A coordination challenge among multiple regulatory objectives

Do multiple regulatory objectives put network companies in a position to prioritize? New empirical insights show that intentional balancing of conflicts is far from assured in infrastructure operations.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Studying values in public policy: Comparing five approaches

An aura of vagueness sticks to the term values when used in public policy research. This paper surveys five recent empirical approaches to integrate values more in our analysis of public policy. We discuss how these approaches tackle the dilemmas generally associated with studying values, offering an orientation in the variety of possibilities to advance public policy research within this reviving subdiscipline.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

The regulatory challenge of competing public values

This paper reports on the method and findings of a new type of public value research to assess the effects of regulatory oversight. A semi-ethnographic approach is to trace oversight objectives through companies providing public services. We traversed two Dutch railway companies and a Dutch electricity company with interviews and observations in search for value conflicts. Our analysis produced descriptions of these conflicts and their trade-offs as arranged by strategic managers, planners, operational workers, middle managers and staff. In conclusion we reflect on the net effects of these trade-offs and their implications for regulatory oversight in liberalized sectors.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Wat is een manager meer dan iemand die zich inleeft?: Interview met Guus Kuijer

Guus Kuijer neemt Nederland de maat in zijn recente essays 'Het doden van een mens', 'Hoe een klein rotgodje God vermoordde' en 'Hoe word ik gelukkig?' Zijn vurige beschouwingen leiden de lezer van schilderkunst naar levensgeluk en van vijftiende, zestiende eeuwse theologie naar de Nederlandse samenleving van nu die zo krampachtig omgaat met intellectualiteit en individualiteit. De opgave voor Nederland is volgens Guus Kuijer te herontdekken waar onze beschaving vandaan is gekomen, wat tolerantie en inlevingsvermogen heeft gekost en waar het toe kan leiden.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Cutting dark matter: Professional practice after institutional reform

Purpose - We want to understand the effects of drastic institutional reform, in the realm of liberalization, on the provision of public services in rail infrastructure operations. Operational control is vital for the reliability of train services. In control rooms, controllers are trained and equipped to cope with a constant stream of real-time, discordant situations that require specialist skills, knowledge and judgment. We study this professional practice under changing conditions. Approach - In order to understand the possible impact of institutional reform – more particular the unbundling and re-bundling of control rooms – on the professional practice of controllers, we focus on what controllers actually do, how their professional practice works. Our in-depth ethnographic study of controllers results in a detailed, naturalistic account of their discretionary decision-making. Findings - We first show the difficulties in gaining a more explicit understanding of what these professionals essentially think and do. Next, we inductively conceptualize our findings. Our open-dynamic account of professional practice sharply contrasts with a private-cognitive account widespread in literature. Our account of professional practice has major implications for how susceptible it is to institutional reform and organizational change. Value - Only few studies empirically describe how professional practices, including judgment, tacit knowledge and tacit skills, work as a whole. We try to do so. This study encourages managers as well as scientists to get more sensitive to the import of professional practices in infrastructure operations, and its radical instability.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Virtueel vangnet of functionele beleidsdroom?: Publiek aandeelhouderschap als toezicht op de drinkwatersector

Publieke aandeelhouders worden geacht als vangnet te fungeren indien publieke belangen in de drinkwatersector ondanks de vele voorzorgsmaatregelen toch onvoldoende geborgd blijken. Vanuit deze gedachte is wettelijk vastgelegd dat drinkwaterbedrijven in publieke handen moeten blijven. Omdat aandeelhouders echter opvallend weinig interveniëren, is dit vangnet lastig te testen. Dit onderzoek richt zich op de omstandigheden waarbinnen publieke aandeelhouders momenteel hun rol vervullen. Door meningen en ervaringen van diverse direct betrokkenen hierover naast elkaar te leggen, ontstaat een beeld of en hoe aandeelhouders hun rol momenteel vervullen. Hoewel betrokkenen de rol van publieke aandeelhouders niet problematiseren, zijn er wel degelijk aanwijzingen dat deze vorm van extra toezicht, als het erop aankomt, in de huidige omstandigheden geen vangnet maar een beleidsdroom blijkt.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Policy design: Who, what, how

Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Lokale energievisies als instrument: Een verkenning

Multi-Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

The Brittleness of Unbundled Train Systems: Crumbling Operational Coping Strategies

This paper reports on the current status of the restructured Dutch rail sector. We empirically studied the strategies traffic controllers display to cope with daily value-conflicts in rail operations, at infrastructure manager ProRail and train operating company NS. We use a new framework to identify types of coping behavior. The findings are put in a broader perspective and related to literature on the organization of large complex socio-technical systems. In conclusion, we suggest what to make of the current coping strategies and the changed complexity of managing train systems. Current developments seem to raise the level of system performance but ignore the operational context of coping, making the train system more brittle on the long term.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Reflections on the role of energy network companies in the energy transition

Background Energy network companies are commonly attributed the public task to help society in becoming greener in the domain of energy. This extra public task has high costs and comes with high uncertainties. It may also compete with existing public tasks of network companies. When network companies are involved in local green initiatives, they encounter dilemmas and need to arrange trade-offs among multiple public values. It may also compete with existing tasks of network companies. Therefore, these network companies can face dilemmas when involved in local green initiatives. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the role of energy network companies in the face of these dilemmas. What is the role of energy network companies in coping with conflicting public values when helping local initiatives that create a greener energy system? Methods We answer this question via an essay that reflects on existing research in the Dutch energy sector. Our answer is derived from the fields of law, politics, policy, economics and engineering about the role of network companies. Results and discussion We argue that these five perspectives leave the role of energy network companies in the energy transition under-articulated. Our additional answer is based on our own empirical research that focuses on how network companies currently deal with dilemmas between multiple public tasks. Conclusion We provide an analytical framework that enables a way of understanding the role of network companies in the struggle with dilemmas and raise several points of discussion to that might refocus efforts of researchers and practitioners to elucidate the role of network companies.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen