Disengaged employees decrease organizations' efficiencies and profitability. Engaged employees provide greater productivity and performance while being less likely to incur job burnout and exhaustion. However, public sector organizational leaders still struggle to engage their information technology (IT) employees. Partnering with a large public sector organization in the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area, in a case study design, this study explored the strategies that public sector business leaders use to increase productivity through engaging IT employees. The conceptual framework for this study was the job demands-resources framework. Four participants were selected through purposeful sampling from a population of 7 IT leaders who had successfully increased employee engagement and their teams' performance. After collecting data through in-person semistructured interviews from 4 participants, member checking, and organizational documentation, an iterative pattern-matching data analysis process revealed key themes from coded words and phrases. The themes were also verified through methodological triangulation through comparisons with related organizational documentation. The key themes for engaging public sector IT employees were developing positive relationships, providing empowerment with support, and connecting work with meaningful purpose. Each theme included specific supporting implementation strategies. The implications for social change are that engaged employees are less likely to experience job burnout and incur fewer health problems, and therefore have a greater capacity to care for family, friends, and communities.

Cette thèse porte sur le périmètre de l’intervention publique dans l’économie en droits français et iranien. La confrontation de ces deux régimes juridiques recèle une potentialité de libéralisme économique en droit iranien car les propriétés ne sont pas figées en fonction des personnes à qui elles appartiennent. Ainsi, malgré l’obésité actuelle du secteur public iranien, cette particularité permet une meilleure circulation des biens, entre secteur public et privé. Mais dans le même temps, d’autre part, le fait que le droit de propriété ne soit pas, contrairement au droit français, un droit de l’homme, dessert les personnes privées car la stabilité de leurs acquisitions s’en trouve menacée. En effet, exproprier une personne n’est pas considéré comme une atteinte à l’un de ses droits de l’homme mais c’est uniquement une atteinte aux biens qui se justifierait par l’intérêt général. L’ambivalence s’agissant de l’État propriétaire s’observe, également mais à rebours, s’agissant de l’État régulateur. Mais il s’agit cette fois d’une ambivalence à la fois au sein du droit iranien et entre les deux systèmes. Au sein du droit iranien, l’ambivalence du fait que la notion d’intérêt général est remplacée par celle d’intérêt du régime, ce qui empêche l’effectivité juridique de la protection des droits et libertés économiques. Mais, dans le même temps, cette "inopérance" de l’intérêt général a pour conséquence une meilleure protection potentielle de l’égale concurrence car l’État ne bénéficie pas d’un régime exorbitant du droit commun. À cette première ambivalence qui caractérise le droit iranien lui-même s’ajoute une ambivalence entre les deux systèmes puisqu’en droit français, l’intérêt général est plus présent et joue le rôle de conciliateur qui faisait défaut en droit iranien, ce qui est favorable aux droits et libertés économiques. Mais, dans le même temps, les prérogatives de puissance sont un frein au développement de l’égale concurrence. On retrouve donc des avantages en droit français inexistants en droit iranien et inversement. Cela nous amène à conclure à l’existence d’un tableau contrasté qui permet globalement une meilleure protection actuelle des droits et libertés économiques en France mais une meilleure protection potentielle de ces mêmes droits en Iran. / This thesis is about the scope of public intervention in the economy under Iranian and French laws. Comparison between these two legal regimes harbors potential for economic liberalism under Iranian law because properties are not fixed to those to whom they belong. Furthermore, in spite of the current enlargement of Iran’s public sector, this specific feature allows a better movement of properties between the public and the private sectors. Meanwhile, on the other hand, the fact that the right of ownership is not – unlike under the French law – a human rights, is detrimental to natural persons because the stability of their acquisition is threatened. In fact, expropriating someone does not amount to violation of human rights but is only encroachment upon public interest properties. Some ambivalence is observed with regard to State as owner, but there is also ambivalence with regard to State as regulator. Under the Iranian law, the ambivalence stems from the fact that the notion of public interest has been replaced by regime interests and that hinders legal effectiveness of protection of economic rights. But at the same time, the effectiveness of public interest leads to a potentially better protection of competition on equal footing because the State is not subject to an overriding ius commune. Add to this the very first characteristic of Iranian law on ambivalence between two systems because under the French law, public interest is more present and plays the role of conciliator, which is absent in Iran’s law, and which could favor economic rights. But at the same time, the privileges of state authority out a brake on development of equal competition. Therefore, one can find advantages in France’s law that do not exist in Iran’s law. That leads us to a conflicting system which generally allows a better protection of economic rights and freedom in France, but a potentially better protection of the same rights in Iran.

