Enough attention focused on management?

by Thomas Frank, Ph.D., Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus

In 2005 Denmark followed the trend in many OECD-countries and had a competency framework for senior civil servants. The first, and major, part of this article presents the first quantitative analysis of the use of the Danish competency framework. The article argues that Danish senior civil servants approach the competency framework with a functional logic; the framework is translated into their specific organizational culture and directed towards their most outstanding assignments. Some argue that voluntariness in the use of the Danish competency framework is a barrier for putting leadership and management on the senior civil servants’ daily agenda. In the second part of the article, the Danish and Dutch approaches towards the competency framework are compared. The article argues that the removal of voluntariness and flexibility in the use of the Danish competency framework will not provide senior civil servants with a more systematic focus on leadership and management, and there is also a risk that it might compromise the basic virtues and strengths of the Danish senior civil service.

Strategic Management in the Publilic Sector. Some Critical Remarks

by Morten Balle Hansen, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Management,

University of Southern Denmark

This article presents a critical perspective on prevailing perceptions of strategic management in the public sector. With some notable exceptions, most of the strategic management literature is characterized by (a) a focus on the top managers as essential in the organization, (b) a perception of tightly coupled relations between top management decisions and organizational behaviour, (c) a neo-rational trust in decision-makers’ ability to calculate the consequences of their decisions, (d) a perception of organizations as rigid systems whose change can only be accomplished by heroic top managers, and (e) an understanding of organizations as unitary actors and conflict as primarily taking place in the environment. Based on research in organizational behaviour and Public administration these notions are criticized and an alternative perspective envisioning a more humble role for strategic top management is suggested. Often (a) managers are better portrayed as puppets, (b) managerial decisions better understood as rational rituals, (c) unintended consequences of decisions the rule rather than the exception, (d) organizational change better understood as relatively independent of leaders and (e) politics better portrayed as taking place within the organization rather than outside in the environment. The implications of the analysis for management in the public sector are discussed. It is argued that the prevailing heroic model must be balanced with a more realistic and situation specific understanding of the role of strategic management in the development of the public sector.

Strategic public management

by Carsten Greve, Professor, International Center for Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School

This article discusses strategy in public organizations from the perspective of Harvard’s Mark Moore’s theory on how to „create public value”. Moore’s approach forms the backbone of much teaching on strategy for public managers and especially executive education in public management in many parts the world, including Australia and United Kingdom. The „creating public value” perspective is briefly discussed in relation to private sector strategy thinking, before Moore’s model of „the strategic triangle” is critically introduced. The remaining part of the articles examines Moore’s relevance in the Danish public management context. The article argues that the creating public value-approach can be a fruitful point of departure for theory building and for establishing a clear view of the key competences public managers need.

National Elections and Bloc Rhetoric:

Negative Campaigning and Party Competition among Danish Parties

by Christian Elmelund-Præstekær, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Management,

University of Southern Denmark

Negative campaigning is predominately analysed in a US setting. The phenomenon, however, is also known in other political systems, where the existing theories may not apply. The fundamental question of whom to attack is trivial in America, since only two candidates are running in the same election campaign. In a multiparty system such as the Danish, people can vote for seven, ten or even more parties; hence, the patterns of attack are much more complex than in the US. This paper finds that Danish parties typically concentrate their attacks on two adversary parties or groups of parties. Moreover, it is possible to identify patterns in the negativity that reflect the current party competition. Moreover, the analysis indicates strategic realignments within individual parties – for instance did the Socialist People’s Party cease to criticize the Social Democrats in 2005, which may suggest that the party has reoriented itself from being

the “opposition on the left” to a prospect coalition partner of the Social Democrats.

Policy analysis on the Kosovo final status negotiations

by Jesper Johnsøn, Consulant, Maxwell Stamp plc, M.Phil in Development Studies, University of Cambridge

Although American support was given to the Ahtisaari plan, a lack of EU unity as well as events in Russian domestic and foreign policy meant that an agreement on Kosovo’s final status couldn’t be solved through the UN Security Council during the intense negotiations in 2007. The negotiations on Kosovo are discussed and three main conditions for reaching an agreement are listed: unwavering American support; unity between and support from the EU countries; and thawing up of the so far stern Russian reluctance to accept any resolution seen as infringing Serb sovereignty. Game theoretic models are used to map and explain the negotiations strategies and outcomes of the various parties, but other factors are also included in the analysis, including an institutional analysis of the Security Council and its policy framework and procedural setting.

Political marketing - what is it good for?

by Sigge Winther Nielsen, Ph.D., Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen

This article introduces to a Danish audience the new field of political marketing. By drawing on the existing literature in the field a new definition of political marketing is proposed as a stepping-stone for further research in Denmark. The definition grapples with the perceived imbalance between the great traditions of political science and marketing embedded in the current conceptualization of political marketing. Following this clarification the article outlines a categorization of the present spectrum of theories. This categorization illuminates a lack of research when it comes to studies concerned with more complex agent assumptions and the impact of national differences in the use of political marketing tools.