Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om det finns en förändring över tid i Inspektionenför vård och omsorgs styrning. Följande frågeställningar ligger till grund för genomförandet av analysen: Är en tydlig övergång till tillitsbaserad styrning synlig i verksamhetsplanerna över tid? Hur gestaltar sig spänningen mellan utfallsbaserad och tillitsbaserad styrning? Studien i uppsatsen har utförts i form av en fallstudie av Inspektionen för vård och omsorg. För att analysera det insamlade materialet har en kvalitativ textanalys använts. Materialet har utgjorts av verksamhetsplaner. Resultatet visar att en tydlig övergång till tillitsbaserad styrning är synlig över tid, i Inspektionen för vård och omsorgs verksamhetsplaner. En övergång som går att koppla samman med Tillitsdelegationens åtta principer. Någon generell slutsats kan dock, på basis av studiens storlek, inte dras. Hur spänningen mellan utfallsbaserad och tillitsbaserad styrning gestaltar sig är en frågeställning som bara delvis kunde besvaras, vissa motsättningar identifieras i studien men en grundligare analys med ett större material krävs för att frågan skall kunna betraktas som besvarad.

Decentralization versus centralization is a discussed subject within the field of management, and it is about where control is allocated in the organization. This thesis aimed to contributewith understanding of these two contrasting structures by a multiple-case study consisting of Swedens’ decentralized, and Norway’s centralized national health care service in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Opportunities and challenges are studied within each organizational model by studying the handling of the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). The empirical findings showed that the allocation of control at regional level in the organization of Sweden’s national health care resulted in opportunities to create new forms of regional collaborations, and challenges of having to change the current organizational model due to the complexity of the problem. In Norway, where control is allocated at the national level, an opportunity was the establishing of a national purchase and distribution system and to handle the problem proactively. For some parts of the local level, implementation of directives given by central authorities turned out to be a challenge.

For several decades, there has been a transfer of ideas from the private sector to the public sector on how to modernize the organization. One widespread idea is the service guarantee. However, when ideas are transferred from one domain to another and implemented in a different context, they are also always transformed. This report centres on what happened in practice when service guarantees were introduced into two Swedish municipalities. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the employees perceived the implementation of a public service guarantee and its impact on the employees in the organization. The study points to the difficulty of transferring the ​​service guarantee idea to the public sector and to reproduce it successfully. The study indicates that the existence of the service guarantee is questioned, and gives rise to new goal conflicts when operating plans are made. Employees expect managers to be committed, while describing a status quo situation. The study indicates that the service guarantee has only become an unexploited symbolic tool in the development of quality assurance. / Offentlig sektor har sedan flera decennier tillbaka hämtat idéer från den privata sektorn för att modernisera organisationen. En idé som fått en stor spridning är tjänstegarantier. När idéer ska hämtas ut, överföras och införas mellan olika kontexter sker alltid en omformning av idén. Denna rapport berör vad som händer i praktiken när tjänstegarantier har införts i två svenska kommuner. Studiens syfte har varit att undersöka hur anställda upplever implementeringen av tjänstegarantier och vilka konsekvenser tjänstegarantin får för anställda i organisationen. Resultaten från studien visar på svårigheten att fånga idén med tjänstegarantier och att reproducera idén framgångsrikt. Av studien framgår det att tjänstegarantins existens är ifrågasatt och när verksamheten ska planeras uppstår nya målkonflikter. Anställda efterfrågar chefernas engagemang samtidigt som anställda beskriver en obetänksam tillbakastyrning. Studien pekar på att tjänstegarantin bara blivit ett symboliskt verktyg i utvecklingen av kvalitet.

Research on diversity in the workplace is expanding to include multiple categories including, race, gender, and LGBT identities. Government agencies should have a workforce that represents a diverse public. This is a challenge because agencies and their employees are not immune to the social processes that produce inequalities. A central question in public administration is how to improve practices in the recruitment, management, and retention of a diverse workforce. I theorized that employee perceptions are affected by inequalities based on the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. The purpose of this study was to determine if employee perceptions were influenced by intersectional identity patterns. The dominant framework in the literature proposes that the separate and additive effects of stigma, stereotypes, and bias influence employee perceptions at work. Intersectionality challenges this approach by conceptualizing social identity as the combination of identity categories. I provide a methodology for comparing the difference in fit between additive and intersectional models.The findings of this study demonstrate the greater explanatory power of intersectionality through replication and extension of Sabharwal et al.'s (2019) study of turnover intention. The replication analysis finds errors in the original models that, when corrected, provide stronger evidence for their hypotheses. Tests indicate that the intersectional model fit the data better than the additive model. The models show that patterns of turnover intention are conditional, shaped by intersectional combinations of race, gender, and sexuality. The patterns of diversity revealed in these models show that the effect of diversity is complex—it is more than the sum of its parts. The results change our understanding of diversity inclusion within the federal workforce, employee retention, and satisfaction. I discuss recommendations for managers in government agencies seeking to improve diversity inclusion practices in the federal workforce.

