| 1. |
- Almqvist, Roland, et al.
(författare)
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Accountingization and the multiplying of value : 25 years of valuation in a Swedish municipality
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this study, we follow how valuation practices evolve over a 25 years period in one single municipal Swedish organisation: The City of Stockholm. By delving into the performativity of accounting instruments, i.e. how accounting becomes part of making up the world we live in, the present study aims at extending the understanding we regarding that accountingization of the public sector rests on external pressures to adopt accounting, and the activity of organisational actors. Guided by a sociomaterial approach, the study shows how the making of conditions for valuation is hard work and fraught with contradictions. For accountingization to “succeed” in such an environment, a series of preparations have to be done that establishes the conditions for accounting to work. These preparatory arrangements are examined, and it is suggested that they are integral for accounting to become dominant in determining what is valuable and not.The study does not end here, however. Instead, it continues the analysis further, and examines what happens “after” accountingization is “done”. By doing this, it is shown that not only does accounting need certain conditions to work – to be successful in dominating valuation practices and determining what is valuable; accounting, itself, also comes to form conditions for valuation in practice, and in doing so it becomes problematic and therefor needs to be strategically managed. It is argued that this is a process that needs to be further analysed as a performative spiral. This spiral entails the emergence of conditions that allows constitutive elements, such as accounting, to define what is valuable and what is not, constituting both valuability and non-valuability. Through this participation in the constitution of “thingness” – i.e. which things that matter in particular systems of valuation – and “otherness” – i.e. which things that do not matter in particular systems of valuation – accounting participates in multiplying value. Because when things are othered, that is, excluded from a specific valuation practice, it becomes the problem of other practices; and when things that are defined as valuable in one valuation practice begins to matter in other valuation practices, this particular, intruding, version of the valuable becomes problematic for that practice. The main contribution by this paper is to show how accounting, in becoming conditions for valuation, also participates in the multiplying of value.
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| 2. |
- Almqvist, Roland, et al.
(författare)
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Att styra sig igenom besvärliga situationer : Kommunal styrning som tradition, transaktion och relation
- 2013
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Kontinuerlig effektivitet, god ekonomisk hushållning samt styrning och ledning är ord som alla som arbetar i, eller företräder en kommun, måste ta ställning till mer eller mindre dagligen och väl fungerande styrmodeller har varit prioritet åtminstone sedan mitten av 90-talet i många kommuner eftersom de setts som en förutsättning för att hantera besvärliga situationer. Samtidigt har detta inte skett utan problem vilket innebär att implementering och användning av ett nytt styrsystem kan innebära en besvärlig situation i sig. Denna rapport behandlar främst olika styrsystems egenskaper och hur dessa egenskaper påverkar en kommunal organisations kapacitet att hantera besvärliga situationer, vilka egenskaper som underminerar samma kapacitet men också hur olika rationaliteter inom samma system skapar problem ochf örutsättningar för varandra. Kort sagt handlar denna rapport om hur organisationer kan styras genom besvärliga situationer, inklusive de situationer som uppkommer genom styrsystemet självt. Utgångspunkten för rapporten är att styrsystemet är till för att få alla i organisationen att dra åt samma håll men att detta försvåras av den diversifierade kommunala organisationen där en mängd underorganisationer, funktioner och yrkesgrupper ska koordineras för bästa möjliga måluppfyllelse. Rapporten utgår också från de svårbrutna traditioner som finns inom dessa väl etablerade underorganisationer, funktioner och grupperingar där nya sätt att värdera och skapa värde i organisationen ofta möts av motstånd från de som har ett mer traditionellt förhållningssätt, dels till styrning och förvaltning av organisationen, men också till hur kommunal service skall produceras på ett professionellt sätt. För att bryta eller, i vissa fall, dra nytta av dessa traditioner behöver ett styrsystem fånga upp och kommunicera de värden som den kommunala organisationen står för. Det traditionella systemet behöver alltså kompletteras med andra typer av infallsvinklar för att kunna utvecklas och förbättras. Här tar rapporten hjälp av Broadbent och Laughlins (2009) ramverk, som lyfter fram två generella sätt att närma sig problematiken med traditionella system i en organisation. Genom att följa Broadbent och Laughlin, argumenterar vi för att ett styrsystem, förutom att vara traditionellt, antingen kan vara transaktionellt, d v s underbyggt av en instrumentell rationalitet, eller relationellt, d v s underbyggt av en kommunikativ rationalitet. Vi argumenterar också för att det är genom att balansera dessa rationaliteter och vara medveten om dess styrkor och svagheter som ett styrsystem kan användas för att fånga upp och identifiera de största utmaningarna – den grundläggande förutsättningen för att framgångsrikt styra sig igenom dem. Det är när rationaliter och systemtyper möts och utvecklar varandra som styrsystem stöter på dessa utmaningar, där dilemman och paradoxer uppstår, men det är också i dessa möten som styrsystem kan uppnå sin fulla potential. Målet med rapporten är att ge kommunerna ytterligare verktyg för att skapa väl fungerande styrsystem som kan användas för att styra sig igenom besvärliga situationer. Rapportens ramverk lägger grunden för en diskussionom vilka problem som kan tänkas uppstå i designen av ett styrsystem, men det ger också en del svar på vilka lösningar som kan vara viktiga givet det tänkesätt som genomsyrar en organisation. Detta görs genom att analysera empiri från tre kommuner som ingår i det nationella kommunforskningsprogrammet för att påvisa vilka konsekvenser de traditionella, transaktionellaoch relationella egenskaperna kan få för styrsystemets funktion och kapacitet att hantera besvärliga situationer och skapa värde.
