European Arctic Initiatives Compendium

Julkaistu versi

Collaborative Management in Norwegian Municipalities: Do Middle Managers Make a Difference?

Norway is an example of the Nordic model in which the local level is of fundamental importance. However, the municipalities are relatively small and increasingly subject to decentralisation of their activities. To compensate for scale disadvantages, a mixture of collaborative activities is pursued in order to build system capacity. Paradoxically, little is known about collaboration among key stakeholders. This article makes a contribution to reducing this knowledge gap by focusing on mid-level managers and municipal departments. This research is empirically underpinned by a cross sectional survey of middle managers in 64 municipalities in Norway (N = 1354) and presents, for the first time, comprehensive data on collaboration across the entire municipal sector. It shows that collaboration does exist among municipalities, but that there is significant variation between sectors and types of collaboration. Furthermore, the classic distinction between locals and cosmopolitans is observed, though also an interesting new group of middle managers - "glocals" - who combine local and cosmopolitan orientation. The combination of delegation and entrepreneurial leadership is shown to be particularly important when explaining variation, as delegation creates a greater scope for collaborative management. Interestingly, entrepreneurs in particular appeared to be moving into this area, thus enabling greater innovation and development.publishedVersio

Managing Collaborative Arrangements : Challenges associated with managing secondary structures

With respect to copyright, Paper I and Paper II was excluded from the dissertation.There is a widespread consensus that collaborative arrangements do not replace but instead add one or more layers of structural complexity to traditional organizations. In response to the challenges confronting contemporary societies, different network forms such as intermunicipal cooperation, joint ventures, clusters, partnerships, and many similar collective entities become necessary to improve organizational performance and to tackle many challenges in the public sector. For example, networks are essential for the implementation of larger programs, the reduction of unemployment, designing solutions for demographic ageing, responding to ongoing issues like climate change or new issues such as COVID-19. Innovation is widely argued as a key strategy to adequately respond to increased levels of complexity and ongoing crises. Networked arrangements, and especially governance networks that cross sectors and organizations are being turned to a primary means to bring together the necessary resources (people, ideas, and technology) to generate innovation. These governance networks operate alongside traditional government operating structures and, as such, become a secondary place of interaction and work. Indeed, networks are structures of interdependence involving often multiple interdependent organizations. Such structures display more distinctive features compared to traditional hierarchical structures because they have a self-governing ethos and limited authority. Moreover, member organizations must deliberately leverage their relationships to ‘reinvent’ themselves and build a new collective whole. Additionally, managers of collaborative arrangements must not only facilitate complex interaction settings, but also establish strategies to tackle different interests across governmental lines. Together, these factors make it more challenging for the social resources held within collaborations to be actively and deliberately managed. It also makes them more unstable and prone to failure. This thesis addresses the challenges of these dual structures that lead to complexity and the need for different design and management approaches. In doing so, it spotlights two types of collaborative arrangements with attributes that correspond with the features of governance networks. Then, the thesis concentrates on two research topics largely overlooked in inter-organizational relations literature. First, it unpacks several structural and process-based features that might influence the breakdown of networked arrangements - a growing concern, particularly for public sector networks required to produce public value. An enhanced understanding of the factors that might undermine collaboration will improve efficiency and effectiveness of such networks. Second, the thesis will provide nuanced insights into the active management of networks. Two papers here focus on managerial networking across network arrangements. Of these, one paper addresses the antecedents of managerial networking, while the second concentrates on the outcomes of managerial networking, more specifically innovation. Given that responsibilities and expectations of all public managers constantly grow, this thesis aims to shed new light on what factors contribute to network success.publishedVersio

Inter-Organisational IT Governance: A Case Study of Municipal ICT Cooperation

ABSTRACT Changes in society and organisations’ business environments have increased the useof operating models, which favour inter-organisational cooperation and networking. The evolution of operating models also has a significant impact on organisations’ IT departments and ICT activities. Inter-organisational ICT cooperation and networking offer excellent opportunities to public organisations to develop and improve their operations. This study clarifies how public organisations in Finland have implemented interorganisational ICT cooperation. Especially the inter-organisational ICT cooperation between Finnish municipalities has been the target of the current study. The study clarifies why municipalities plan ICT cooperation and how they have implemented it. The study also reviews the benefits that municipalities have received or are seeking to obtain through ICT cooperation. In addition, the study clarifies how intermunicipal IT governance has been implemented and investigates the applicability of currently used theories explaining intra-organisational IT governance to describe inter- organisational IT governance. The study examines various inter-municipal ICT cooperation groups in Finland. The study reveals that even though municipality groups use many types of ICT cooperation, joint IT governance model-based decisions and clear goals often shine in their absence. The dominant form of collaboration in inter-municipal ICT cooperation is voluntary cooperation without any joint IT governance. The study reveals that without a joint IT governance, municipalities lose much of the benefits they could achieve through a joint IT governance model. The study also confirms the applicability of currently used theories describing the intra-organisational IT governance to describe inter-organisational IT governance. KEYWORDS: information technology, IT, IT governance, ITG, information and communication technology, ICT, inter-organisational, public organisations, municipal, ICT cooperationTIIVISTELMÄ Muutokset yhteiskunnassa ja organisaatioiden toimintaympäristöissä ovat lisänneet sellaisten toimintamallien käyttöä, jotka suosivat organisaatioiden yhteistyötä ja verkottumista. Näillä muutoksilla on myös voimakas vaikutus organisaatioiden ITosastoihin ja ICT-toimintoihin. Uudenlaiset yhteistyön toimintamallit ovat luoneet tarpeen myös eri organisaatioiden yhteiselle IT-hallinnolle. Myös julkishallinnon organisaatioille tällainen yhteistyö tarjoaa hyvät mahdollisuudet kehittää ja tehostaa toimintaansa. Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitetään, kuinka Suomen julkishallinnossa toteutetaan organisaatioiden välistä ICT-yhteistyötä. Tutkimuskohteena on erityisesti kuntien välinen ICT-yhteistyö. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään, miksi kunnat suunnittelevat ICTyhteistyötä, miten ne toteuttavat sitä sekä miten tätä yhteistyötä hallitaan. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan myös niitä hyötyjä, joita kunnat ovat ICT-yhteistyön avulla saaneet tai pyrkineet saamaan. Lisäksi selvitetään, voidaanko nykyisin käytössä olevia, organisaatioiden sisäistä IT-hallintoa kuvaavia teorioita käyttää kuvaamaan organisaatioiden välistä IT-hallintoa. Tutkimuksessa on kartoitettu suomalaisten kuntien välisiä ICT-yhteistyöryhmiä. Tutkimuksessa selviää, että vaikka kuntaryhmät tekevät monenlaista ICTyhteistyötä, niin yhteiseen IT-hallintomalliin perustuvat päätökset ja yhteiset, selkeät tavoitteet loistavat usein poissaolollaan. Kuntien välisessä ICT-yhteistyössä hallitseva yhteistyömalli on vapaaehtoinen yhteistyö ilman yhteistä IT-hallintomallia. Tutkimuksen perusteella voi todeta, että kunnat menettävät suuren osan niistä hyödyistä, jotka ne voisivat saavuttaa yhteisen IT-hallintomallin avulla. Tutkimus vahvistaa nykyisin käytössä olevien, organisaatioiden sisäistä IThallintoa kuvaavien teorioiden käyttökelpoisuuden kuvaamaan organisaatioiden välistä IT-hallintoa. ASIASANAT: tietotekniikka, IT, IT-hallinto, tieto- ja viestintätekniikka, ICT, organisaatioiden välinen, julkinen sektori, kunta, ICT-yhteisty

