Åge Johnsen

• Siviløkonom/HAE, Dr.Oecon.
• Professor at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University

Purpose This paper explores the role of work-related information flows in trust-based management in public sector organizations. Whereas the relationship that trust affects information sharing between employees as such is well known, the opposite relationship where information flows that facilitate access to and sharing of work-related information...

Strategic planning is core to public administration at all governmental levels. Evidence suggests that when conducted well strategic planning impacts several performance outcomes. Yet, public administration and strategy scholars have argued that strategic planning is not only a technical procedure. Its success is contingent upon the people involved...

This article analyses survey data regarding the impact of supreme audit institutions’ (SAIs) performance audit on public administration in four Nordic countries. Regression analysis with pooled data from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden indicates that performance audits have positive impacts on usefulness, changes, improvements and, to some exte...

A common criticism of strategic planning is that it is of little use when the environment is turbulent and the future is unpredictable. The last decade has witnessed great environmental turbulence and uncertainty in many conditions that are important for public policy and administration. This study analyses survey data from 144 public sector organi...

This timely book provides an in-depth exploration of future public governance in a post-pandemic world. It highlights the relationship between administrative reforms, collaborative mechanisms, and emphasises the necessity of a solid knowledge base and evidence based policy-making when responding to unforeseen societal changes and crises.

Expertly navigating the complex relationships between accounting and the development of hybridized public governance, this erudite Handbook critically analyses the most pressing challenges and limitations currently facing accounting and public governance research. Comprehensively drawing intricate links between accounting, public governance and hyb...

New Public Management (NPM) has been the most significant public policy reform in decades. In this book we outline four dimensions of NPM, which focus on understanding both the pervasive nature of NPM and the challenges to the prevailing logic of NPM in public policy: (1) Mature NPM: this is a discussion of NPM in the contemporary environment. Ther...

Dette nummeret av NAT handler om de nordiske forvaltningenes krisehåndtering iCovid-19 pandemien. Gjennom fem vitenskapelige artikler, to fagartikler og en bokmelding drøfter forfatterne hvordan krisehåndteringen har påvirket eller blitt påvirket av beredskap, demokratisk legitimitet, flernivåstyring, iverksetting, kommunalt selvstyre, lederskap, l...

Denne artikkelen utforsker utbredelsen av tillitsbasert styring og ledelse (TBSL) og hvordan tillitsbasert styring og ledelse påvirker tillit mellom ledere og ansatte og organisasjoners resultater i offentlig sektor i Norge. Idéen om tillitsbasert styring og ledelse springer ut fra reformer i København kommune i 2012 og har siden spredd seg til den...

This volume examines three interconnected themes in political science: the nuts and bolts of government, the complex and evolving relationship between politics and administration, and continuity and change in government. Government ministries and agencies are vital components of the executive branch of government that play fundamental roles in the...

This article assesses whether municipal managers perceive strategic planning as most useful when integrated into mandatory area or financial-planning processes or conducted in processes with separate strategic planning documents. Despite being widely adopted in practice and being extensively debated in scholarly discourse for decades, current resea...

Vi har nå lagt bak oss det vanskelige året 2020, og vi går – forhåpentligvis – inn i en mer normal tid. Noen arbeidsmåter som ble endret under pandemien, tar vi med oss videre. Et eksempel er at mange møter og konferanser nå vil skje digitalt eller hybrid. NAT er intet unntak, og redaksjonen hadde det første digitale møte våren 2021. Det vil redaks...

This article analyses the Norwegian government's evaluation practice over the 25-year period 1994-2018. Evaluations are mandatory for governmental ministries and agencies in Norway, and the government conducts about 100 evaluations annually. This article utilises data from a unique database to describe the development in the evaluation industry, fo...

Le présent article s’intéresse à la question de savoir si les gestionnaires municipaux considèrent la planification stratégique comme étant la plus utile lorsqu’elle est intégrée dans des processus obligatoires de planification territoriale ou financière ou lorsqu’elle est menée dans des processus faisant intervenir des documents de planification s...

Purpose This paper analyses the deregulation of the municipal audit market in Norway, in particular how organization of the service affected audit costs. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses multiple regression analysis of administrative as well as survey data of organizational structure and audit costs from 312 municipalities in Norway in 2...

Denne artikkelen utforsker mellomlederes erfaringer med endringsstrategier og forpliktelse til organisasjonsendring i offentlig sektor. Det finnes flere velkjente teorier om hvordan organisasjoner bør lede endringsprosesser for å styrke forpliktelsen til endring og oppnå faktiske endringer. Selv om disse teoriene er velkjente, er det likevel lite e...

