Praktiska case för politikens genomslag

Practicing interaction between politics and administration can be a good idea after elections. One way to do this is to discuss cases together. Based on research on governance and control of the public sector and the advantages of case pedagogy, the authors discuss what can facilitate or hinder the realization of political decision

Framgångsrik Förändring – ett nationellt kommunforskningsprogram om hantering av förändrade ekonomiska förutsättningar och besvärliga situationer

Programmets innehåll har vuxit fram i samtal mellan forskare från de fem forskningsmiljöerna och företrädare för de kommuner som har uttalat intresse för att delta i programmet. Intresset har kommit till uttryck i samtal med kommunföreträdare som har berättat om erfarenheter från besvärliga situationer, erfarenheter som behöver analyseras och ställas i relation till andra kommuners erfarenheter och på så sätt rusta organisationen för framtiden. Intresse för att utveckla kunskap har också uttryckts i form av utmaningar som behöver hanteras. Det kan handla om utmaningar i form av att kunna skapa bra förutsättningar för stora och växande industriföretag i kommunen, om utmaningar relaterade till hög ungdomsarbetslöshet och de påfrestningar detta innebär på välfärden, om utmaningar relaterade till befolkningsutveckling eller utmaningar som har att göra med infrastruktursatsningar och svårigheter att få till stånd sådana. Sammantaget innebär programmet en mångsidig, djuplodande, problematiserande och lösningsorienterad fokusering på kommuners handlande i besvärliga situationer som kan uppkomma till följd av förändrade förutsättningar . Inom ramen för programmet söks förklaringar till hur anpassning sker till förändrade villkor och varför vissa organisationer lyckas bättre än andra att framgångsrikt förändra verksamhet och organisation. Erfarenheter av besvärliga situationer kommer att beskrivas och tolkas till grund för utveckling av resonemang kring hur förändrade förutsättningar kan bemästras

Assessing the Benefits of Forested Riparian Zones: A Qualitative Index of Riparian Integrity Is Positively Associated with Ecological Status in European Streams

Developing a general, predictive understanding of ecological systems requires knowing how much structural and functional relationships can cross scales and contexts. Here, we introduce the CROSSLINK project that investigates the role of forested riparian buffers in modified European landscapes by measuring a wide range of ecosystem attributes in stream-riparian networks. CROSSLINK involves replicated field measurements in four case-study basins with varying levels of human development: Norway (Oslo Fjord), Sweden (Lake Malaren), Belgium (Zwalm River), and Romania (Arge River). Nested within these case-study basins include multiple, independent stream-site pairs with a forested riparian buffer and unbuffered section located upstream, as well as headwater and downstream sites to show cumulative land-use impacts. CROSSLINK applies existing and bespoke methods to describe habitat conditions, biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning in aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Here, we summarize the approaches used, detail protocols in supplementary materials, and explain how data is applied in an optimization framework to better manage tradeoffs in multifunctional landscapes. We then present results demonstrating the range of riparian conditions present in our case-study basins and how these environmental states influence stream ecological integrity with the commonly used macroinvertebrate Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT) index. We demonstrate that a qualitative index of riparian integrity can be positively associated with stream ecological status. This introduction to the CROSSLINK project shows the potential for our replicated study with its panoply of ecosystem attributes to help guide management decisions regarding the use of forested riparian buffers in human-impacted landscapes. This knowledge is highly relevant in a time of rapid environmental change where freshwater biodiversity is increasingly under pressure from a range of human impacts that include habitat loss, pollution, and climate change

Implementation and effects of user participation in playground management: a comparative study of two Swedish municipalities

This paper describes and analyses how customer orientation strategies, with the focus on user participation, are implemented in playground management and their effects on managers’ attitudes and work with physical playgrounds. A comparative case study was conducted in two Swedish municipalities that involve users in different ways: through a manager-driven participation process and through informal user-initiated dialogue. The empirical material consisted of qualitative interviews with professionals in the management organisations and studies of local playgrounds. Implementation of strategies for user participation and tactical management activities appeared to be of importance. The manager-driven participation strategy was associated with a particularly positive attitude among managers, but also difficulties such as maintaining continuous dialogue with users. The small differences found in playground provision between the two municipalities give reason to question the physical effects of participation processes, and show the need for further research

Tankar i en kommunal framtid

Ännu en skånsk höstmorgon. Om framtiden är nu, så är den vacker. Inga större problem att vakna. Problemet är väl snarare att stiga upp. Ryggen är som vanligt lite stel. Tänk att jag varit pensionär i ett halvår. Många tyckte jag gick tidigt som 73-åring. Själv hade jag hela tiden haft 2040 som en gräns. Nu blev det ett år tidigare. Skönt. Som vanligt på morgonkvisten far tankarna fritt, många snurrar fortfarande runt arbetet. För nästan 50 år sedan, i en lågkonjunktur, väcktes mitt intresse för organisation och styrning av dåtidens kommuner. Dåvarande ’kommunal’ organisation och verksamhet var mycket homogen. Många var de också, strax under 300. Med ganska stor säkerhet visste man vad man kunde vänta sig när man som forskare steg in i ett kommunhus. På så sätt var det enkelt. Nu finns det kommuner som varken har kommunhus eller invånare. Bytt namn har de också gjort, åtminstone de större. Staden har verkligen fått sin renässans, både som betydelsefull samhällsorganisation och tillväxtmotor

En omskakande decenium i backspegeln

I artikeln ges en beskrivning över VA-sektorns utveckling under 1990-tale

Utformning och användning av kommunala verksamhetsmått

The purpose of this study is to develop a frame of reference within which formal control system performance measures can be described and their design and use can be analyzed for control systems in municipalities. From a cybernetic control approach measures are used as instruments to plan and gain feedback from employee actions, and adjust them to the internal and external environment of which they are a part. From a so-called institutional perspective we see the criticism that the formal control system is not adjusted to the environment, but rather formed by the environment. Instead of influence employee behavior, the measures are used to grant legitimacy and thereby ensure the existence of the organization. The empirical data is gathered from four municipal engineering departments and has been collected through document studies and interviews. The performance measurements are divided into four sub-measurements, which describe the various parts of the departments’ resource transformation (resource, activity, result and social indicators measurement). The thesis frame of reference stated that measures can have either an intended or an assigned use. When the measurement has an intended use, it is included in the formal control system’s planning and feedback activities, and is used as a point of reference in four areas: budgeting, rewards, defining responsibility and external comparisons. When the measurement is given an assigned use, it deals with the environment’s demands for appropriate action. This assigned use are divided into five areas: identity creation, legitimacy creation, myths, power and conflict. The intended uses were fairly similar between the departments and were centralized and coincided with the departments’ formal feedback meetings. The departments’ assigned use of measures was both offensive and defensive, and was used to handle both internal and external relations. It is possible to state, from a contingency-based approach, that the measure design and use was affected by factors internal and external to the departments. The analyses of the departments’ efforts at measurement clarified two dimensions of the formal control system: the signal and translation dimensions. The fact that the organizational levels which designed and used measures requested data from the levels that did not use these measures constituted a clear signal regarding the importance of taking account of the demanded data in their activities. The section heads worked interactively with the control system and were well equipped to understand the signals transmitted through the system. This translation dimension’s purpose is to ensure that individuals working within different control systems with differing terminology can adequately inform and understand each other. It is the position of this study that the existence of the signal and translation dimensions calls for further thought before one states that the formal control system is not used and does not affect employee behavior