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| 3. |
- Almqvist, Roland, et al.
(författare)
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Debatten om NPM behöver nyanseras
- 2014
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Ingår i: Kommunal Ekonomi. - Göteborg : Kommunalekonomernas förening. - 0282-0099. ; :1, s. 25-26
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Almqvist, Roland, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Modern verksamhetsstyrning är mångrationell
- 2013
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Ingår i: Kommunal Ekonomi. - Göteborg : Föreningen Sveriges kommunalekonomer. - 0282-0099. ; :4, s. 25-26
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Sundström, Andreas, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Intresserande samverkan : Från samsyn till framsyn – en studie inom Trafikverket
- 2017
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Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- Denna rapport har som mål att studera hur Trafikverket praktiserar strategi tillsammans med andra intressenter och aktörer. Rapporten utgör delprojekt 3 i ett större treårigt projekt som genomförts inom Akademin för ekonomistyrning i staten (AES) vid Företagsekonomiska institutionen, Stockholms universitet. Projektet har finansierats av Trafikverket, inom ramen för FoI-portfölj nummer sex, Trafikverket – en modern myndighet. Tidigare delrapporter inom projektet har visat att det internt i organisationen finns flera bilder av hur strategin ska omsättas i praktiken, samt diskuterat vad som är viktigt i detta arbete. Då en stor del av Trafikverkets uppdrag genomförs av externa parter ingår det också i forskningsprojektet att studera vad som händer med Trafikverkets strategiska arbete i externa relationer. När flera organisationers strategier möts, påverkar och påverkas av varandra väcks frågor om hur strategier samverkar och hur sådan strategisk samverkan fungerar i praktiken. Målet med denna rapport är därför att utveckla kunskap om strategisk verksamhetsstyrning genom att koppla samman frågor om strategi med frågor om samverkan. Detta uppnås genom att studera hur samverkan fungerar i praktiken. Som grund för rapporten har tre olika exempel på praktiker studerats där Trafikverket möter andra aktörer i planering och genomförande av Trafikverkets arbete.För att utveckla förståelsen av samverkan antar studien ett samverkansperspektiv: studien tar utgångspunkt i praktiken, snarare än i de samverkande aktörerna. Till skillnad från tidigare samverkansstudiers fokus på enskilda organisationers nytta av att samverka, innebär detta samverkansperspektiv fördjupade frågor om hur olika aktörer med olika intressen verkar samman, och hur sådan samverkan fungerar i praktiken. För att kunna diskutera samverkan på ett konstruktivt sätt används tre teoretiska begrepp i rapporten: mångfald, intressering och löften. Med dessa begrepp som utgångspunkt inriktas analysen på att undersöka förutsättningar för samverkan. Utifrån analysen av samverkans förutsättningar presenteras i rapportens avslutande kapitel ett utvecklat förhållningssätt till samverkan: intresserande samverkan.
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Budgeting and the construction of entities : struggles to negotiate change in Swedish municipalities
- 2017
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Ingår i: Public Management Review. - : Routledge. - 1471-9037 .- 1471-9045. ; 19:7, s. 1022-1045
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Budgeting has endured changes in management ideals, because it supports an instrumental rationality in which organizations should use their own resources to produce their own results. Budgeting depends on and enforces traditional and transactional systems based on predefined entities, such as single-purpose organizations and measurable outputs. This study investigates this issue and asks what types of entities budgeting needs, and where and when these entities can be negotiated and reconstructed. This study shows that budgeting and its reinforcement of traditional and transactional systems makes it difficult to proceed towards new management ideals based on cooperation, sharing, and responsiveness.
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| 12. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-
(författare)
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Client Focus, Cooperation and Coherence : (Re)professionalising Processes for Elderly Care
- 2017
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Ingår i: Financial Accountability and Management. - : Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Inc.. - 0267-4424 .- 1468-0408. ; 33:1, s. 3-26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper suggests the study of professionalism and the professionalising processes within public sector organisations. Sociologists propose that professionalism is changing into a new variant developing under the premise of organisational management and control. This paper disputes the perspective that the use of management control leads to deprofessionalisation in terms of the routinisation of reflective professional tasks or weakened professional values. This paper proposes that, with client focus, professionals and accountants can cooperate and create coherence between management control system elements and professional values. This dynamic contributes to the retention of professional values and more reflective work procedures.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-
(författare)
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Determining care quality : On the strength and weakness of management control
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main arguments in this paper are that management control succeeds because it fails, that it fails because it succeeds, and that accounting numbers work because they are problematic. It is when accounting succeeds in gaining support of powerful allies, silencing other voices, and appears as immutable; a conveyor of truth, it undermines the activities it is supposed to represent and control. When accounting fails to convince, however; when it produces ambiguity, fails to speak for everyone, and makes up a contestable element in the fabric of reality, it contributes to new problematisations, new solutions and new activities. These claims can be made by complementing earlier analyses of management accounting and control with recent writings on multiple practical realities, fluid technologies, and mattering. The analysis of this paper shows that the power to control matters does not necessarily lie in the ability to handle or control certain kinds of matters, such as inscriptions. Instead there are always on-going struggles over controlling the mattering practices that keeps the world going.
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| 15. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-
(författare)
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Determining care quality : On the strength and weakness of management control
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main arguments in this paper are that management control succeeds because it fails, that it fails because it succeeds, and that accounting numbers work because they are problematic. It is when accounting succeeds in gaining support of powerful allies, silencing other voices, and appears as immutable; a conveyor of truth, it undermines the activities it is supposed to represent and control. When accounting fails to convince, however; when it produces ambiguity, fails to speak for everyone, and makes up a contestable element in the fabric of reality, it contributes to new problematisations, new solutions and new activities. These claims can be made by complementing earlier analyses of management accounting and control with recent writings on multiple practical realities, fluid technologies, and mattering. The analysis of this paper shows that the power to control matters does not necessarily lie in the ability to handle or control certain kinds of matters, such as inscriptions. Instead there are always on-going struggles over controlling the mattering practices that keeps the world going.
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Financial Resilience : The Swedish Case
- 2017
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Ingår i: Governmental Financial Resilience. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 9781787142633 - 9781787142626 ; , s. 187-205
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this chapter, the development of financial sustainability and resilience in Swedish local governments is analysed. We analyse four Swedish municipalities, where we have interviewed top managers and co-workers. As a complement, we have examined the municipalities’ strategic plans, budget documents and annual reports. We also contextualise this analysis with other findings from local government research during this time, as well as with central government initiatives. In summary, we examine why Swedish municipalities in general remained strong after the financial crisis by showing how they strengthened their anticipatory and coping capacities over time – something that, in the cases of this chapter, was achieved before the 2008/2009 crisis in response to previous crises, rather than because of it. We also show that this is not the only reason. As Swedish finances were comparatively stable, and the problems of the banking sector relatively small, the financial shocks to the municipalities could be overcome relatively easily.
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| 18. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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From ‘either or’ to ‘both and’ : organisational management in the aftermath of NPM
- 2015
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Ingår i: Offentlig Förvaltning. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration. - Göteborg : School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg. - 2000-8058 .- 2001-3310. ; 19:2, s. 7-25
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores the next phase of public management: the era of paradox. As new public management (NPM) policies and practices were shown to be inadequate to solve the problems of public management, they began to be complemented – rather than replaced – with new reforms and practices. These reforms and practices are often contradictory to existing ones, leaving managers in a difficult position. By extending the debate about contradictions and paradox from the policy level to the organisational level, we show how public sector managers work to resolve these contradictions in a situated manner, keeping the contradictions alive rather than resolving them permanently.
