Modern Management Tools in State Agencies: The Case of Norway

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the broad package of modern management tools that are used by Norwegian state agencies. These tools are regarded as forms of regulation inside government as well as a “shopping basket.” We describe the range of different tools and look at how intensively they are used and how they are interrelated. We also examine variations in use of these tools by different agencies. The empirical basis is a survey addressed to all organizations in the Norwegian civil service, apart from the ministries, in 2004. Our theoretical approach is primarily based on neo-institutional organization theory. Our main empirical findings are that the use of modern management tools is widespread; that some are very common while others are more marginal; that there are different families of tools that supplement each other; that there is significant variation in the use of different tools; and that size is the most important independent variable in explaining the use of different tools. Neo-institutional considerations, particularly normative isomorphism as a source of legitimacy, do not appear to be a major explanation for tool adoption.     

The Effects of New Public Management: Activity‐based Reimbursement and Efficiency in the Scandinavian Hospital Sectors

Activity‐based reimbursement (ABR) is a key element in the New Public Management reform programme. In recent decades ABR has replaced or supplemented frame‐based reimbursement (FRB) in the Scandinavian hospital sectors, and political decision makers have widely believed that ABR would improve efficiency. This article systematically describes and compares 12 studies and their results to determine whether research supports this belief. The article has two main conclusions. First, existing research provides a much more blurry picture than envisaged by decision makers. Studies with positive and non‐positive results are approximately equal in number, even when the quality of research designs is taken into account. Second, it is quite likely that the blurry picture is caused mainly by the low credibility of the new ABR schemes, which has undermined the incentives for greater efficiency that the new schemes should provide. The issue of credibility is not tested in existing research and is thus a particularly promising avenue for future research into the effects of economic steering tools like ABR.     

Perceptual Bias and Public Programs: The Case of the United States and Hospital Care

This article examines whether the public holds biased perceptions of public organizations (in this case, hospitals) in the United States and whether organizations get credit for positive results from program evaluations. Using an experimental design that replicates Hvidman and Andersen's 2016 Danish study, the study finds no negative public sector biases in the United States, but organizations are not given any credit for positive program evaluations. These results hold in two experimental replications. The implications of the findings for the measurement of public perceptions of government programs and for effective democratic governance are discussed.     

Forgoing New Public Management and Adopting Post‐New Public Management Principles: The On‐Going Civil Service Reform in Israel

Since the 1980s, New Public Management (NPM) and post‐NPM reforms have dominated attempts to improve public administration. The literature suggests several reasons for the latter approach. However, these explanations seem to be less relevant to the ongoing civil service reforms in Israel. The Israeli experience is an example where NPM reforms did not occur, but post‐NPM reforms were adopted enthusiastically decades later. Our findings demonstrate how under the structural conditions of both non‐governability and bureaucratic centralization, post‐NPM reforms may provide an attractive layering strategy, offering the option of changing certain features of the system without requiring a drastic, comprehensive overhaul of it. Once Israeli decision makers decided that there was a real public demand for reform, and long‐term learning and diffusion processes convinced them that change was needed, the characteristics of the post‐NPM approach made it much easier politically for them to adopt. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Roadblocks in Reforming Corrupt Agencies: The Case of the New York City School Custodians

Reformers have traditionally assumed that agencies can combat corruption through controls such as tighter oversight, increased regulation, internal audits, reorganizations, and performance accountability mechanisms. But this case study of the New York City school custodial system shows how a corrupt agency can derail these devices. New York City's $500,000,000 custodial system, responsible for maintaining its 1,200 schools, has been unleashing scandals since the 1920s despite decades of regulations, multiple reorganizations, and layers of oversight. Its history shows that a deviant culture—a management "captured" by special interests—and an infrastructure enmeshed in abusive policies will resist controls, no matter how well-crafted. True reform requires tackling institutionalized corruption through strategies like overhauling management, eradicating special interests, and aggressively punishing misconduct.     