Det Nordisk Administrative Forbund kunne i 2020 feiret 100-års jubileum siden første utgave av Nordisk Administrativt Tidsskrift i 1920.

Strategic positioning and structural alignment in the public sector is a neglected area of research. This paper analyses the strategic positions of prospectors, defenders and reactors and structural alignment in Norwegian municipalities. Top managers responding to a survey perceived that the municipalities did align their organizational structures...

The purpose of this article is to analyse the design and implementation of strategic planning and performance management in governmental agencies in two Nordic countries, Finland and Norway. Nordic countries are an interesting study from a comparative perspective because while they are commonly assumed to have been high-intensity new public managem...

The purpose of this article is to analyse the design and implementation of strategic planning and performance management in governmental agencies in two Nordic countries, Finland and Norway. The Nordic countries are an interesting study from a comparative perspective because while they are commonly assumed to have been high-intensity new public man...

This article gives a short review of recent research on public sector audit, and then introduces six articles in a special issue on public sector audit in contemporary society. Many countries have developed their audit institutions and expanded the audit activities in particular since the 1980s. New public management and the theory of the ‘audit so...

This article analyses impacts of formal strategic planning, strategic types, stakeholder involvement, and their interactions on performance in Norwegian municipalities. Internal stakeholders often overstate their organization’s performance. Therefore, the analysis complements subjective survey data on strategic planning, strategy content and the se...

TEMA Økonomistyring og de nye utfordringene Nye styringsverktøy og modeller – redskap eller legitimering? STRATEGISK PLANLEGGING OG STYRING I KOMMUNENE ÅGE JOHNSEN Åge Johnsen er professor i offentlig politikk ved Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus. E-post: aage.johnsen@hioa.no. Strategisk planlegging og styring har vært en populær organisasjonsoppskrift...

Based on the theory of professional competition, this paper identifies and investigates four strategic options of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) through a case study of four Nordic national audit offices: a performance auditing strategy; a financial auditing strategy; a portfolio strategy; and a hybrid strategy. The analysis of the Nordic SAIs s...

Strategic planning and management was introduced in the public sector more than three decades ago and has become a core component in many new public management reforms. Although strategy has been widely adopted in the public sector, the knowledge base regarding its practices and its impacts remains scarce, particularly outside Anglo-American countr...

Performance audit is widespread but contested. The “audit society” proposition holds that audits are rituals producing comfort, whereas the “mandatory audit” proposition in public policy presumes that audits have positive impacts. Common to both propositions is the lack of empirical evidence of audit impact. This article analyzes survey data of the...

This paper explores how strategic management thinking manifests itself in strategic management practice in the public sector. Mintzberg's framework of ten strategic management schools of thought is chosen for mapping strategic management thinking. The paper analyses a convenience sample of 35 strategic management processes, observation of an agency...

Mål- og resultatstyring er et viktig verktøy i offentlig sektor, men har blitt kritisert for å bidra til mye kontroll og rapportering, uten at virkningene av dette verktøyet har vært nok dokumentert. Denne analysen utforsker virkninger av mål- og resultatstyringen i norske kommuner. Mål- og resultatstyringen er målt med en indeks med data fra 270 a...

This chapter explores how public sector organizations use strategic thinking. The analysis employs Henry Mintzberg’s five definitions of strategy and 10 schools of thought as a framework and explores if and how strategic thinking is contingent on environmental traits such as complexity and stability, traits with the organizations in question such a...

Formålet med denne boka er å analysere og diskutere om vi har en strategisk offentlig sektor i Norge i dag. Offentlig sektor er et stort og viktig anvendelsesområde for strategifaget. Strategisk styring og ledelse har vært viktig i mange reformer i offentlig sektor siden slutten av 1970-tallet. Strategisk tenkning og verktøy skulle bidra til en mer...

This chapter identifies some important factors that can explain the use of performance management, and discusses how performance management and evaluation can complement each other. The chapter draws on the life‐cycle approach to performance management, as well as previous empirical studies of performance management in Norwegian local government. B...

Kapittelet argumenterer for at det er viktig å gjøre evaluering av offentlig politikk til gjenstand for forskning. De foreslår blant annet at en studerer nærmere hva som gjøres og hva som ikke gjøres til gjenstand for evaluering – og hvorfor, under hvilke rammebetingelser ulike evalueringer gjennomføres, og hva det legges vekt på. Med utgangspunkt...

This article explores why information on poor performance often gets most of the attention in public policy. In order to illustrate the discussion this paper analyses the case of educational policy for secondary schools in Norway, and in particular the policy of participating in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which m...

This article discusses how performance-management systems may be conceptualized as tools with a life cycle consisting of several stages. Studies on public-sector performance management generally concern the question of how management can design these systems or address dysfunctional effects when they are used. This article, however, argues that the...

This article uses a case study to analyse two main dilemmas that performance auditors face when auditing complex interventions in governance. The first dilemma, concerning the performance auditors’ roles as improvement agents and independent controllers, is that the improvement agenda often implies interacting closely with the auditees whereas cont...

Ledelsesfaget trenger empiriske studier av ulike teoriers nedslagsfelt i praksis. Denne artikkelen analyserer ledelsesidealene i Forsvaret etter 1945 i forhold til teoriutviklingen i ledelsesfaget. Forsvaret er interessant å studere fordi Forsvaret har en lang tradisjon i ledelsesutvikling, og Forsvaret har utdannet mange ledere til næringslivet og...

Mål- og resultatstyring i offentlig sektor har vært omspunnet av mange myter. Denne artikkelen analyserer åtte slike myter og argumenterer for at mange av disse mytene nå står for fall. Til tross for utbredt kritikk og motstand er det mange grunner til at forvaltningen er storforbrukere av resultatmålinger og -rapportering. Resultatmålingene bidrar...

Styring og ledelse utøves i praksis samtidig gjennom mange former, for eksempel strategisk ledelse, verdistyring, kulturstyring, budsjettstyring, aktivitetsstyring, regelstyring, profesjonsstyring, kunnskapsledelse, prosjektstyring, kvalitetsledelse, kostnadsstyring, målstyring, resultatstyring og omdømmestyring. Videre utøves styring og ledelse på...

This article explores distinctive research patterns of public administration and accounting disciplines concerning public sector performance measurement (PSPM). Our review shows that accounting researchers from Europe investigate reasons for limited PM use and factors explaining a rational or symbolic PM use, inspired by organization theory and ins...

Benchmarking rests on the assumption that it supports organizational learning and innovation, but the empirical knowledge that underpins this perceived means-end relationship is limited. This article draws on existing research to develop a framework for analyzing organizational learning outcomes from municipal benchmarking. The framework incorporat...

This book looks at the effectiveness of the 1999 restructuring of the UK through the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and the Assemblies for Northern Ireland and Wales, considering the process of devolution and its consequences on the key mechanisms of accounting and democratic accountability. Many of the chapters in this book examine wheth...

We do not know a great deal about the way performance information is used in public policy in modern democracies (Pollitt, 2006b). Nonetheless, there lies a great potential for decision makers to use performance information to assess and enhance efficiency and effectiveness, as well as to provide feedback to stakeholders in the political system abo...

Purpose – This paper aims to examine an early stage of the institutionalization of accounting practices in devolved UK governments, concentrating on: the construction by devolved bodies of a “rational” set of planning and budgeting documents; the extent of homogeneity/heterogeneity in organizational response to seemingly similar institutional press...

This paper reviews Nordic research on public sector performance measurement and identifies and analyses a possible distinct Nordic perspective on performance measurement. Many Nordic researchers have been active in the study of performance measurement, also regarding the public sector. There are different research traditions within the Nordic count...

Introducing a special issue on Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) in "Sosiologi i dag"

«Frivillighetslinjen» i Stortinget og regjeringen innebærer at ingen kommuner skal slåes sammen dersom noen av kommunene går imot dette. I denne situasjonen får rådgivende lokale folkeavstemning stor betydning for kommunestrukturen. Artikkelen analyserer data om i alt 17 forslag om kommunesammenslåing omfattende 51 kommuner, som har vært aktuelle i...

The impact of new public management (NPM) and the implementation of resource accounting and budgeting (RAB) have given particular prominence to accounting information in the UK public sector. This paper explores the extent to which such information has informed and shaped the actions of politicians in the first term of the Northern Ireland (NI) dev...

No abstract available.

Performance measurement in public management is a contested issue. Performance indicators (PIs) have diverse functions for different stakeholders over the life-cycle of a public policy, and the search for better PIs is an ongoing effort. However, instead of seeing the running down, proliferation and strategic use of performance information as dysfu...

The purpose of this study is to explore the implications of the rationality of accounting thought and practice as a mediating mechanism in the highly-charged, conflict-ridden situation in Northern Ireland (NI). The paper draws on a variety of data sources, including a series of interviews with key actors. There are some indications of accounting in...