This study has aimed to investigate the new regulation of the superintendent that was introduced at the turn of the year 2019, which states that the superintendent shall assist the local politics and school boards. The overall purpose of this study is to increase knowledge about how a legal regulation of the superintendency affects school governance and management in the governance chain. Underlying issues are: how the regulation in the Education Act has been interpreted by various actors in the school area and whether the superintendents themselves believe that the regulation has affected their position and function. To investigate this, various government documents and investigations concerning the regulation of the superintendent are studied, a number of actors in the chain of command are interviewed about the new regulation and the individual opinions of the superintendents have been obtained via a survey. To put the superintedent in a context, I have highlighted theories of state governance, New Public Management and trust-based governance. To understand the superintendent arena and what governs the superintendent, I have used six dimensions of power and a framework that defines what governs the superintendent room for maneuver. The results show that the superintendent function will be affected by the new regulation. Whether the chain of command will become clearer, there are no unambiguous answers neither from those who have been interviewed nor the superintendent. On the other hand, there are several among those who have been interviewed who claim that the superintendent regulation can result in a conflict of power between, among others, local politics and the superintendent, the superintendent and the school principal. Furthermore, another issue found are difficulties with the regulation because the Swedish municipalities have different size and different organization including the difference of structure of the political boards, which affects the effects of the regulation of the superintendent.

Inom den offentliga sektorn har det blivit allt vanligare att myndigheter anlitar utomståendeleverantörer för att genomföra arbete åt myndigheten, så kallad utkontraktering. Attupphandlingarna genomförs affärsmässigt och att myndigheter får så hög kvalitet sommöjligt i förhållande till det pris som betalas är av stor vikt då det handlar om skattemedel. Iden här studien har vi med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer undersökt hur tjänstemän hos olikamyndigheter som genomför upphandlingar balanserar spänningen mellan pris och kvalitet.Syftet har varit att utöka kunskapen inom den del av utkontraktering som innefattar attupphandla en leverantör. Resultatet visade att upphandlarna hade stor påverkan på pris ochkvalitet när de ställde krav och mervärden i upphandlingen, bestämde ersättningsmodelleroch även under avtalsförvaltningen. Vidare visade studien att upphandlare har olika syn påvad som innefattar tjänstekvalitet samt hur höga kvalitetsnivån man bör beakta i upphandlingen.

Although research has been done on amnesty, little is known about amnesty as a public policy tool toward countering insurgence in Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to examine the role of amnesty as a public policy tool. The research questions are: Is there a difference in people's view of amnesty that explain the relevance of infrastructural facilities to stimulate economic growth and development in Nigeria? And, are there specific citizen characteristics that explain the differences in the way citizens perceive amnesty as a public policy choice? The theoretical framework was based on Marx's ideology of conflict theory. This study employed convenience and purposive sampling methods in selecting participant and employed a cross-sectional ex-post facto quantitative research design. Data were collected through a researcher developed survey administered to 100 randomly-selected participants at the Gwagwalada shopping mall, located in the capital city of Abuja. Descriptive statistics and analyses of variances showed a significant mean difference in the perceptions of participants who believed that amnesty would play a viable role in countering insurgency, based on age, income, education, sex, employment status and type of work performed, and the regions in which they reside. However, findings indicate that there is no statistical significance between religious differences or views on economic growth and development and amnesty as a public policy choice. The awareness will provide a framework for better understanding of amnesty as a public policy choice. The positive social change implications include advocacy for amnesty as a public policy tool toward countering insurgence. Implementation of the recommendation of this study lends support to amnesty policies in Nigeria by providing a greater awareness of citizen preferences in policy development.

