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- Karlsson, Tom S.
(författare)
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The (re)production of accountability in the Swedish public sector
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Accountability and responsibility are two notions that are deeply connected and intertwined.The prevailing notion is that personnel should be held accountable foractions made that are connected to the area which they are responsible for. However,contemporary research has tried to understand the underlying assumptions ofwhat accountability is. In this sense accountability becomes the alignment betweenoverall societal norms and individual actions. But whereas previous research hasbeen content with either an actor- or structure approach this paper tries to bridgethese standpoints by engaging Giddens (1984) Structuration theory. Viewing accountabilityas a social system, this paper focuses on extending our knowledge ofhow this is produced and reproduced during organisational change within theSwedish public sector. The case used in this paper derives from in-depth interviews,participatory observations and documental studies of the Swedish social insuranceagency. The analysis is conducted though a separation and identification ofstructures of signification, domination and legitimation. This paper concludes thatthe diverging modes of managerial- and bureaucratic discourses, derived fromchanges in surrounding societal norms and organisational control systems, supportsand reinforces the reproduction of accountability as a social system.
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- Karlsson, Olov, et al.
(författare)
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Presence of water-soluble compounds in thermally modified wood: Carbohydrates and furfurals
- 2012
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Ingår i: BioResources. - 1930-2126 .- 1930-2126. ; 7:3, s. 3679-3689
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- With thermal modification, changes in properties of wood, such as the presence of VOC and water-soluble carbohydrates, may occur. Thermal modifications under saturated steam conditions (160°C or 170°C) and superheated steam conditions (170, 185, and 212°C) were investigated by analysing the presence of water-soluble 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF), furfural, and carbohydrates in heat-treated wood. The influence of thermal modifications on Scots pine, Norway spruce, and silver birch was also studied. Furfurals were analysed using HPLC at 280 nm, while monosaccharides and water-soluble carbohydrates were determined by GC-FID as their acetylated alditiols and, after methanolysis, as their trimethylsilylated methyl-glycosides, respectively. The amount of furfurals was larger in boards thermally modified under saturated steam conditions than those treated under superheated steam conditions. Generally, more of HMF than furfural was found in the thermally modified boards. In process water, in which saturated steam conditions had been used, furfural and only traces of HMF were found. Higher content of water-soluble carbohydrates was found in boards treated in saturated steam rather than in superheated steam. After modification in saturated steam, substantial parts of the water-soluble carbohydrates were due to monosaccharides, but only traces of monosaccharides were found in boards treated under superheated steam conditions.
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- Karlsson, Tom S., 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Den värdefulla ekonomen : en rapport om resurstilldelningen: en jämförelse med Danmark, Norge och Finland
- 2010
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Rapport (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Swedish higher education should be managed in a manner that secures high quality in both education and in research. A fundamental condition for acquiring such goals lies in the resources allotted to the educational institutions. The main purpose of this report is to investigate the relative resource allocation between higher education in economics and business administration within four Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland). Within all four Nordic countries, the resource allocation for higher education in economics and business administration will be juxtaposed with the resource allocation for higher education in technology.The analysis shows that Sweden allocates 36 519 SEK per year and student within higher education for economics and business administration (compared with 82 531 SEK per year and student in higher education in technology and engineering). By setting the resource allocation of technical higher education against higher education in economics and business administration, it was found that the Swedish and Danish resource allocation systems showed high discrepancies, while the Norwegian and Finnish resource allocation systems showed low discrepancies. The Swedish resource allocation system proved to be one of low amount of allocation to higher education in economics and business administration and with high amounts of discrepancy between higher education in technology and economics and business administration.In ascending order, Finland (12 % above), Denmark (32 % above) and Norway (77 % above) all allocate resources above the levels in Sweden when it comes to the higher education in economics and business administration. The main proposition in this paper, presented firstly in the report, includes tentative causalities between allocated resources and ‘contact time’ is advanced. By assuming that the current situation between resource allocation and contact time between teachers and students are optimal and that there exists a causality between the two, this report argues for an increase of 43 % in regards of the resources to students within higher education in economics and business administration: from the current 36 519 SEK to 52 170 SEK.
