Norwegian public sector organizations experience a considerable reform-pressure. Politicians from... more Norwegian public sector organizations experience a considerable reform-pressure. Politicians from all parties as well as communities and users demand that organizations become more innovative, better organized, more efficient and deliver higher levels of service. The reform-pressure is felt in all organizations in the public sector, but not least in Norway’s 430 municipalities. Approximately 15% of the Norwegian work-force is employed in one of these municipalities. These vary in size, still they share some of the same challenges. These challenges are connected to increasing the organizations’ efficiency, but also to manage and increase the organizations’ reputation and legitimacy.
But how do you work to make your organization more efficient or increase it’s reputation and standing in the eyes of the organizational stakeholders? Some strategies address the need for new organizational designs, increased cooperation and merging of one or more municipalities. Other strategies are aimed at increasing the level of innovation and entrepreneurship in the production of services. Yet a third set of strategies are aimed at building more robust and better organizational cultures, identity and image.
In the past ten years it has become increasingly popular for public sector organizations to develop what we may call a ‘core-ideology’ or organizational values. This is often accompanied by a Big Hairy Goal – a vision that is supposed to function as a guiding star for the people working in the organization. Often the values and the vision are also meant to function as a means to promote the organization or to create a positive image. The basis for this is theory and management-literature that stresses the importance of visions, values and a core-ideology in order to build successful or ‘learning’ organizations. However, increasingly we find voices in the research-community that are more critical to this approach and do not necessarily see a direct link between the development and implementation of visions and core-values and strengthened organizational culture and efficiency.
In this dissertation I study one particular municipality, Sandnes, and how the organization has worked to develop a vision and core-values. I analyze how the vision and core-values are used in the organization and what effects it may have had. The question I have tried to answer is:
In what ways have the development and implementation of a vision and core-values strengthened the organizational culture of the Municipality of Sandnes?
I chose a qualitative approach to answer this question. This entailed gathering data from relevant studies made by the municipality itself and others, as well as conducting 9 individual research interviews with top-management, heads of unit and ordinary employees in the municipality.
In the study I found that there are clear indications that the management-system of the organization is strengthened. Leaders seem to feel more united and focused. They also report that they experience an increase in efficiency, especially in relation to strategic processes and decision-making. However, the ordinary employees seem less affected by the vision and the core-values. Although all of the employees in my study feel that the vision and values reflect well the organizations identity, they use it far less actively in their daily work and when relating to colleagues, users and stakeholders. This is a finding that points in the direction that changing organizational culture is a complex matter and that there might be limits to how organizational culture can be changed on the basis of the development and implementation of visions and core-values. It also supports the view that organizational culture may be far less integrated and more fragmented than some managers and researchers seem to believe.
Norwegian public sector organizations experience a considerable reform-pressure. Politicians from... more Norwegian public sector organizations experience a considerable reform-pressure. Politicians from all parties as well as communities and users demand that organizations become more innovative, better organized, more efficient and deliver higher levels of service. The reform-pressure is felt in all organizations in the public sector, but not least in Norway’s 430 municipalities. Approximately 15% of the Norwegian work-force is employed in one of these municipalities. These vary in size, still they share some of the same challenges. These challenges are connected to increasing the organizations’ efficiency, but also to manage and increase the organizations’ reputation and legitimacy.
But how do you work to make your organization more efficient or increase it’s reputation and standing in the eyes of the organizational stakeholders? Some strategies address the need for new organizational designs, increased cooperation and merging of one or more municipalities. Other strategies are aimed at increasing the level of innovation and entrepreneurship in the production of services. Yet a third set of strategies are aimed at building more robust and better organizational cultures, identity and image.
In the past ten years it has become increasingly popular for public sector organizations to develop what we may call a ‘core-ideology’ or organizational values. This is often accompanied by a Big Hairy Goal – a vision that is supposed to function as a guiding star for the people working in the organization. Often the values and the vision are also meant to function as a means to promote the organization or to create a positive image. The basis for this is theory and management-literature that stresses the importance of visions, values and a core-ideology in order to build successful or ‘learning’ organizations. However, increasingly we find voices in the research-community that are more critical to this approach and do not necessarily see a direct link between the development and implementation of visions and core-values and strengthened organizational culture and efficiency.
In this dissertation I study one particular municipality, Sandnes, and how the organization has worked to develop a vision and core-values. I analyze how the vision and core-values are used in the organization and what effects it may have had. The question I have tried to answer is:
In what ways have the development and implementation of a vision and core-values strengthened the organizational culture of the Municipality of Sandnes?
I chose a qualitative approach to answer this question. This entailed gathering data from relevant studies made by the municipality itself and others, as well as conducting 9 individual research interviews with top-management, heads of unit and ordinary employees in the municipality.
