MPA - Master of Public Administration
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Abstract: The concept of comprehensive approach originates from decades of incapacity for creating the necessary sustainable peace through various forms of military intervention. Comprehensive approach specifically makes demands on the superior planning of an armed intervention and makes demands on an extensive coordination in the operating units in the field (military as well as civilian). Comprehensive approach is primarily about a more rational use of resources in areas of conflict with the aim of achieving quick results and much effect. With this initiative it is the intention of the government to ensure that the use of Danish national resources in international operations of crisis management takes place in a focused, effective and coordinated way. For that reason the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the Danish Ministry of Defence initiated a proposal in 2004 for using Danish national resources in international operations of crisis management in a focused, effective and coordinated way with the involvement of relevant and competent operators in the form of contributions from governmental institutions, the military, humanitarian organizations and to a certain extent also civilian enterprises. It is the object of this paper to study how the operators of the area individually speak of comprehensive approach and why no action is taken taking into account an ostensible concurrent agreement that comprehensive approach is a good idea. Our research of the problem is based on a social-constructive perspective using as the underlying basis ‘the empty signifier’, theories of hypocrisy and legitimacy, their predication being relevant to the research question. Among other things our analysis has shown us that an alternative research question that could have resulted in the same analysis and conclusion could have been “Who is the comprehensive approach intended for?” On one side the concept comprehensive approach is closed for commenting as regards it being a good idea but at the same time open for commenting as regards content. To maintain the empty signifier for comprehensive approach, the operators of the area play the hypocrite to adhere to their legitimacy, and the final analyses uncover how the operators of the area individually identify themselves in relation to the comprehensive approach. In that way the operators become hybrids – they appear as fragile when they benefit the most in the role of the victim – and at the same time they appear as strong because neither operator knows what it is about. The operators thereby take the role from which they benefit the most in the situation. With this it can be said that where the operators were to be the means in relation to the aim, paradoxically the operators themselves become the aim in relation to the means. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10417/2988 Files in this item: 1
bo_bittmann_og_bjarke_schaar.pdf (1.615Mb) -
Masterafhandling om forvaltningsmæssige principper og interesseorganisationer i forandringSchmidt, Lisa (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The interaction between the government and the professional organizations and interest groups has been evolving during the last decades. In Denmark, known to be one of the Scandinavian corporate states, the political field of education policy has one of the shortest traditions for cooperation between the state and the organizations in the civil society. Nevertheless, since the 1960‟s there has been periods with very intense cooperation, and other times, when the organizations was kept out in the dark. The last decade has been tumbling especially for the organizations that represents the special interests in primary and secondary schools, primarily organizations representing parents and teachers, and the two organizations has represented very different approaches to the challenges they have met. The Danish government has introduced new principles for governing. In the 1980‟s they left the principles of Public Administration, and turned to implement the principles of New Public Management instead. New Public Management is known to introduce NPM, compared to other public management theories, is more oriented towards outcomes and efficiency through better management of public budget. It is considered to be achieved by applying competition, as it is known in the private sector, to organizations in the public sector, emphasizing economic and leadership principles. New public management addresses beneficiaries of public services much like customers, and conversely citizens as shareholders. Introducing the principles of New Public Management often creates problems with the public employees, who often loses benefits or whose jobs is outsourced during the implementation. In the paper I introduce some interesting ways of implementating New Public Management-principles in the school system in Ontario, Canada. Here the government has used principles of New Public Governance to implement the New Public Management-strategies. And that has worked out very effective. In the paper I compare the political situation in Ontatio, Canada with the situation in Denmark during the 2000‟s. Canada and Denmark differ when you look at the traditional administrative practices. Denmark is a corporate country, with strong continental European traditions of policy making and administration. Canada is a rather pluralistic, anglo-american country in ways of dealing with policy-making and administration. But besides this I find a lot of similarities in the tense situations of political mismanagement, both countries has seen, and which has involved the professional organizations and special interest groups concerning primary and secondary schools. Through interviews with members of the Teachers Union and the Chairman of , lawmaking-documents and other sources of information I try to draw a picture of What has the changes in political and administrative principles meant for the power that the professional organizations and interest groups has in society? Which new principles can be introduces to take back power to the professional organizations and interest groups? Can the danish primary and secondary school system learn from the Canadian Reform from 2003? URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10417/2906 Files in this item: 1