The architecture of procurement in sustainable and zero-emission neighborhood projects—strategic challenges and new realities

As an intermediate layer located between buildings and cities, neighborhoods are considered critical with regard to the transition to low-carbon cities and zero-emission societies. Sustainable and zero-emission neighborhood (ZEN) projects can be characterized as both complex and multi-organizational. However, there is currently only limited research available concerning collaboration among organizations in relation to ZEN projects. In particular, there is a lack of evidence as to how lead organizations arrange procurement for ZEN projects. Using a case study approach, this paper explores the potential of procurement to serve as a system integrator in ZEN projects. Our findings indicate that system integration by means of procurement in ZEN projects is difficult due to several challenges. Among the identified challenges, the most important are the complex ownership structure, the lack of supporting regulations, and the unclear mandate of the procurement department. In light of these findings, we propose a conceptual model that lead organizations could apply to support the realization of ZEN projects.</p

Outsourcing of services and regional impact on employment

This paper focuses on the issue of organisation and purchase of services by public authorities (mainly municipalities) and large corporations (mainly one company towns). It deals with restructuring of service provision, notably outsourcing of different types of services from institutions and corporations and the concomitant regional and local impact upon employment. It is hypothesised that effects may be both positive and negative, depending on the types of service and location of the buyers. The discussion is theoretical, viewing outsourcing in its preconditions and effects as outcomes of economic,social,cultural and political factors and forces in society at large. Some selected empirical cases from Norway are included, however, in order to analyse more closely beneficial or adverse regional employment effects.

Do Shared Digital Workspaces Boost Integration? The Case of One Early Intervention Initiative for Vulnerable Children in Norway

Introduction: The paper discusses the implementation of a digital workspace to facilitate collaboration in health and social services for vulnerable children and adolescents in eight Norwegian municipalities. The purpose of the workspace is to enhance collaboration independent of space and time. Collaborating services are schools, kindergartens, school health services, educational services and child welfare services. Methods: The data analysed are from semi-structured interviews with project leaders in primary care, responses of primary care professionals to open questions in a survey, and results from two questions in three subsequent surveys. Results: Project leaders held great expectations of increased collaboration. Variations were found regarding how far the implementation of a new workspace precluded previous methods of collaboration and whether retaining a familiar workspace necessitated strengthening resources to negotiate using the workspace. Organisational and professional cultures hindered the implementation of the workspace. Discussion: Interrelated barriers to collaboration were found at the professional, organisational and systemic levels. Some professionals could adapt the workspace to their existing tasks while others could not. Primary care providers need to strengthen their organisations while implementing the workspace. Conclusion: Concerted action at national and municipal level is needed to successfully implement digital tools.publishedVersio

BEYOND CRISIS RESPONSE: LEVERAGING SOCIOTECH-NICAL TRANSFORMABILITY

We investigate the organizational capacities required to leverage digital infrastructures both (1) in re-sponse to crisis and external threats, and (2) in realizing the transformative potential associated with the digital infrastructures. Thus, our research question is: What is required for organizations to be able to transform in the face of disruptions and breakdowns? We report from an empirical study of a digital infrastructure innovation process in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which involved extensions and novel development of both the technology and the former service model. While the literature on organizational resilience offers us a conceptual framework to identify organizational capabilities, we lean on literature that foregrounds transformability as a crucial aspect of resilience. We discuss organ-izational capacities which are considered vital in realizing the potential for transformative crisis learn-ing in sociotechnical systems that builds adaptive capacity and influences the enactment of future or-ganisational routines

Maritime preparedness systems in The Arctic : institutional arrangements and potential for collaboration : MARPART Project Report 3

This report provides a discussion on the preparedness systems in Norway, Russia, Iceland and Greenland (Denmark). It compares preparedness institutions across different countries of the High North, and reflects on similarities and differences between them