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The purpose of this paper is to examine three substantial trends in public administration research from a Norwegian perspective with a special focus on administrative reform that addresses organizational arrangements rather than changes of policy by focusing on government capacity and good government.

The paper is synthesizing trends in Norwegian public administration research over the past 30 years by using existing publications and also by contrasting it to development in other countries.

The paper describes, first, the theoretical development toward meso-level theories and an institutional turn in public administration research. Second, it focuses on the methodological development toward more time series analysis and comparative and objective data. Third, it addresses the trend from processes and administrative behavior to performance and effects.

The paper addresses the increasing internalization of public administration research, the strengthened focus on empirical studies of “living” organizations, the need to address the big issues and large forces in public administration and also the transformative periods and unsettled situations going beyond settled stable situations.

The paper proposes that public sector organizations facing institutionalized reform pressure may not only integrate the reform into their operation when it fits but also pace the integration while undergoing organizational cultural transformations to fit with the reform. The newly cultivated cultural characteristics, nonetheless, need to be compatible externally with the ideational basis of the reform and internally with existing values and beliefs embodied by the organizations.

Building on a neo-institutionalist perspective, the paper develops a model which considers the possibilities and conditions that local cultural change in the reforming organizations may facilitate reform integration. To test the model's analytical potential, the paper analyzed reform responses of semi-autonomous agencies from Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden under the New Public Management (NPM) reform. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression models were performed on the survey data collected from agency heads (or representative) during the peak of the reform trend. Analyzing this sample of later adopters whose government generally enjoyed high degrees of capacity and autonomy provided a preliminary test to the model's potential.

Significant statistical relations were found between the adoption of operation-level NPM practices and the extent that an agency's cultural characteristics fit with both the ideational basis of NPM and the exiting value-belief mix the agency embodied. Agency characteristics of “proactive responsiveness” and “goal-oriented cooperation” were found significantly related to adoption of NPM practices, showing the possibility of cultivating local cultural changes in reforming organizations.

While compatible with neo-institutionalist emphasis on local continuity, the paper describes an alternative scenario of reform integration for public managers.

This paper aims to describe and explain a contemporary phenomenon.

This is an analysis of research reports and fiction texts.

Universities use mergers and acquisitions to improve their ranking positions, ignoring the effects on research and teaching.

More attention should be paid to current managerial fashions.

An opposition to thoughtless fashion following may lead to positive changes.

If you mean “societal implications”, the state of universities is very important to democratic societies.

These are not for the author to judge.

The purpose of this paper is to address the question of coordination by comparing two recent reforms schemes in Norway: internal security and the welfare administration. Both concern typically transboundary “wicked” policy problems where horizontal and vertical coordination is difficult. What kind of coordination problems did the reforms address, what kind of coordination solutions were provided, and what can explain the observed pattern?

The paper draws on organizational theory, distinguishing between a structural-instrumental and a cultural-institutional perspective. A comparative case study design is applied. The analysis combines insights from four large research projects.

Both cases represent broad government efforts to tackle “wicked” coordination problems when there is a mismatch between the problem structure and the organizational structure. In both cases, reorganization and structural changes resulted in hybrid and complex organizational arrangements. The welfare administration reform tried to solve a tension between ministerial responsibility and local self-government by introducing One-stop-shops. Within the area of internal security, coordination problems related to lacking ministerial capacity was tackled by introducing a formal principle of collaboration, a lead agency approach and network arrangements.

Effective coordination might ease wicked problems by enhancing the understanding of the problem and its underlying causes, increasing the probability of finding agreed-upon solutions and help implementation. Enhanced communication and strengthened mutual trust and commitment among actors might be a positive outcome. However, coordination implies dilemmas and trade-offs, and reformers often have to balance different interests.

The paper shows that different instruments of coordination are central for handling “wicked problems”.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how variation in the content of the performance contracts (number and types of targets) across agencies can be understood.

The analysis is conducted as a cross-sectional quantitative study carried out through an analysis of performance contracts between parent ministries and their agencies in Danish Central Government.

The study finds that the size of agencies, measurability of tasks and ministerial affiliation are significantly related to the number of targets in the contracts, whereas ministerial affiliation and the internal organization of agencies are significantly related to certain types of targets in contracts.

The findings indicate, on the one hand, that it may be difficult to obtain the same kind of performance contracting across agencies characterized by different features. Thus, it may be difficult to put up universal standards for performance contracting for a broad range of agencies, and expect that they will all be able to meet them. On the other hand, the findings also indicate that the effort and knowledge actors put into the implementation of performance contracting matters. Therefore, some agencies may be able to get closer towards the recommendations for management by objectives and results.