In the study I found that there are clear indications that the management-system of the organization is strengthened. Leaders seem to feel more united and focused. They also report that they experience an increase in efficiency, especially in relation to strategic processes and decision-making. However, the ordinary employees seem less affected by the vision and the core-values. Although all of the employees in my study feel that the vision and values reflect well the organizations identity, they use it far less actively in their daily work and when relating to colleagues, users and stakeholders. This is a finding that points in the direction that changing organizational culture is a complex matter and that there might be limits to how organizational culture can be changed on the basis of the development and implementation of visions and core-values. It also supports the view that organizational culture may be far less integrated and more fragmented than some managers and researchers seem to believe.
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But how do you work to make your organization more efficient or increase it’s reputation and standing in the eyes of the organizational stakeholders? Some strategies address the need for new organizational designs, increased cooperation and merging of one or more municipalities. Other strategies are aimed at increasing the level of innovation and entrepreneurship in the production of services. Yet a third set of strategies are aimed at building more robust and better organizational cultures, identity and image.
In the past ten years it has become increasingly popular for public sector organizations to develop what we may call a ‘core-ideology’ or organizational values. This is often accompanied by a Big Hairy Goal – a vision that is supposed to function as a guiding star for the people working in the organization. Often the values and the vision are also meant to function as a means to promote the organization or to create a positive image. The basis for this is theory and management-literature that stresses the importance of visions, values and a core-ideology in order to build successful or ‘learning’ organizations. However, increasingly we find voices in the research-community that are more critical to this approach and do not necessarily see a direct link between the development and implementation of visions and core-values and strengthened organizational culture and efficiency.
In this dissertation I study one particular municipality, Sandnes, and how the organization has worked to develop a vision and core-values. I analyze how the vision and core-values are used in the organization and what effects it may have had. The question I have tried to answer is:
In what ways have the development and implementation of a vision and core-values strengthened the organizational culture of the Municipality of Sandnes?
I chose a qualitative approach to answer this question. This entailed gathering data from relevant studies made by the municipality itself and others, as well as conducting 9 individual research interviews with top-management, heads of unit and ordinary employees in the municipality.
In the study I found that there are clear indications that the management-system of the organization is strengthened. Leaders seem to feel more united and focused. They also report that they experience an increase in efficiency, especially in relation to strategic processes and decision-making. However, the ordinary employees seem less affected by the vision and the core-values. Although all of the employees in my study feel that the vision and values reflect well the organizations identity, they use it far less actively in their daily work and when relating to colleagues, users and stakeholders. This is a finding that points in the direction that changing organizational culture is a complex matter and that there might be limits to how organizational culture can be changed on the basis of the development and implementation of visions and core-values. It also supports the view that organizational culture may be far less integrated and more fragmented than some managers and researchers seem to believe.
But how do you work to make your organization more efficient or increase it’s reputation and standing in the eyes of the organizational stakeholders? Some strategies address the need for new organizational designs, increased cooperation and merging of one or more municipalities. Other strategies are aimed at increasing the level of innovation and entrepreneurship in the production of services. Yet a third set of strategies are aimed at building more robust and better organizational cultures, identity and image.
In the past ten years it has become increasingly popular for public sector organizations to develop what we may call a ‘core-ideology’ or organizational values. This is often accompanied by a Big Hairy Goal – a vision that is supposed to function as a guiding star for the people working in the organization. Often the values and the vision are also meant to function as a means to promote the organization or to create a positive image. The basis for this is theory and management-literature that stresses the importance of visions, values and a core-ideology in order to build successful or ‘learning’ organizations. However, increasingly we find voices in the research-community that are more critical to this approach and do not necessarily see a direct link between the development and implementation of visions and core-values and strengthened organizational culture and efficiency.
In this dissertation I study one particular municipality, Sandnes, and how the organization has worked to develop a vision and core-values. I analyze how the vision and core-values are used in the organization and what effects it may have had. The question I have tried to answer is:
In what ways have the development and implementation of a vision and core-values strengthened the organizational culture of the Municipality of Sandnes?
I chose a qualitative approach to answer this question. This entailed gathering data from relevant studies made by the municipality itself and others, as well as conducting 9 individual research interviews with top-management, heads of unit and ordinary employees in the municipality.
In the study I found that there are clear indications that the management-system of the organization is strengthened. Leaders seem to feel more united and focused. They also report that they experience an increase in efficiency, especially in relation to strategic processes and decision-making. However, the ordinary employees seem less affected by the vision and the core-values. Although all of the employees in my study feel that the vision and values reflect well the organizations identity, they use it far less actively in their daily work and when relating to colleagues, users and stakeholders. This is a finding that points in the direction that changing organizational culture is a complex matter and that there might be limits to how organizational culture can be changed on the basis of the development and implementation of visions and core-values. It also supports the view that organizational culture may be far less integrated and more fragmented than some managers and researchers seem to believe.