Welfare collaboration in Norway : Something old, something new, something borrowed, something to pursue?

I de senere år har innovasjon i offentlig sektor fått økt oppmerksomhet både på nasjonale så vel som internasjonale dagsordener. Den økte oppmerksomheten kan knyttes til økende samfunnsmessige, økonomiske og politiske utfordringer som dagens velferdsstater står overfor – utfordringer som krysser ulike sektorer, politikkområder og aktører. Innovasjon i offentlig sektor blir ofte presentert som en strategi for å bøte på disse store, komplekse utfordringene, hvor nye former for samarbeid på tvers av sektorer, organisasjoner, administrative nivåer og aktører presenteres som en global og moderne idé som anses å være en forløsning på slike problemer. Til tross for det økte behovet for å modernisere offentlig sektor ved å øke dens produktivitet og kvalitet, eksisterer det imidlertid store kunnskapshull om hvordan stater fanger opp og tilpasser slike globale ideer. Denne avhandlingen undersøker hvordan moderne velferdsstater oversetter (tilpasser) globale ideer, operasjonalisert som nye former for samarbeid, innenfor velferdssektoren. Avhandlingen undersøker hvordan historiske, kulturelle og institusjonelle egenskaper ved velferdsmodeller påvirker denne oversettelsen. På så måte bidrar denne avhandlingen med en dyptgående forståelse av hvilke aktører som er involvert i den komplekse oversettelsesprosessen av globale ideer samt hvordan ulike egenskaper tilhørende ulike velferdsstatsmodeller kan påvirke slike prosesser. Den overordnede problemstillingen i avhandlingen er hvordan globale ideer oversettes av moderne velferdsstater og hvordan velferdsstatsmodeller kan påvirke denne prosessen. Tre forskningsspørsmål tilhørende tre analytiske nivåer er også reist, nemlig (1) hvordan politikere oversetter nye former for samarbeid gjennom politikkutvikling (2) hvordan nye former for samarbeid oversettes i det institusjonelle feltet og (3) hvordan nye former for samarbeid oversettes av lokale offentlige organisasjoner. Avhandlingen undersøker to ulike former for samarbeid, nemlig sosiale entreprenører og samarbeidsdreven innovasjon i den Nordiske velferdsmodellen, representert av den norske velferdsstat. De tre analytiske nivåene anvendt i denne avhandlingen er politikk, felt og anvendt nivå. Avhandlingen baserer seg på en neo-institusjonell teoretisk tilnærming og fokuserer særlig på kontekstuelle egenskaper ved den nordiske modellen, dens kulturarv, reformtrender og politikk samt hvordan ulike aktører på de tre analytiske nivåene oversetter disse nye formene for samarbeid. Stiavhengighet og gradvis, institusjonell endring anvendes også som nøkkelkonsepter for å forstå og forklare hvordan oversettelsen av globale ideer påvirkes av konteksten som mottar dem. Litteratur om velferdsstatsregimer, politisk-administrative systemer og reformer anvendes også for å forstå og forklare datamaterialet. Avhandlingen består av tre artikler. Den reiste problemstillingen i artikkel én er hvordan politikere forstår sosiale entreprenører og hvilket forhold de har til det eksisterende velferdssystemet i Norge, samt hvordan denne forståelsen former politikernes ønsker for politikkutvikling rettet mot sosiale entreprenører. Videre analyserer artikkelen politikernes argumenter for ikke å utvikle politikk for sosiale entreprenører. Datamaterialet består av intervjudata med norske toppolitikere. Et hovedfunn er at til tross for retorisk, politisk støtte til sosiale entreprenører, ønsker ikke politikerne å utvikle politikk for dem. Dette vil trolig føre til at sosiale entreprenører ikke vil kunne skille seg fra øvrige private aktører. I tillegg må de forholde seg til eksisterende systemer på lik linje med andre private aktører ved å delta i offentlige anbud eller inngå partnerskap med offentlig sektor. Mot denne bakgrunnen vil sosiale entreprenører med stor sannsynlighet måtte innrette seg etter eksisterende systemer og vil derfor trolig ikke bli oversatt til et eget fenomen. Casestudien illustrerer at den norske kulturarven med en stor og robust stat fremdeles spiller en stor og viktig rolle der rommet ideell velferdsproduksjon tilsynelatende vil forbli lite. Artikkel to undersøker hvordan sosiale entreprenører responderer på institusjonell kompleksitet og hvilke strukturelle og strategiske tilnærminger de internaliserer i møte med flere institusjonelle logikker og krav. Artikkelen er en casestudie av hvordan fem norske sosiale entreprenører håndterer institusjonell kompleksitet, og baserer seg på intervjuer av gründere og medarbeidere i de fem sosiale entreprenørene. Resultatet viser at hovedlogikken i det institusjonelle feltet sosiale entreprenører opererer i anvender en offentlig sektor logikk. Denne logikken må alle