Our world today is facing unprecedented challenges in relation to creating a sustainable way of life. Urban areas have a significant potential to positively contribute to addressing these pressing challenges in sustainable development. The public sector plays a central role in ensuring a sustainable development of its municipality.This thesis presents a case study conducted on the example of Helsingborg municipality in Sweden, which is renowned for its approach to sustainable development as well as innovation.The authors have attempted understanding, why and how this Swedish municipality is so effective in its sustainable development by analyzing its use of the Concept Innovation of Quality of Life as a central component in its strategy.The Diffusion of Innovation Theory is used to analyze the adoption and potential of the Quality of Life Concept Innovation. Previous research is summarized and the findings from semi-structured interviews are presented and synthesized to develop a model that explains the diffusion and outcome of the Concept Innovation of Quality of Life. An interview guide for further use is also presented.

As innovation plays a predominant role in gaining competitive advantage, profit driving companies within the private sector have found ways to use innovation to succeed on the market. Although the public sector works according to a different set of logic, the demand for innovation within the public sector has been found to be growing due to increasing user needs, as well as increasing expectations on the effectiveness, availability and the quality of the public services. The district administrations, that are partly responsible for delivering such services in the City of Stockholm, face currently also various challenges such as a demographical development. A central strategy for innovation currently exists, but as such is equally important as systematical processes in order to build a long-term lasting capacity for innovation, it was unclear to this point if systematical processes are used at the district administrations to actualize innovation. Therefore, this research investigated how innovation was actualized at the district administrations in the City of Stockholm in order to identify if systematical processes were used, as well as to find which factors potentially hinder innovation from being actualized with systematics. Only the implications of the top-management were examined and the research was conducted as a case study of qualitative sort where interviews with top-executives, projects leaders and managers were conducted in the process. This research found that the district administrations neither address nor facilitate innovation in a systematic manner, as systematical processes were found to be absent for such purposes. Innovation is rather actualized in an unstructured manner, as no systematics was found to be used in relation to any of the stages in the innovation process. Among the factors that were found to affect the use of systematic processes was the absence of a climate that facilitates innovation, the lack of know-how knowledge for managing innovation, as well as communication deficiencies. Internal strategies were found to be absent and continuous learning was found to not be facilitated adequately, as well as knowledge in general was found to not be sufficiently enhanced. Heavy workloads and emergency driven operations cause difficulties to actualizing innovation with systematics. Finally, as much of the daily work at district administrations is budget-driven and as innovation is not referred to as explicit objectives, innovation is overshadowed by the tasks that are related to the daily operations at the district administrations. / Då innovation har visat sig ha en dominerad roll i stärkandet av konkurranskraften hos företag har vinstdrivande organisationer inom den privata sektorn hittat sätt att utnyttja innovation till sin fördel på marknaden. Även om den offentliga sektorn arbetar utifrån annorlunda förutsättningar så har efterfrågan på innovation ökat med åren då användarna både efterfrågar och förväntar sig en högre grad av effektivitet, tillgänglighet och kvalitet av tjänsterna som erbjuds. Stadsdelsförvaltningarna som är delvis ansvariga för att leverera olika tjänster inom Stockholms stad står inför olika typer av utmaningar, så som en kommande demografisk ökning. En central strategi för innovation existerar inom staden, men då forskning påpekar vikten av kombinationen av både strategi och systematiska processer för att erhålla en långsiktig innovationskapacitet, var det fram tills nu oklart om processer används på stadsdelsförvaltningarna för att förverkliga innovation. Av denna anledning blev syftet för denna undersökning att klargöra hur stadsdelsförvaltningarna förverkligar innovation för att identifiera om systematiska processer används, men även att kartlägga vilka faktorer som hindrar sådana från att användas. Undersökningen avgränsades till att enbart undersöka implikationerna som ledningen har i frågan och utfördes som en kvalitativ fallstudie där högsta ledning, projektledare och andra chefer intervjuades i processen. Undersökningen fann att stadsdelsförvaltningarna varken adresserar eller faciliterar innovation på ett systematiskt sätt då systematiska processer för ett sådana syften var frånvarande. Innovation visade sig förverkligas på ett ostrukturerat vis, då ingen sorts systematik identifierades i relation till de olika stegen i innovationsprocessen som användes i undersökningen. Bland faktorerna som identifieras som hämmande för användandet av systematiska processer var bland annat avsaknaden av både ett klimat som främjar innovation samt praktisk kunskap inom ämnet, men även bristande kommunikation i frågan. Det visades sig även saknas interna strategier för innovation och ett kontinuerligt organisatoriskt lärande. Tunga arbetsbördor och en viss grad av akutstyrning visade sig även skapa svårigheter för stadsdelsförvaltningarna att arbeta med innovation. Då budget används som det främsta styrverktyget, men där bland annat innovation inte är inkluderat som explicita mål som man kontinuerligt mäter och följer upp, gör att innovation även hamnar i skymundan av det dagliga operativa arbetet.