Nonmission–Based Values in Results–Oriented Public Management: The Case of Freedom of Information

Since the 1940s, Congress and the federal courts have sought to make U.S. federal administration more responsive to democratic–constitutional values, including representation, participation, transparency, and individual rights. As manifested in the National Performance Review, the New Public Management emphasis on results may reduce attention to these values, which for most agencies are not intrinsically mission–based. Freedom of information illustrates the problem of protecting nonmission–based, democratic–constitutional values in results–oriented public management. Agencies' annual performance plans under the Government Performance and Results Act overwhelmingly ignore freedom of information, even though it is a legal requirement and performance measures for it are readily available. This study concludes that focusing on results may weaken commitment to democratic–constitutional values by default. It suggests that using a balanced scorecard approach in performance plans could enhance attention to freedom of information and other democratic–constitutional values.     

Performance Management and Public Sector Reform: The Norwegian Hospital Reform

This article addresses the development of new performance management systems related to public sector reforms. One such system is Management by Objectives and Results (MBOR), based on an official OECD model. Such a system tries to establish unambiguous goals, objectivity, and incentive elements into often traditionally trust-based systems embedded in a complex political-administrative context. To analyze such performance management systems and how they work in practice, we focus on a recent reform of the hospital structure in Norway. Using a broad institutional perspective, we argue that the MBOR-system in Norway is a mixed and complex system encompassing different kinds of logic. These include instrumental elements from the new performance management systems combined with ad hoc preventive efforts by the political leadership, the influence of cultural constraints, elements of rather inappropriate self-interested action, and pressure from the environment. The study reveals that the hospital reform in Norway in practice can be seen as an integrated model, combining informal trust-based approaches and formal performance management measures. It also shows that negative side effects and dysfunctions might occur.     

区域公共管理的行政生态分析——从行政区行政到区域公共管理

行政环境是社会圈中与行政系统有关的各种条件的总和,就一国而言,它包括自然地理环境、经济环境、政治环境、文化环境、社会环境等.行政环境的变化会引起行政系统变革,传统的"行政区行政"模式已渐趋表现出不能适应行政环境的新变化,但目前区域公共管理的建构又不能脱离传统的"行政区行政",实现区域公共管理需要借助干"行政区行政"的推力和跨行政区间的协调与合作的合力,共同作用才能完成.     

The Public Management of Risk: The Case for Deliberating among Worldviews

This article argues that the public management of risk faces inherent "wicked issue" problems which are further accentuated in the context of the contemporary regulatory state. It is suggested that in order to overcome these limitations and inevitable trade-offs, there needs to be a more conscientious effort in setting out distinct components of any public management of risk, which should be considered and discussed through the lens of distinct worldviews contrasting interpretations and solutions, as well as potential "black-spots." It is only by acknowledging limitations of any one strategy and by considering plural solutions that there is less likelihood of disappointment when dealing with crises and disasters.     

对新公共管理的几点反思

新公共管理是公共行政在新形势下的发展，它的一些理论和方法是值得我们借鉴的。但是，新公共管理是否能够成为一门独立的新学科，政府和政府官员是否是利己的，政府是否一定低效以及顾客导向等理论，是值得深入研究的。     

公共行政的发展与变迁:新公共管理的研究途径

新公共管理理论是公共行政领域最为引人注目的理论之一.它的兴起,既是对传统公共行政理论的矫正,也促进了政府变革的发展.本文就其主要理论基础进行介绍、分析与评述,并就其未来的发展进行预测和评论.     

A Comparative Analysis: New Public Management — The Way Ahead?