sosiale entreprenører forholde seg til. Imidlertid viser det seg at sosiale entreprenører strukturert som klassiske hybride organisasjoner (blended hybrids) opplever større vanskeligheter når feltet stiller spesifikke krav til dem som motstrider den sosiale entreprenørens mål og virke. Derimot opplever sosiale entreprenører strukturert som strukturelle hybride organisasjoner færre hindre ettersom de består av to separate enheter og kan inndele ulike logikker, krav og mål i de ulike enhetene. På så måte oppnår disse organisasjonene både tilgang til og legitimitet i feltet. Derfor tyder det på at sosiale entreprenører strukturert som strukturelle hybride organisasjoner er den mest pragmatiske konfigurasjonen for sosiale entreprenører i Norge på grunn av den dominante rollen offentlig sektor har i Norden. Artikkelen viser også hvordan oversettelsen av sosiale entreprenører påvirkes av stiavhengighet og hvordan det kan være vanskelig å danne seg en forestilling av sosiale entreprenører om som noe annet enn vanlige private aktører i en slik høyinstitusjonalisert kontekst. Artikkel tre tar utgangspunkt i et samarbeidsdrevet innovasjonsprosjekt mellom to offentlige organisasjoner. Casestudien undersøker hvorfor utfordringer i slike samarbeid kan oppstå. Artikkelen baserer seg på intervjuer av relevante aktører i det samarbeidsdrevne innovasjonsprosjektet. Funnene viser at det tilsynelatende er enklere å oversette slike former for samarbeid sammenlignet med sosiale entreprenører. Funnene indikerer imidlertid at det kan oppstå spenninger mellom nye former for samarbeid også mellom offentlige organisasjoner. Et av hovedfunnene viser at selv om samarbeidspartnerne deler det overordnede målet for samarbeidet, kan spenninger oppstå. Artikkelen identifiserer fire spenningsmomenter relatert til hvorfor prosjektet ble igangsatt, hvordan det skulle realiseres, hvem prosjektet var for og hvem prosjektet tilhørte. Funnene viser til at administrative siloer fra tidligere reformer ikke viskes vekk av nye globale ideer, men at de sameksisterer og påvirker oversettelsesprosessen. Denne avhandlingen viser at oversettelsen av globale ideer i moderne velferdsstater er en kompleks prosess som foregår på ulike nivåer og av ulike aktører. Avhandlingen demonstrerer hvordan historiske, institusjonelle og kulturelle egenskaper ved moderne velferdsstater påvirker oversettelsen av globale ideer. Mer spesifikt, påvirker tidligere reformparadigmer, tidligere veivalg og kulturarv oversettelsen av de globale ideene.In recent years, modern welfare states have faced growing demands for public sector innovation. These growing demands can be seen as a response to a rise in citizen’s expectations, new societal and policy challenges and dire fiscal constraints. These issues typically transcend the borders of traditional policy domains and pose complex challenges in policymaking as well as in service delivery, and cannot be solved by standard modes of operating. Thus, innovation in the public sector is believed to increase the productivity, problem-solving capacity and service improvement in the public sector. As a result, new forms of multi-actor collaboration between different sectors, organizations and levels have emerged as global ideas for how to innovate the public sector and at the same time manage the complexity of these issues, and their popularity has risen to local, national, and transnational policy agendas. This thesis investigates the how new forms of collaboration are adapted in the policy field of welfare provision and further analyzes how historical, cultural, and institutional factors within modern welfare states might affect this process. The thesis offers an in-depth understanding of what actors are involved in the adaptation process, and further emphasizes the complexity of them. It also offers a comprehensive understanding of how antecedents of modern welfare states might affect this process. From a threefold approach, this thesis explores (1) how policymakers adapt new forms of collaborations by way of policymaking; (2) how new forms of collaboration are adapted in the policy field of welfare provision; and (3) how new forms of collaboration are adapted in local public sector organizations. The selected new forms of collaboration are social enterprise and a collaborative innovation project, and the focus is on how these new ways of collaborating are adapted in the Nordic model represented by the study context of Norway. I study these research question from three analytical levels, namely the policy, field and applied level. I use a neo-institutionalist approach emphasizing contextual features of the Nordic context, its legacies of cooperation and statism, its reform trends as well as how different actors