The aim of the study is to study how the employees at a public sector organization have perceived the implementation of mediated communications during remote work, due to Covid-19. This studies the current situation of the transition in time which made it possible to include both the remote work and current state in which restrictions regarding remote work are lifted. This in relation to organizational culture and organizational communication. To study this, the theoretical framework of communicative figurations by Hepp and Hasebrink (2018) and organizational culture by Schein and Schein (2017) was used. Data from interviews with six employees at a public sector organization in Sweden and organizational documents was collected and analyzed with a qualitative content analysis. The main result of the study is based on employees' perception. The results show that organizational culture has changed in terms of changing norms and behaviors in the organization. The implementation of digital tools and mediated communication in the organization have been perceived to increase availability and a change in how to communicate in an acceptable way. This includes both employees and leaders. Employees have perceived remote work and the technological switch in some aspect’s problematic, although to a large extent interviewees have expressed a willingness to continue working from home in the future.

Despite its benefits, output controls are less prevalent than its counterpart input controls in public sector agencies. Performance budgeting aligns the input of resources with the output of products and services systematically, enabling assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of organizational activities. Yet, implementing performance budgeting is challenging, as observed in the Swedish Armed Forces, thus constituting a suitable case to explore this thesis’ research question – why do public sector agencies seldom succeed implementing performance budgeting?   The inquiry is grounded in the multi-layered institutional framework of performance budgeting by Ho ​(2018)​ which, along with extant literature, is developed into propositions guiding the data gathering. The empirics are examined from a discursive perspective with the theory of multiple institutional logics​ (Besharov & Smith, 2014)​ and its technical dimension with the sociology of translation ​(Latour, 1999)​. Findings indicated that the present financial model did not achieve performance budgeting due to a lack of internal transparency, as the model were perceived as convoluted, and that military and financial performance were assessed and reported in separate structures. Looking ahead from an institutional perspective, the recently developed evaluation model, might assist the development of performance budgeting as its underpinning logic of mission command seems compatible with program logic. However, current lack of standardization and managerial infrastructures are indicative of an ineffective translation process, limiting the representational value of the accounting and performance inscriptions, thus limiting their ability facilitate stable spatial and temporal control.

The digitalisation of society is rapidly progressing, but along with digitalisation, there are threats. Cyber attacks are a rising concern, especially for the public sec-tor and government agencies. To resist attacks, it is crucial to establish a systematic information security work. Among activities within the systematic information security work, two of them are evaluation and follow-up. Those are activities important for the continuous improvement that should occur when working systematically. However, research has revealed that such activities are challenging to perform. Swedish government agencies have experienced difficulties for years with evaluating and following up on their information security work, although it is a requirement to fulfil. Therefore, this study aims at investigating how information security is evaluated and followed up within Swedish government agencies for civil preparedness by applying a qualitative case study. The study used two methods to collect data. Data was gathered from public documents and a qualitative content analysis was performed. A total of 152 documents were analysed, including appropriation directions and annual reports. In combination, ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with informants from government agencies responsible for civil preparedness and individuals with extensive work experience regarding information security in the public and private sectors. The interview data were analysed similarly to the public documents, hence content analysis and categorisation into themes. The results indicate that evaluation and follow-up of information security are performed, but they are burdensome for government agencies. It is mainly due to unclear requirements and weak governance. In addition, evaluation is a time-consuming and resource-intensive activity, which makes it challenging to motivate. The study enlightens these challenges, and its findings could be utilised in future research to aid the problem situation.