lisa_schmidt.pdf (1.197Mb) -
Jensen, Lisbeth; de Neergaard, Morten Rosenkrantz (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The objective of this Master thesis is to analyze the utility of corporate branding in connection with public organizations in general and for the organization CSU Egedammen in particular. The motivation for this work is the following. In connection with the structural reform in 2007, the authority and financial responsibility for the organization CSU Egedammen (Center of Special Education) were transferred to the municipality of Hillerød. In this process, the organization became rate funded and its public services started to face a strong competition from other similar institutions at market terms. This transformation required a change of attitude with increased focus on effective operation and economic rationality, and it called for an optimization of the quality and efficiency of the offered services in order to attract customers from a variety of municipalities. Hence we want to study if corporate branding could be a possible management tool in trying to be successful in this new competitive environment. In this work, we investigate and discuss how the concept of corporate branding, with an offset in market oriented logics, can be developed and implemented within a public organization in general, and how it can be used as an effective tool by the management of CSU Egedammen in particular. In this connection we address important concepts such as actor networks, storytelling, quality descriptions, mind sharing brands, trust, and protreptic coaching. Our analysis reveals that branding in public institutions can evolve by the introduction of marketlike competitive conditions. However, in this process it is also very important to account for the special properties and values of the individual organization such as its identity, culture, image and vision. Successful branding is therefore not only a question about marketing strategy and how to sell the public services in the most efficient way. It is also a question about applying management of meaning through branding to external stakeholders about the values of the organization, and to direct and relay on the organizational members to do what is best for the organization. In this way, corporate branding can be developed into an effective tool for value management, which promotes the organization and attracts the potential customers, clients and pupils. On the basis of this work, we conclude that corporate branding can be successfully extended to the public sector, and provide an effective tool for the management of public organizations provided they are in a competitive environment. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10417/2904 Files in this item: 1
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Udviklingen af policydannelsesprocesserne på folkeskoleområdet fra 1993 til 2010Jensen, Lena; Lohse, Gitte (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This Master Thesis, prepared as a part of the Master of Public Administration study at Copenhagen Business School, in the autumn of 2011, focuses on the development of the policymaking processes in the policy area of primary and lower secondary school over the last two decades in Denmark. Over the last decades there has been - what we have chosen to call - a struggle for the primary and lower secondary school. A political struggle about changes in the school mission and contents, changes in political cooperation, changes in the corporate collaboration and changes in the public mood. Thus a struggle for the development of policymaking processes - both in relation to the institutional framework and in relation to stakeholders. Therefore we pose one main question: “Which premises does the institutional struggle for the primary and lower secondary school set for the future policymaking processes?” The primary and lower secondary school in Denmark has through the last two decades been met by an increasing political demand to “deliver” pupils with strong professional skills. The objectives are that the primary and lower secondary school must be better ranked in the OECD PISA scores and that 95 % of a youth year must complete a tertiary education. There has been a long tradition in Denmark for political consensus in the policy area of primary and lower secondary school and a tradition for a strong corporate involvement and collaboration between the different stakeholders. This degree of collaboration has been challenged by the previous government which can be illustrated by New Year’s speech 2002 of the Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen who pronounced a removal of - what he called - “superfluous” governmental councils, boards and institutions. The Danish School system was earlier considered as “World Class” in a general public opinion. But with the PISA results the picture has changed. Thus there have been many attempts to improve the results of the primary and lower secondary school. The primary and lower secondary school has been subject for an increasing number of reforms where various stakeholders wish to seek influence in the political decision processes. The