at the three analytical levels adapt these new ways of collaborating. Path dependences and gradual institutional changes are also central concepts which is used to understand and explain how global ideas are shaped by different contexts. Furthermore, I draw on scholarly literature on welfare state regimes, political-administrative systems, reform trends, as well as literature on social enterprise and collaborative innovation. The articles use material from interviews with top-level politicians, social entrepreneurs, and staff members, as well as civil servants in public sector organizations. The thesis includes three articles, which presents the adaptation of global ideas. The first article investigates how policymakers understand social enterprise and their relation to existing welfare services, and, how these understandings shape the policymakers’ policies for social enterprise. It further explores reasons given by policymakers at the national level in Norway for their reluctance to develop policies dedicated to promoting social enterprise and to understand why and how social enterprise policy vary between countries. The empirical material for the article consists of interviews with Norwegian top-level policymakers. A main finding is that policy inaction impedes recognition of social enterprise as different from other private, commercial, or voluntary organizations as well as their ability to compete for tenders. Social enterprise is therefore likely pressured to conform to the existing institutional framework of welfare provision. The case illustrates that the legacy of statism has a strong foothold in the Nordic context, namely that due to a large, universal welfare state, the room for ideal welfare production is likely to remain limited. The second article studies how social enterprises respond to institutional complexity, and what structural and strategic organizational responses they internalize when externally engaging with multiple logics and demands. The article presents a case study of how five Norwegian social enterprises. The material consists of interviews of social entrepreneurs and staff members. The findings show that the external environment primarily holds a public-sector logic that imposes demands on social enterprises. Blended hybrids experience more inconvenience with demands from this “at-play external logic”. Structural hybrids manage to attract a broader funding base since they use different compartments to apply for different funding posts and contracts. Through this approach, they are ensured entry to and legitimacy in the field, and the findings suggest that structural hybrids can be a pragmatic social-enterprise configuration in the Nordic context due to the prominent role of the public sector. The article illustrates that the adaptation of social enterprise is based on path dependence, and the dominant presence of the public sector is found to characterize these processes suggesting that this form of collaboration may be difficult to conceptualize and adapt in a highly institutionalized context. The third article is based on a joined-up government collaboration defined as a collaborative innovation project and asks what the nature of potential challenges in public sector innovation projects are. The article is based on interview data from two collaborating public sector organizations. The new forms of collaboration between two public sector organizations appears to be easier to adapt than social enterprise, yet the collaborative innovation project still experience tensions. A main finding suggests that despite sharing an overarching goal of the collaboration, tensions may still arise. Four central tensions were identified that threatened the entire initiative. The tensions were related to why the project was realized, how it should be realized, for whom the project was for, and whose project it was. While the findings indicate a will to adapt new forms of collaboration, the enforcement of administrative silos from previous governance paradigms are still not erased. Thus, adaptation can be difficult also between local public sector organization. Overall, the thesis finds that adaptation of global ideas in modern welfare states are complex processes. They occur at different levels and by different actors. The thesis identifies that the adaptation may occur at a policy, field and applied level. It also shows how antecedents of modern welfare states shape the adaptation of global ideas. More specifically, the layering of previous reforms, path-dependent trajectories and historical legacies play important roles in the adaptation of global ideas.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Software service adaptation based on interface localisation

