De statliga myndigheterna skall genomföra statsmakternas beslut om samhällsverksamheten. Men statsmakternas styrmetoder utgår ofta från bristfälligt klarlagda antaganden om bl a ämbetsmännens egenskaper, personliga mål och om hur en myndighets verksamhet bäst organiseras. Styrningen blir därför ibland ett slag i luften, när gapet blir för stort mellan teori och praktik. Resultatet kan bli en statsverksamhet som avviker kraftigt från de valda politiska ombudens beslut om samhällsverksamheten. I denna avhandlingen hävdas att de grundläggande antagandena bakom metoder för att styra statsförvaltningen måste klarläggas bättre så att politikernas beslut kan få större genomslagskraft. Författaren presenterar resultatet av en sådan analys som han genomfört. Bl a analyseras människosynen i styrmodellerna: Ses ämbetsmännen som "analytiska robotar" eller som "självhävdande egocentriker" eller som "moraliska varelser" , handlande efter en egen medveten inre övertygelse? – Författaren drar hypotetiska slutsatser om de nödvändiga villkor som måste vara uppfyllda för att statsmakternas styrning skall ge önskade effekter. I boken diskuteras också logiskt ofrånkomliga fel i styrningen som följer vid vissa givna antaganden. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk.</p>

The implementation of environmental management systems is a way for the Swedish government to manage the work for sustainable development via central government agencies. Environmental management systems (EMS) were originally developed as a tool for continual improvement of environmental performance in industrial companies, following the circle of “Plan, Do, Check, Act”. The aim of using EMS was to facilitate integration of environmental considerations in all agency activities, both internal and external. The purpose of the thesis is to study translation processes of environmental issues related to the EMS project in central government agencies. In order to study the construction of environmental issues in EMS work in agencies, and the consequences of these constructions in relation to ecological sustainable development, four studies have been conducted; first, a study of documents related to the EMS project; second, a study of the Swedish Road Administration and their work with EMS; third, a study of translations in the network for EMS implementation; and fourth, a focus group study of management groups in five agencies.The analysis shows how the external references have been a central part of the translation processes taking place in the EMS project. This is explained as a result of the use of the international EMS standard, ISO 14001, which has become a frequent reference in the project. The influence of ISO 14001 is explained in the thesis as a consequence of the perceived lack of interest at management and government levels in the implementation of EMS projects in agencies. Related to the common adoption are also the external, certified environmental auditors and consultants auditing the results of the EMS implementation and thereby influencing the translation processes taking place in the project. As a result the activities for sustainable development by state agencies have become an issue for the audit and judgement by private actors.Another consequence is the focus of the measurable and non-conflict environmental aspects matching the EMS rationale. Contested environmental issues however do not match the model and may therefore attain less attention of environmental management. Under the influence of the EMS rationale the translation of ecological sustainable development becomes restricted to environmental issues constructed as EMS issues. Related to this is the learning that remains restricted to the EMS rationale. A vital implication is the need for dialogue on the role of state administration for sustainable development beyond EMS activities.