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- Karlsson, Tom S., 1979-
(författare)
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New public management
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nationalencyklopedin. - Stockholm : Nationalencyklopedin.
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Bokkapitel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)
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- Karlsson, Tom S., 1979-
(författare)
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Challenging the dichotomy of management and civil service : an institutional analysis of Swedish public management
- 2015
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the wake of public sector reforms, commonly referred to as New Public Management, it has been suggested that actors engaged in public administration are changing the manner in which they understand the public sector. According to these perspectives, public reforms informed by (neo-)liberal policy have caused instances of economification and a proliferation of economy and efficiency as important and dominating norms of contemporary public organisations. In this paper I posit the question of how actors’ engaged in public administration make sense of the turbulent and pivoting reforms within the public sector? The paper is written within an institutional theoretical perspective, where both an agency- and structural perspective is engaged in order to enable a holistic analysis. The empirical material consists of four focus group sessions, in total 25 “managers” discussing issues concerning their positions and tasks associated with being engaged as public administrators within the Swedish central government. It was found that actors rejected the incompatibleness of contemporary public management on the one hand and traditional civil service on the other. Rather, actors enacted compartmentalised, yet interdependent, perspectives wherein the two mentioned roles could be used simultaneously in everyday life. On the one hand an internal perspective was enacted wherein a managerial discourse and managerial techniques were used. On the other hand an external perspective was enacted in order to safeguard citizens’ rights within the modern welfare state. It is concluded that the previously held dichotomy between management and civil service is a fallacious one. Rather than subscribing to faulty theorising surrounding a shift or a blending/merger of administrative roles, researchers of public administration should adhere to the general point made in this paper: actors engaged in public administrators are Managers as well as Civil Servants. This has great implications for the future role of public administration.
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- Karlsson, Tom S., 1979-
(författare)
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Manager and civil servant : exploring actors' taken-for-granted assumptions in public administration
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Manager and Civil Servant is an exploration of actors' taken-for-granted assumptions that govern perceptions concerning how public administration should be undertaken within contemporary welfare states. It is argued that more than 30 years of continuous reforms directed towards public administration have caused dilemmas to arise. These dilemmas have resulted in a shifting of balances regarding the underpinning pillars of public administration. These reforms have furthermore resulted in an emergence of challenging social systems, entailing new beliefs and practices. The question posited is "how do actors engaged in public administration make sense of the dilemma(s) they face". Theoretically, this dissertation entails institutional theory as well as Structuration Theory. These are combined in a framework, wherein agency and structure are used in order to characterise manifestations of taken-for-granted assumptions. The framework is furthermore elaborated through conceptual perspectives concerning Management as well as Civil Service in order to model a framework for public administration. Empirically, this dissertation entails a use of qualitative as well as quantitative methods. Open-ended interviews are combined with self-administered surveys, statistical analysis, and focus groups. Two important contributions are highlighted. Firstly, actors engaged in public administration reject the idea of polarisation concerning inherent public administrative activities and that the dilemma being accentuated within public administration. As such, instances of making sense are reduced due to an unconscious enactment of meanings and sanctions that reject the presence of dilemmas. Secondly, actors' ability to reject polarisation, and thus dilemma, can be explained through compartmentalising interdependent perspectives. On the one hand actors enact an internal perspective wherein instances of Management make sense. On the other hand actors enact an external perspective wherein instances of Civil Service make sense. The separation and compartmentalisation of these perspectives not only enable actors to reject dilemma, they are enabled to enact seemingly different roles at once. They become both Managers and Civil Servants.
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- Funck, Elin K., 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Fyra starka trender efter NPM
- 2019
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Ingår i: Kommunal Ekonomi. - Vallentuna : Kommunalekonomernas förening. - 0282-0099. ; :3, s. 37-38
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- I efterdyningarna av New Public Management finns ett behov av att förändra synen på organisering och styrning av den offentliga sektorn. Ett samlingsbegrepp för de nya teorierna kring styrning och organisering av offentlig sektor är post-NPM. I en nyligen publicerad rapport diskuterar Elin K. Funck och Tom S. Karlsson fyra starka trender inom ramen för området.
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