The aim of Web services is the provision of software services to a range of different users in different locations. Service localisation in this context can facilitate the internationalisation and localisation of services by allowing their adaption to different locales. The authors investigate three dimensions: (i) lingual localisation by providing service-level language translation techniques to adopt services to different languages, (ii) regulatory localisation by providing standards-based mappings to achieve regulatory compliance with regionally varying laws, standards and regulations, and (iii) social localisation by taking into account preferences and customs for individuals and the groups or communities in which they participate. The objective is to support and implement an explicit modelling of aspects that are relevant to localisation and runtime support consisting of tools and middleware services to automating the deployment based on models of locales, driven by the two localisation dimensions. The authors focus here on an ontology-based conceptual information model that integrates locale specification into service architectures in a coherent way

Networks, Hierarchies, and Markets: Aggregating Collective Problem Solving in Social Systems

How do decentralized systems collectively solve problems? Here we explore the interplay among three canonical forms of collective organization--markets, networks, and hierarchies--in aggregating decentralized problem solving. We examine these constructs in the context of how the offices of members of Congress individually and collectively wrestle with the Internet, and, in particular, their use of official websites. Each office is simultaneously making decisions about how to utilize their website. These decisions are only partially independent, where offices are looking at each other for lessons, following the same directives from above about what to do with the websites, and confront the same array of potential vendors to produce their website. Here we present the initial results from interviews with 99 Congressional offices and related survey of 100 offices about their decisions regarding how to use official Member websites. Strikingly, we find that there are relatively few efforts by offices to evaluate what constituents want or like on their websites. Further, we find that diffusion occurs at the "tip of the iceberg": offices often look at each others' websites (which are publicly visible), but rarely talk to each other about their experiences or how they manage what is on their websites (which are not publicly visible). We also find that there are important market drivers of what is on websites, with the emergence of a small industry of companies seeking to serve the 440 Members. Hierarchical influences--through the House and through the party conferences--also constrain and subsidize certain practices.

Adaptation of NLP Techniques to Cultural Heritage Research and Documentation

The WissKI system provides a framework for ontology based science communication and cultural heritage documentation. In many cases, the documentation consists of semi-structured data records with free text fields. Most references in the texts comprise of person and place names, as well as time specifications. We present the WissKI tools for semantic annotation using controlled vocabularies and formal ontologies derived from CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM). Current research deals with the annotations as building blocks for event recognition. Finally, we outline how the CRM helps to build bridges between documentation in different scientific disciplines

Smallholder farmers' agricultural support services system in northern Sri Lanka : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Agricultural Extension at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Smallholder agriculture is argued to be a key driver in the recovery and overall economic growth for rural populations in developing countries. There is little understanding on the agricultural support services accessed by smallholder farmers in the northern Sri Lankan context and what influence their access and why those support services are accessed by farmers. Further, little is known about how various agricultural support service providers are providing services to smallholder farmers in this context and what influence their provision. The research reported in this thesis examined and explored the smallholder farmers’ agricultural support system in the northern context of Sri Lanka. The aim of the study was to contribute to enhancing the provision of support services to smallholder farmers in northern Sri Lanka. A single case study design was employed, and data for the study were collected primarily from semi-structured interviews. Secondary data were gathered from relevant documents. The data collected through interviews and documents were analysed using qualitative data analysis. This research highlights that smallholder farmers are willingly, openly and without distrust engaging in relationships with commercial service providers despite having only limited experience in these types of interactions. Farmers value the standard of service but also seek to supply produce to a commercial trader with a well-recognised reputation. The service providers the farmers interact with are also linked to the particular farm enterprise they are engaged with and farm enterprises are differentiated on gender. The study further found that Government providers with no commercial interests are collaborated with providers with commercial interests associated with their interactions with smallholder farmers. In northern Sri Lanka it appears Government services are in no way seen as competitive with commercial service providers, rather for those commercial service providers who do not or are not in a position to provide certain services provided by Government they link farmers to Government to access these services. This linking to services adds value to the relationship between smallholders and commercial service providers. The insights gained from the study into what support services are accessed by smallholder farmers and why are they accessing and how are agricultural support service providers providing services to smallholder farmers need to be considered when designing policies and development programmes to enhance the support service provision in the northern context as well as other parts of Sri Lanka

