrdokument och under fokusgrupperna är implementering av värden och visioner. Kategoriseringen av implementering inom Trafikverket kan också göras utifrån hur tvingande de olika kategorierna av implementering är. Dessa olika typer av styrning varierar inte bara utifrån hur pass tvingande de är. I litteraturen om styrning och styrmedel diskuteras styrning och styrmedel utifrån vilka antaganden om beteenden de vilar på. Det mest påtagliga problemet när styrning som grundas i olika antaganden om beteenden används tillsammans är att dessa kan komma i konflikt med varandra. Styrning med hjälp av regler innebär en implementeringslogik, medan styrning med hjälp av resultat och mål förutsätter en annan, och styrning med hjälp av kultur och värden en tredje. Till dessa implementeringslogiker kan även läggs en fjärde, där agenten förutsätts agera professionellt. Som en följd av att det inom Trafikverket finns tre (eller fyra) olika implementeringslogiker så finns det också tre olika sätt som agenterna kan agera på, och som alla uppfattas som legitima. Problemet är dock att agerande i enlighet med en implementeringslogik kan stå i motsättning till en annan. En effekt av flera, sinsemellan motstridiga, implement, Implementering i en komplex miljö

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the dual role of physician-managers through an examination of perceptions of trust and distrust in physician-managers. The healthcare sector needs physicians to lead. Physicians in part-time managerial positions who continue their medical practice are called part-time physician-managers. This paper explores this dual role through an examination of perceptions of trust and distrust in physician-managers. Design/methodology/approach – The study takes a qualitative research approach in which interviews and focus group discussions with physician-managers and nurse-managers provide the empirical data. An analytical model, with the three elements of ability, benevolence and integrity, was used in the analysis of trust and distrust in physician-managers. Findings – The respondents (physician-managers and nurse-managers) perceived both an increase and a decrease in physicians’ trust in the physician-managers. Because elements of distrust were more numerous and more severe than elements of trust, the physician-managers received negative perceptions of their role. Research limitations/implications – This paper’s findings are based on perceptions of perceptions. The physicians were not interviewed on their trust and distrust of physician-managers. Practical implications – The healthcare sector must pay attention to the diverse expectations of the physician-manager role that is based on both managerial and medical logics. Hospital management should provide proper support to physician-managers in their dual role to ensure their willingness to continue to assume managerial responsibilities. Originality/value – The paper takes an original approach in its research into the dual role of physician-managers who work under two conflicting logics: the medical logic and the managerial logic. The focus on perceived trust and distrust in physician-managers is a new perspective on this complicated role.

The private sector as well as the public sector seeks qualified personnel who are motivated to work in the areas of administration and management. For example, students who have been educated as controllers, purchasing agents and managers are much sought after. Thus, public and private sector organizations are interested in connecting to students who want to study business administration, management and public administration. One goal of such organizations is to encourage students to study particular business areas, especially financial and administrative areas. In this paper, we discuss the possibilities for bridging the gap between education’s theoretical knowledge and management’s practical knowing. As the locus for this discussion, we use the field visit in which students meet with managers at work and acquire images of work. Our empirical data were obtained from field visits that students from two Swedish university programs took. We present this data as two case studies. As part of the experience, the students’ classroom lecturer and several representatives from the visited organizations made presentations to the students. The students in the first case made a series of field visits to retail stores. The students in the second case visited the accounting department at local government offices. We found that students generally enjoy seeing and discussing actual work sites away from the university. They are interested in learning about organizations where they might work after graduation. The visited organizations also find these field visits of value. These visits, through the translation process of the student-manager interaction, attempt to bridge theory and practice. One consequence of such visits, not examined closely in the literature, is that this interaction significantly influences the students’ images of work. Students become familiar with image-creating words such as enthusiasm, personnel issues, responsibility and an opportunity to influence.

In the healthcare sector the physicians more and more often become managers, in Sweden as well as in many other countries. This is a global trend, which is motivated by better quality, higher efficiency and an increased possibility to control professional actors in the organization. Managing professions are perceived as difficult for many reasons and the appointment of physicians as managers is supposed to solve this problem. Our aim is to critically discuss the appointment of physicians on traditional management positions in healthcare sector and what it might result in. We recognize that there are positive effects, but they do not align with the rhetoric concerning these appointments. We also discuss an alternative way of organizing the management of professionals in healthcare organizations. We use two theoretical concepts to discuss this phenomenon: principles of control and shift in trust. The concepts are used to categorize and analyze our empirical data, which consist of deep interviews with 15 physicians and nurses, five focus groups consisting of physicians (managers) and five texts on the relationship between politics, administration and professions, written by physicians (managers) in management training. We also develop the concepts of medical and managerial logics. Our respondents recognize the principles of control as rational, and they perceive them as important. But there are contradictions between medical and managerial logics. The management discourse alter the care and raises questions they themselves cannot answer, for example “Is it right to treat people who themselves are responsible for their sickness”? They also discuss medical concepts as being altered, for example the course of treatment being completed. Nowadays the concepts concern strictly medical issues, which is not necessarily good in a health perspective. The shift in trust concerns four levels: the trust between individuals, between professional groups, between organizational

Sjukvårdspersonalen har ett stort inflytande på sitt arbete. I en tid när NPM fått en stark inverkan på offentliga organisationer förskjuts det som tidigare varit den offentliga sektorns kännetecken som: demokrati, öppenhet, yttrandefrihet, samverkan, helhetssyn och rättssäkerhet, till mer ekonomistiska och managementlika sådana, som produktivitet, kostnadseffektivitet, kundorientering, resultatkrav och avtal. Syftet i denna artikel är att kritiskt diskutera tillsättningen av medicinare på traditionella managementtjänster i hälso- och sjukvården och vad det kan medföra. Dessa tillsättningar motiveras vanligen av förbättrad effektivitet, men också av kvalitet och säkerhet för verksamheten. Skälen är svåra att argumentera emot, och därför har de fått stark genomslagskraft. Vi vill just peka på riskerna, som ofta negligeras och förespråkarna har en slagkraftig retorik. Positiva effekter saknas inte men de måste vägas mot de negativa effekterna. Metoden är intervjuer med 15 sjuksköterskor och läkare som har chefsuppdrag. Därtill har vi 5 fokusgrupper som består av verksamhetsansvariga sjuksköterskor och läkare under managementutbildning. Resultaten visar på att det främst är fyra risker förknippat med tillsättning av medicinare på traditionella managementtjänster: läkarens professionella kompetens minskar, förtroendet för läkaren som medicinsk kunnig minskar, liksom för organisationen och vården i stort. Därtill trängs viktiga värden inom servicedomänen undan till förmån för administrativa värden.