Studien syftar till att utreda frågeställningen “Vilka hinder har Stockholms läns kommuner vid implementering av externa molntjänster?”. Målet är att skapa en grund för att kunna adressera dessa problem och skapa förbättrade förutsättningar. Problemet bottnar i en eftersläpande digital utveckling inom Sveriges offentliga sektor och kommuner, vilken inte är i linje med Sveriges digitaliseringsvision. Forskningsfrågan undersöks genom en kvalitativ fallstudie där data genereras från intervjuer med sju av kommunerna i Stockholms län. Genom en tematisk analys har fem olika teman identifierats. Resultaten visade att kommunerna upplever hindrande faktorer såsom begränsade lagar, ekonomiska aspekter, brist på kompetens, motivation och ledarskap, samt hur det kommunala självstyret hindrar samarbete och gemensamma lösningar kring molntjänster. / The study aims to investigate the question “What obstacles do the municipalities in Stockholm County face when implementing external cloud services?”. The problem is based on insufficient digital development in Sweden's public sector and municipalities that is not aligned with Sweden's digitalization vision. The research question is explored through a qualitative case study, with data generated from interviews conducted with seven municipalities in Stockholm County, where five different themes have been identified through thematic analysis. The results showed that municipalities face hindering factors such as conflicting laws, economic aspects, lack of competence, motivation and leadership, as well as how municipal self-governance hinders collaboration and shared solutions regarding cloud services.

Syftet med detta examensarbete var att marknadsundersöka och identifiera nya kundmarknader samt konkurrenter inom den privata sektorn för företaget Green Landscaping AB i Stockholm. Genom intervju av företagets befintliga kunder tillsammans med teorin, kunde företagets olika marknadssegment och dess konkurrenter identifieras och jämföras. Utifrån analysen identifierades segment A, som det mest attraktiva segmentet för att företaget skulle positionera sig inom. Segment A utgör större delar av marknader vilket bidrar till att företaget får möjligheter till flera nya potentiella marknader som består av kunder där företaget har lätt att övertyga i val av leverantör. Företag C valdes som den primära konkurrenten bland de identifierade konkurrenterna eftersom företaget får utvecklingsmöjligheter för att förbättras och avancera sig inom olika områden genom konkurrens med ett stort företag. En konkurrens mellan stora företagen påverkar även de mindre företagen indirekt t ex vid en pristjustering då följer små företagen utveckling, eftersom det är de stora företagen som är marknadsledande. / The purpose of this thesis was to research and identify new customer markets and competitors within the private sector for Green Landscaping AB in Stockholm. The company's different market segments and its competitors could be identified and compared by theory together with interviewing the company's existing customers. Based on the analysis, segment A was identified as the most attractive segment for the company to position itself. Segment A covers larger parts of the markets, which means that the company has opportunities for several new potential markets consisting of customers where the company has easy to convince in the choice of supplier. Company C was chosen as the primary competitor among identified competitors because the company has development opportunities to improve and advance in different areas through competition with a large company. A competition between large companies also affects the smaller companies indirectly for example in price adjustments the small companies are following the large companies development because they are the market leaders.

The continued steady growth of public sector unions compels public administrators to understand the influence labor organizations exert upon local governments. The following study demonstrates the extent of union influence upon police expenditures in Florida. Union influence not only increases total police expenditures and personal services expenditures, it also causes operating expenses to rise. Union influence is less pronounced, and possibly even non-existent in capital outlays expenditures because of possible lack of interest on the part of the union in this area and also because of the existence of economically predetermined policies regarding capital outlays such as vehicle purchases. Public sector unions, by formalizing and enhancing the exit-voice phenomenon within government systems, influence the expenditures of local government. This influence manifests its presence specifically in local government expenditures. By examining the association between unionization and the level of expenditures in local government, this study attempts to illustrate the influence of unions upon local governments. Specifically, this study assesses the impact of police unionization has upon local government police department expenditures for municipalities in the state of Florida. A qualitative inquiry combines with a quantitative study to examine the extent of union influence on police expenditures in Florida.