Devolution is commonly understood to be the transfer to a subordinate elected body, on a geographical basis, of functions previously exercised by ministers and the national parliament. Devolution is also called external decentralisation to differentiate it from delegating responsibility within an existing structure of authority. In 1997, the popula...

NORSK: Finnes det noe norsk organisasjonsfag, og hva består det i så fall av? Holder organisasjonsfaget på å forvitre, eller har organisasjonsanalysen vært så fruktbar at «moderdisiplinene» – psykologi, økonomi, sosiologi og statsvitenskap – tar organisasjonsanalysen tilbake igjen? Boka tar utgangspunkt i Børre Nylehns inndeling av norsk organisas...

This study explores the effects of governance structure and contracting out on municipal audit costs. There is economy of scale, asymmetric information and human asset specificity in municipal auditing. As a consequence, both unified governance and market contracting could result in high total audit costs for municipalities. According to Oliver Wil...

This article evaluates the contracting out of municipal auditing. It draws upon the organizational economics (theory of the firm) tradition, specifically agency theory and transaction cost analysis. In order to systematically assess the effects of contracting out municipal auditing, a conceptual framework of municipal auditing is developed. Some em...

This article examines the impact of devolution, the New Public Management and public management culture on accounting for democratic accountability in the first term of the devolved national assemblies and parliament in the UK. Although there is more openness, transparency, consultation and scrutiny with regard to budgets, accounts and performance...

Konkurranseutsetting er et begrep som ofte blir drøftet med en ideologisk undertone knyttet til synet på offentlig sektors oppgaver og størrelse. Denne boka søker en analytisk og praktisk innfallsvinkel til å forstå hva konkurranseutsetting egentlig innebærer. Videre drøfter boka betingelser for og konsekvenser av å organisere kommunal tjenesteprod...

Performance audit in politics: The municipal audit’s roles in the Norwegian democratic system This study is about the roles that control bodies have in politics, and in particular the roles of municipal performance audit. Those usually mentioned in the international audit literature are: the judge, the ombudsman, the evaluator and the management c...

The purpose of this paper is to compare performance management in Dutch and Norwegian municipalities. The analysis of performance budgets and annual reports from nine municipalities from each country shows that performance management changed during the 1990s. Contingent factors such as fiscal stress, opportunity for change, organizational size (unc...

In this study it is argued that positive agency theory is a relevant theoretical perspective in studies of the balanced scorecard in business management because agency theory addresses implementation and organizational control issues. If the balanced scorecard is to be applied also in public management, then positive agency theory should be complem...

Performance auditing, or value for money (VFM) auditing, has been a long-standing component of accountability in public administration. During the 1980s and 1990s performance auditing has allegedly been increasingly adopted in the new public management. While there has been much research on public management and performance auditing in central gove...

English summary: Municipal mergers in a resource dependence perspective Municipal mergers have been used in administrative reforms for a long period of time. Often such mergers are controversial at the local level and are also extensively debated in national politics. Commonly economic arguments for larger municipalities are put forward based on a...

This thesis studies how asymmetric information and uncertainty affect performance measurement in local government organisational control. Performance measurement was found to be extensively studied in the classics of organisation theory, especially in conjunction with organisational learning. However, conventional wisdom predicts that with uncertai...

This study examines the use of performance measurement in public sector management accounting compared to the conventional wisdom in organizational control. The conventional wisdom states that under contingencies of ambiguity and uncertainty output control is largely used for external legitimacy and is decoupled to internal control structures. Cont...

This study explores how implementation approaches affect implementation success of performance measurement. A theory is developed using case studies of four projects from Norwegian local government in the period 1983–1998. `Implementation mode' is defined as to what extent a system is coupled to organisational objectives during the implementation p...

This study explores how implementation approaches affect implementation success of performance measurement. A theory is developed using case studies of four projects from Norwegian local government in the period 1983–1998. Implementation mode is defined as to what extent a system is coupled to organisational objectives during the implementation pro...

Børre Nylehn's article “Strategy in Local Government” is an exciting and thought provoking discussion of strategic management in local government. However, his observations can be discussed, both theoretically and empirically. It has been documented that politicians resist attempts to introduce strategic management systems in the form of Management...

Denne boka henvender seg til alle som er interessert i styring, produktivitet og effektivitet i offentlig sektor. Formålet med boka er å formidle teori, metoder og resultater fra en rekke utviklingsprosjekter som er gjennomført i kommuner, fylkeskommuner og statlige etater. Den er særlig aktuell for profesjonelle beslutningstakere og informasjonsbe...