A set of measures constituting 'New Public Management' (NPM) has been adopted worldwide (Pollitt 1995). This article describes their implementation in the State of Victoria. In particular, the article assesses the reforms within the context of Pollitt's eight elements of NPM reforms that have taken place in management in the public sector in Victoria and, to varying degrees, in all OECD countries. It argues that the evaluation of the success of NPM in Victoria should be addressed by independent evaluations of the impacts of the changes within the political, executive and operational spheres of government, and on consumers and the public service itself. The article offers some lessons for those in government following Victoria's example of the implementation of NPM.
Good governance is critical to ensuring that challenges to society are dealt with adequately (OECD 1995:5).     

新公共管理：反思、批判与超越——兼评新公共服务理论

通过采用企业化政府的理念,新公共管理提高了效率,但也导致了公共性、公平、责任、价值诉求等公共管理价值的缺失.通过对新公共管理的反思和批判以及对新公共服务的理论基础、原则和内容的介绍,说明新公共服务在理论基础、价值选择、政府责任、公民精神方面不仅可以弥补和纠正新公共管理的偏颇,并可以替代新公共管理成为公共管理的发展趋势.     

Holding Global Regulators Accountable: The Case of Credit Rating Agencies

Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) are private nonmajoritarian regulators (NMRs) of international capital markets. Ratings of creditworthiness are ubiquitous in financial markets, and in this way they exercise considerable control over the flow of credit. CRAs entail a puzzle for the question of the legitimacy of global regulation. As profit seeking firms, they lack a formal element of coercion. Yet, CRAs are often criticized for wielding illegitimate power. Furthermore, the broad demand for accountability has not had a great effect on how CRAs operate. Thus, there is a persistent mismatch between demand and supply of accountability, an "accountability gap." By analyzing the accountability gap, this article seeks to enhance the understanding of the nature and the scope of the legitimacy problems of global NMRs. CRAs suggest that the legitimacy problems of global governance extend beyond formal NMRs to informal NMRs and that solutions sometimes are elusive.     

Leveraging Technologies in Public Agencies: The Case of the U.S. Census Bureau and the 2010 Census

Emerging technologies are transforming government agencies and the nature of governance and pose new challenges for public managers. Under the leadership of Steven J. Jost, associate director for communications, the U.S. Census Bureau leveraged emerging technologies during the 2010 Census to complete the project under budget while also engaging citizens through the design of viable participatory platforms. The 2010 Census campaign focused on increasing response rates and encouraging citizen participation through innovations in the communication process with citizens and through the infusion of technology. The Census Bureau also effectively managed risks associated with the use of emerging technologies. The authors examine the innovations, the risks, and the effort to manage those risks under Jost’s leadership.     

The Impact of Electoral Reform on the Public Service: The New Zealand Case

October 1996 marked the beginning of a new era in New Zealand politics, with the advent of a system of proportional representation based on the German model. This article explores the impact of electoral reform on the public service. First, it summarises the extensive public sector reforms during the mid-to-late 1980s and considers the preparations undertaken by the public service for proportional representation. Second, it outlines the concerns and expectations about the likely consequences of the new electoral system on the bureaucracy. Third, against this background, the article examines the extent to which the public service has been affected by electoral reform. It is argued that despite some notable changes to the political environment within which officials operate, the overall impact of proportional representation on the public service to date has been modest. The analysis presented here is based on a series of interviews conducted during 1997 with ministers, senior public servants, ministerial advisers and parliamentary officials, along with a range of secondary sources.     

New Public Management and Management Education: Foundations of Successful Management Reform

International experience shows that the main objective of New Public Management (NPM) reform has predominantly been to overcome the current crisis in funding and public service delivery. The achieving this objective has involved adopting a philosophy of 'more for less' or, in other words, by enhancing 'value for money' in public service delivery. To this end,NPM reforms have generally aimed at replacing the inherited or traditional bureaucratic structure of management with a market – or at least a competition-based – contract arrangement. As is the case in any contested market setting, the main concern of state and public administration is no longer merely to ensure a legally correct application of laws, but also to use scarce resources as 'efficiently' as possible in the pursuit of the desired ends of increased productivity and 'more for less'.