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| 19. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-
(författare)
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Från NPM till pluralistisk styrning
- 2015
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Ingår i: Kommunal Ekonomi. - Göteborg : Kommunalekonomernas förening. - 0282-0099. ; :5, s. 31-32
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-
(författare)
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Managing Multiplicity : On Control, Care and the Individual
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This is a thesis about managing multiplicity. It analyses how people working in municipalities are managing, controlling, and caring for the complex and contradictory world they live in. Building on more than 100 interviews and observations, the thesis examines the multiple realities of those who work in public sector organisations. By studying (1) the work of managers on different organisational levels, controllers, professionals responsible for the care of others and, to a lesser extent, politicians; (2) the management control systems that are used in the work, and (3) the ongoing debates and legislations directed towards the management of care practices, the thesis makes an effort to analyse how the realities of these individuals; those active in controlling and caring, are constructed.The thesis makes several contributions to the literatures on management control and public management. Where earlier studies are either based on a functionalist conception of management control and public management (in which performance measures and control systems are tools in the hands of managers, that enable them to control other practices), or focused on understanding how control contributes to the construction of reality (making reality ontologically coherent, and therefore controllable), the present thesis argues that management can be approached and analysed as a practice devoted to managing ontological multiplicity, rather than as an activity devoted to control other practices or making reality controllable.By using the concept of ontological politics, the thesis shows that control often fails to make reality controllable, which makes the practice of management reliant on alternative ways to manage. The alternative to control that is analysed in the thesis is care, and the thesis argues that care could be seen as a way to manage, rather than as something that should be controlled: care is complementary to control when it comes to management. The thesis explicates how management by care is done in relation to management by control, and how they may become resources for each other in managing the complex and contradictory public sector.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Organizational solutions for financial sustainability : a comparative case study from the Swedish municipalities
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management. - : PrAcademics Press. - 1096-3367 .- 1945-1814. ; 26:1, s. 181-218
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss the solutions municipal organizations employ to achieve financial sustainability. The paper thus aims at providing a theoretical overview on the subject of financial distress and financial sustainability, followed by a review of the New Public Management and New Public Governance discourse; it then uses and refines this framework in the light of empirical evidence from municipal organizations in Sweden to discuss how financial sustainability may be achieved. The empirical evidence is derived from the Swedish national municipality research program that was established to find out how municipalities cope with stressful situations, financial as well as organizational. The research suggests that the solutions for financial sustainability depend upon the size and organizational structure of the municipal organization and changes in the municipality’s political majority. Further, research findings show that the management or governance system of the municipality plays an important role in achieving financial sustainability, and the characteristic of the system, its communicative function, and resource perspective need to cohere with the basic characteristics of the municipal organization in order to be successful
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-
(författare)
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Sources of dissension : The making and breaking of the individual customer
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- It is well known that both management and professional work in areas such as health and aged care rely upon division of individuals into categories of for example diagnoses or costs and revenues. The present paper, however, wish to turn this around and ask: what happens if individuality, the indivisible wholeness of the person, is taken seriously in such practices? When every human being is interpreted as unique and special, and her wholeness is supposed to be realised in the relationship between professionals and the individual customer? The paper analyses two rivalrous programmes – the programmes of efficiency and individuality – and their operationalisations in the Swedish aged care, and show how these programmes and their corresponding technologies are sources of dissension that can be used to problematise how aged care should be conducted. However, such dissension also opens up spaces of freedom, which allows care practitioners to conduct their work differently.
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| 26. |
- Wällstedt, Niklas, 1976-
(författare)
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Sources of dissension : The making and breaking of the individual in Swedish aged care
- 2020
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Ingår i: Accounting, Organizations and Society. - : Elsevier. - 0361-3682 .- 1873-6289. ; 80
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is well known that both management and professional work in areas such as health and aged care rely upon division of individuals into categories of, for example, diagnoses or costs and revenues. The present paper turns this around and asks: what happens if individuality, the indivisible wholeness of the person, is taken seriously in such practices? If every human being is interpreted as unique and special, and their wholeness is recognised in the relationship between professionals and an individual receiving care? The paper analyses two rival programmes - those of efficiency and individuality - and their operationalisation in Swedish aged care, and show how these programmes and corresponding technologies are sources of dissension that can be used to problematise how care should be conducted. However, such dissension also opens up spaces of freedom, which allow care practitioners to conduct care differently.
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