De grundläggande värdena för statsförvaltningen är demokrati, rättssäkerhet och effektivitet. I denna studie undersöks det hur rättssäkerhet och effektivitet förmedlas på Skatteverket, hur tjänstemännen på Skatteverket hanterar dessa krav och i vilka situationer det kan uppstå att tjänstemännen måste prioritera mellan dessa krav. I kapitlet den offentliga förvaltningen och tjänstemännen redogörs det för den teori och den tidigare forskning som använts i denna studie. Den teori som använts är Max Webers teori om byråkrati och tjänstemän. I den tidigare forskningen beskrivs det hur kraven på rättssäkerhet och effektivitet behandlas inom statsförvaltningen och det redogörs för två reformer som genomförts inom den offentliga förvaltningen de senaste årtionden. Resultaten av studien visar att kraven i störst utsträckning förmedlas på möten och att tjänstemännen har sin utbildning till hjälp för att hantera kraven. De situationer som uppstår där tjänstemännen måste prioritera är vid masshantering, användningen av mallar och vid jakten på tillfredsställande statistik. Sammanfattningsvis kan det konstateras att rättssäkerheten förutsätts vara något som tjänstemännen har med sig från utbildning och något som de automatiskt går in i i och med sin anställning. Effektiviteten är däremot något som måste läras ut, eller snarare pressas fram. / The fundamental values of the public administration are democracy, legal security and efficiency. This study examines how legal security and efficiency is mediated by the swedish tax agency, how the civil servants handle these demands and in which situations the civil servants must prioritize between these demands. In the chapter The public administration and the civil servants account is given for the theory and the previous research this study utilizes. The applied theory is Max Webers theory on bureaucracyand civil servants. Previous research depicts how the demands on legal security and efficiency are treated by the public administration and gives account for two reforms which have been implemented by the public administration during the last decades. The results of the study shows that the demands are mostly intermediated during meetings and that the civil servants have their education to help handle the demands. The situations in which the civil servants need to prioritize are in the usage of templates, mass handling and when looking for satisfactory statistics. In conclusion it can be stated that the legal security is assumed to be something the civil servants bring with them from their education and something they automatically apply due to their education. Efficiency, on the other hand, is something that needs to be taught, or rather, forced.

In the Swedish public administration responsibility is an essential condition and is made explicit when the public administration is challenged by unexpected crises. In general, crisis management research can be considered comprehensive. However, there is a lack of studies regarding the idea of organizational responsibility in connection with major crises. This qualitative comparative case study aims to analyze responsibility at the national level in the crisis management of the Tsunami disaster and the Corona crisis. The study is done by qualitative content analysis. The study's analysis is performed using a self-constructed theory with two distinct types of organizational responsibilities; Traditional and Modern. The research question to be answered is: How have ideas about organizational responsibility changed between the Tsunami disaster and the Corona crisis?   The study has found a change in the idea of responsibility and the way it was practiced between the crises. During the crisis management of the Tsunami, it was strongly marked by a responsibility as hierarchically constructed with legal and routine-based frameworks. To a change towards a responsibility interpreted as a cooperation during the Corona crisis. Then the responsibility was governed by a stronger flexibility and responsiveness towards the actors who were involved during the crisis management. The kind of responsibility that has been established for several decades is difficult to completely change. This explains that parts of the responsibility during the Tsunami has been found in the Corona crisis. The study has therefore found a shift of responsibility from Traditional to Modern responsibility during this sixteen-year period.

How does public authority maintain their legitimacy in society? According to theory of institutional adjustment they maintain their authority by adapting to different criteria and modern trends society. One most famous social trend in Sweden has for the last decades been NPM, which shortly means adjusting the organization by making it more like the private sectors companies. This could mean adjusting the entire organization or just taking small influences. Large institutions in the public sector are by mostly related to something rigid and unchanging, but the research declares that even large institutions adapt their structure to maintain legitimacy. This means they only partly change the formal administration to be presented to the public but remain the same in informal structures. Research also tells that some administrations partly change by adjusting the trends to their specific purpose and profession. Riksdagsförvaltningen is the public administration of the Swedish Parliament and is one of the largest institutions in Swedish public sector. The question of this thesis is how does Riksdagsförvaltningen as an institution with such closeness to the political structure of parliament adapt to modern trends or why not? Could the institutional adjustment be affected by its purpose and profession? In this thesis managers in Riksdagsförvaltningen have been interviewed for investigating this question in a qualitative content analysis. The conclusion is that Riksdagsförvaltningen may adjust their formal administration while the mentality and organizational culture of the institution remain the same. It also adapts specific trends to fit its purpose by remaining as a traditional bureaucracy and bringing in ideals from NPM. The closeness to the parliament creates a complicated situation to both pleasure the members of parliament and maintain the values of the administration.