The paper contributes to the existing literature, as it tests and shows the importance of other and further contextual factors affecting the formulation of targets in performance contracts than previous studies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how performance measurement systems (PMSs) might be designed in order to empower managers of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) towards an active work role.

The study is based on a conceptual approach that combines insights from prior research on performance measurement with that on dimensions of psychological empowerment. An exploratory case study is used to further develop propositions for the design of an empowering PMS. Data from in-depth interviews with six managers of diverse SOEs located within a German city enables the tracing of underlying causal mechanisms.

PMSs that are designed according to the principles of goal clarity, balanced goal difficulty, autonomy-enhancing measurement, and a broad goal scope can positively influence the four dimensions of empowerment: meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact.

The study’s propositions can be used to enhance the governance of SOEs through a particular design of PMSs. This research thus responds to the call for a new generation of governance mechanisms within the complex setting of SOEs.

Current research on PMSs is extended through the construct of psychological empowerment. Thus, an existing governance mechanism is further developed towards being more effective for use in the context of SOEs.

Performance management is criticised as a direct challenge to the dominant logic of professionalism in health care organisations. The purpose of this paper is to report an ethnographic study that investigates how performance management and professionalism as contradicting logics are interpreted and implemented by managers and nurses in everyday practice within Norwegian nursing homes.

The paper presents an analysis of 18 semistructured interviews and 100 hours of observation of managers and nurses from three nursing homes. The study draws on the institutional logic perspective as a theoretical framework. In the analysis, the authors searched for patterns of activities and interactions that reflected managers and nurses’ coping strategies for handling contradicting logics. Qualitative content analysis was used to systematically code the data, supported by NVIVO software.

The authors identified three forms of coping strategies: the adjustment of professionalism to standards, the reinforcement of professional flexibility and problem solving, and the strategic adoption of documentation. These patterns of activities and interactions reflect new organisational structures that allowed contradicting logics to co-exist. The study demonstrates that a new complex dimension of governing processes within nursing homes is the way in which managers and nurses handle the tension between contradicting logics in their daily work and clinicians’ everyday practice.

The study provides new insight into how managers and nurses reshape internal organisational structures to cope with contradicting logics in nursing homes.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the drivers of personnel satisfaction towards performance information (PI) usage in the local public administration context.

The study utilizes both quantitative and qualitative research approach. Data are gathered with a survey receiving 194 responses from the departments of six different municipalities that all belong to the group of largest municipalities in Finland. Regression and variance analysis, as well as analysis of open-ended comments are utilized.

A key observation is that high maturity level of performance measurement or information systems do not guarantee personnel satisfaction. Three main perspectives are found to positively affect satisfaction: use of PI in strategic planning, inter-administrative management with PI and communication of measurement information.

Common limitations of survey studies apply. The quantitative data set could have been wider and it should be complemented with more qualitative data. Also the survey itself has limitations due to its generic nature.

The results indicate that managerial purpose of measurement needs to be better clarified. Greatest need for development is found in utilizing PI in resource sharing and in the analysis of current situation supportive to strategic planning.

The efficient use of performance measurement is a commonly acknowledged challenge. Even though PI usage has been increasingly studied, the focus has often been in separate managerial tasks. Wider approach towards performance measurement and management practices has gained less attention. This study is one of the first attempts to apply private sector originating performance measurement maturity discussion in the public sector context.

This paper seeks to examine the impacts of the new public management (NPM)‐oriented management accounting on political control at the Malawian local government level. The objective is to investigate the extent to which NPM‐based management accounting practices have increased managerial autonomy and reduced political control.

The paper is based on an empirical study conducted in six local government assemblies in Malawi. These include Salima Town Assembly, Blantyre City Assembly, Lilongwe City Assembly, Mzuzu City Assembly, Mzimba District Assembly, and Zomba Municipal Assembly. It is based on qualitative research methodology. The qualitative data were mainly collected through personal interviews with assembly managers and councillors. In addition, the study also relied on a review of various literature and newspaper articles providing insights to the subject under study.

The paper has found that the NPM‐based management accounting has led to loss of local political control. In this regard, politicians resort to unproductive behaviors which include interference, sabotage and corruption to regain their lost political control. On the other hand, the administrators sustain their managererial autonomy through NPM‐based managerial prerogatives, seeking central government intervention and colluding with the councillors in corrupt activities.

The paper is of both theoretical and empirical value. Theoretically, the paper contributes to the management accounting literature by looking at management accounting in the context of new organizational arrangement models. In addition, the paper makes an empirical contribution to the knowledge vacuum of the impacts and applicability of the NPM‐based management systems in developing countries. It provides information and insights for reformers to consider the social, political, and cultural environment of the implementing countries so as to prevent counter‐productive consequences that may present massive negative implications on public policy outcomes.