Performance management is prevalent in public organizations and public services, but the push for performance may harm genuine accountability. One critical reason for this is that little knowledge has developed about the scope and effect of actual accountability requirements in the public management field. This dissertation furthers our understanding of accountability and performance by distinguishing them as different dimensions of public management. Building on this distinction, the effect of accountability (A) on performance (P) and accountability management’s (M) mediating role in the relationship between accountability and performance were investigated empirically in child welfare services in Virginia. The study had two stages: interviews and a survey. The qualitative content analysis of the interviews provides several noteworthy findings. Accountability can be understood more with the terms: explanation, expectation, people/society, action/decision, and values. Conversely, performance can be considered more in line with the terms: productivity/outcome, timely work, team playing, learning, and strategy. The incompatible characteristics found between accountability and performance highlight problems behind performance-driven accountability. The survey portion of the study, built upon the interview data, also presents notable findings. (1) Accountability affects performance both directly and indirectly, and (2) accountability management matters in the relationship between accountability and performance. While the empirical literature on the A → P link focuses on the effects of competing accountability requirements, my study examines dimensions of the accountability requirements’ impact. Formal (e.g., legal) as well as informal (e.g., ethical) accountability requirements are critical for ensuring higher performance. Compliance strategies implicitly connect informal accountability requirements with work performance. The findings support the study’s argument that accountability should be stressed for better performance and highlight the need for the careful design of accountability mechanisms in social services. Ultimately, this study may serve as a foundation for future efforts to establish more appropriate accountability and performance arrangements. / Ph. D.

This paper has investigated the right to equivalent education in compulsory school for pupils with learning disabilities. What has been investigated is what is the right to equivalent education and factors such as finances, equivalent and quality within two Swedish municipalities. The study has examined with the help of New public management and implementation theories to investigate how two municipalities work with implementing political decisions but also how they are steering, controlling and the evaluation of school administration and pupils. The study concludes that a policy on equivalent education may be needed to increase the equivalent for students in the compulsory school for pupils with learning disabilities. The study has also concluded that there are two key concepts that increase equivalence for students in compulsory school for pupils with learning disabilities, it's the need of the pupils and their knowledge development to enchur equivalent education. The two municipalities and the school administration need to work on is: to have a good foundation in the schools' systematic quality work to achieve the requirements of the Education Act and the curriculum from the National Agency for Education, the goal of new public management to be achieved. It turns out that the municipalities' financial management is partly crucial for the school's development especially with teacher density and competent staff. Neither municipality has a successful implementation due to the municipalities being in different phases in the policy process for the systematic quality work and the work in the school administration.Something from the two municipalities is that it is complex to work and manage the compulsory school for pupils with learning disabilities where the state of Gothenburg works with a systematic work to follow the law and curriculum while Laxå municipality works more on a value- based system on students' needs. To have a clear path on what equivalent education for pupils in the compulsory school for pupils with learning disabilities it's that they need both the structure that the state of Gothenburg has and the value- based system on needs Laxå municipality has. There is a need for further research on what type of policy to ensure equivalent education in compulsory school for pupils with learning disabilities.

Abstrakta ord som lycka, kvalitet och rikedom används dagligen i vardagsspråket, och vi förstår allt som oftast hur dessa ska tolkas beroende på kontexten. Svårighet uppstår dock när man försöker avgränsa dessa otydliga begrepp och definiera vad som ingår och inte ingår i dem. När tolkningsbara begrepp ligger till grund för beslutsfattande inom myndigheter kan det således tendera att bli upp till den enskilde tjänstepersonen att tolka dem. Syftet med den här studien är att försöka förstå hur bruket av icke definierade begrepp inom myndighetsutövning skapar praktiker hos enskilda tjänstemän, samt huruvida dessa är kopplade till strategisk styrning. Med studien vill jag diskutera hur strategisk vaghet används som ett sätt att styra subjekt i deras tjänstemannautövning. Studiens kanske främsta bidrag till kunskapsbyggandet är dess kvalitativa ansats och intervjubaserade metod som används för att förstå individens subjektiva upplevelse av en diskurs som praktiserar vaga begrepp. Det teoretiska ramverk som studien vilar på utgörs främst av Jürgen Habermas teori om det kommunikativa handlandet och universalpragmatiken samt Michel Foucaults teorier om styrningsmentalitet och diskursiva praktiker. Studien visar att intervjupersonerna upplever krav på effektivitet och rationalitet uppifrån samtidigt som de upplever ett ständigt flöde av nya, vaga begrepp samt att de upplever en strävan efter att komma överens snarare än att fokusera på vad man kommer överens om. Resultaten i studien pekar på att icke definierade begrepp kan vara ett resultat av en politisk styrning som är tätt sammankopplad med de spänningar som uppstår när kvantifierbara mål tillåts regera över kvalitativa resurser. Min förhoppning med studien är att påvisa hur krav på kontroll och rationalitet inom offentlig förvaltning paradoxalt nog kan leda till att en diskursiv vaghet reproduceras på individnivå för att uppnå effektiva beslutsprocesser.