New Public Management in practice. Preconditions for municipal managerial work.

Purpose and goal

New Public Management in practice. Preconditions for municipal managerial work.Compared to research on the subject of leadership, the formal position manager has enjoyed far less attention. When managerial work occasionally has been studied, the focus has mostly been on managers in private owned companies. The knowledge of managers and their work in the public sector is thus very limited. The aim with this project is to contribute to this field of knowledge by studying municipal middle managers. The aim is to describe the organizational working conditions that these managers face, and to examine how their work in practice is influenced by the market oriented reforms, known as New Public Management, that has been implemented in the public sector during the last two decades.

Results and expected effects

The expected result of the project is a deeper understanding of the working conditions for this category of mangers and how the handle the implementation of new public management in practise. This knowledge can be used as a means to further facilitate and improve their working conditions.

Approach and implementation

The project will start with a preliminary study conducted with interviews with strategic actors in the participating organizations to make clear the definite objectives and design of the study. Thereafter the main study will be conducted by interviews, surveys and participating observations (if possible). During the last part of the project reports will be written and distributed. A work shop will be organized with the purpose of distributing the results of the project but also to further discuss its implications.