main question is explored through two subordinate questions: • How has the policymaking process in the policy area of primary and lower secondary school been organized in 1993, 2006 and 2010? • How can we understand the change and development in the policymaking processes from 1993 to 2010? The first subordinate question is made operational by a policy analysis of the policymaking process in 1993, 2006 and 2010 – years where significant changes of the primary and lower secondary school have occurred. The second subordinate question is made operational by a historical institutional analysis based on the conclusions from the policy analysis. This is followed by an interpretation of the development in the policymaking processes. Finally the conclusions are discussed and put into perspective. The conclusion is, that we have been able to identify five main trends in the policymaking processes from 1993 to 2010. The trends are: • A change in focus from an educational policy towards a policy for economic growth • A change in legitimating policy of primary and lower secondary school from knowledge from professionals towards knowledge from OECD economic research • A change from corporative policymaking processes towards political strategic leadership • A change from corporative collaboration through institutionalized channels towards network based ad hoc discussions • A change from an extended and closed institutionalized process towards short open and loosely coupled processes We find that these changes set new premises for the future policymaking processes and in our perspective we suggest how stakeholders – for example The Danish Teachers Union - could act upon the new premises to maintain and gain influence in the policymaking processes. We discuss how redesign in a future policymaking process could be set up to make results that could be implemented with effect in primary and lower secondary school. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10417/2895 Files in this item: 1
lena_jensen_og_gitte_lohse.pdf (1.176Mb) -
Mohr, Helga; Højmose, Alice (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The subject of this thesis is the opportunities and limitations provided by digitalization for public sector management. The analysis progresses in three steps: We look at what dis-courses are central to the implementation of digital solutions; what perceptions of manage-ment emerge in relation to various digital management technologies; finally, we look at how managers at the Danish taxation authority (Skat) act strategically in relation to the institu-tional opportunities and limitations of digitalization. Based on the discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe we analyze how the digitalization of the public sector is argued for. We identify five digitalization discourses which represent different answers to how information and communication technologies can be applied. We have deno-minated the five discourses ‘channel strategy’, ‘joined-up public sector’, ‘digital management’, ‘transparency’ and ‘citizen involvement’. The channel strategy, joined-up public sector and digital management discourses are dominated by an efficiency logic; in contrast, the transpa-rency and citizen involvement discourses can be related to an efficiency logic as well as a de-mocratization logic. We find a high degree of consensus around the merits of these five dis-courses in public digitalization, but conflicting attitudes as to practical implementation. Using Henrik Frimor’s understanding of management technologies, we analyze three public digital management technologies: The joined-up digitalization strategy “Den digitale vej til fremtidens velfærd” (The Digital Road to the Welfare of the Future), the service and channel strategies of local authorities, and the Twitter profile of the central taxation authority Skat. In the case of the first two management technologies the central dichotomy is non-efficiency /efficiency as a reflection of an economically based argumentation. In relation to the Twitter profile the central dichotomy is non-participation/participation based in a democratic or po-litical argumentation. The different management technologies represent different types of argumentation and co-exist without much mutual resonance. All three management technol-ogies highlight the same ultimate goal, namely the efficient welfare state of the future. Using the insights of these two analyses, we have interviewed four managers from Skat. The analysis of the interviews is based on integrative institutional theory represented by Richard Scott and John Campbell. It seems that aiming for efficiency by introducing digital solutions has been successful in the sense that major savings have been achieved at the same time as a high degree of trust and legitimacy vis-à-vis taxpayers has been maintained. We have focused on three transformation or bricolage processes at Skat: service provision, joined-up solutions and citizen involvement. For the purposes of service provision Skat has developed digital systems which attempt to integrate aspects of formerly counter-based ser-vices in a self-service system. In relation to the joined-up public sector transformation there is agreement that the sharing of joined-up data is an important source of achieving greater effi-ciency and that there is a need for updating legislation as a consequence of the new technolo-gies. Involving citizens in the design of services has increasingly become part of the institu-tional set-up of Skat. On the basis of the analysis we have concluded that digital thinking and acting are integrated elements in Skat’s normative and cognitive structure. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10417/2896 Files in this item: 1
helga_mohr_og_alice_hoejmose.pdf (1.272Mb)