Robustness-Driven Resilience Evaluation of Self-Adaptive Software Systems

An increasingly important requirement for certain classes of software-intensive systems is the ability to self-adapt their structure and behavior at run-time when reacting to changes that may occur to the system, its environment, or its goals. A major challenge related to self-adaptive software systems is the ability to provide assurances of their resilience when facing changes. Since in these systems, the components that act as controllers of a target system incorporate highly complex software, there is the need to analyze the impact that controller failures might have on the services delivered by the system. In this paper, we present a novel approach for evaluating the resilience of self-adaptive software systems by applying robustness testing techniques to the controller to uncover failures that can affect system resilience. The approach for evaluating resilience, which is based on probabilistic model checking, quantifies the probability of satisfaction of system properties when the target system is subject to controller failures. The feasibility of the proposed approach is evaluated in the context of an industrial middleware system used to monitor and manage highly populated networks of devices, which was implemented using the Rainbow framework for architecture-based self-adaptation

The implicit nature of advice on the intimate topic of financial management : an exploration of how the financial management advisory system shapes financial management advice in the dairy sector in Aotearoa : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Agriculture & Environment at Massey University, Manawatu, Aotearoa

Financial Management (FM) skills have been argued to be essential for the effective management of a farm in response to pressures like climatic and economic volatility. Internationally, agricultural advisors are considered important actors concerned with supporting farmers in different aspects of farm management. Agricultural advisors are recognised for their role in facilitating the application and use of new knowledge by farmers through advice. Despite the recognized importance of financial management, limited research has looked at the role of advisory services in relation to the topic of financial management in the agricultural sector. This doctoral research takes a systemic view in studying FM advisory provisioning in the New Zealand dairy sector. In particular, this study explores three different areas of the FM advisory system in the New Zealand dairy sector and how they shape FM advisory provisioning. The first area studied is how interactions between farmers and FM advisors are shaped. The second area focuses on how interactions between FM advisors around a mutual client are shaped. Lastly, the third area studied is how FM advisors navigate the multiple accountabilities and demands placed on their role. The findings of this research are informed by forty-seven semi-structured interviews with farmers, accountants, bankers, farm management consultants, specialist financial advisors and employees of the industry good organisation DairyNZ. This study follows a social constructivistic approach and was mainly data-driven; by an empirical social phenomenon. This research explores and enriches the literature on agricultural advisory services, by exploring advisory services in relation to farmers’ FM. This study enriches this literature firstly by highlighting the influence of the sensitivity of the topic. The sensitivity of the topic and how this topic relates to farmer’s identity, influences whom farmers seek advice from and the nature of that advice. Moreover, the presence of an authority dimension in the relationship between advisor and farmer is shown in this research to shape the content and form of farmer-advisor interactions. Regarding advisor-advisor interactions, this research also provides deeper insights on what drives and shapes coordination among agricultural advisors. In particular, duty of care for a farmer and authority and advocacy are found to coordinate relationships and interactions between advisors. Lastly, this thesis contributes empirical insights to discussions about the relationship between formal advisory agendas of agricultural advisory activities on the one hand and on the other hand, the reality of agricultural advisory programs. In particular, it provides a detailed illustration of the complex institutional context placing contradictory demands and accountabilities on advisors and how these advisors navigate these in their everyday practices

Pension governance in Finland: a case study on public and private logics of governance in pension provision

The study empirically reviews the administrative practices of the organizational field formed by the Finnish statutory earnings-related pension scheme, and theoretical tools are developed for analyzing the administration models of European public-private partnership pension systems