Patrik Hall – författare

Hur gör regeringen när den styr? På vilket sätt är myndigheterna beroende av politiken? Gör förvaltningen som politikerna vill eller är det annat som spelar in? I den här boken presenteras resultaten från en unik undersökning av fem myndigheter – Lunds universitet, Naturvårdsverket, NUTEK, Socialstyrelsen och Tullverket – under åren 1980–2005.Studien visar bland annat att regeringen har kopplat ett starkare grepp över myndigheterna under undersökningsperioden. Vissa delar av myndigheterna kan till och med ses som en del av ett "förstärkt regeringskansli".

Genom att ta reda på mer om de långsiktiga orsakerna till organisatorisk förändring i offentlig sektor kan vi få en djupare förståelse för politikens långsiktiga förändrings- och styrningsförmåga. Hur viktig är politiken i relation till andra fenomen såsom byråkratiska maktsträvanden, institutionella normer och professionella kulturer? De här komplexa frågorna har inga exakta svar, men den här boken ger ett viktigt bidrag till att öka kunskapen om vad som styr vår förvaltning.

Sagt om bokenDenna bok bygger på en undersökning av fem myndigheter vilken genomförts under åren 1980-2005. Syftet är att ta reda på hur stark den politiska styrningen är av den svenska förvaltningen. De myndigheter som undersökts är Naturvårdsverket, NUTEK, Lunds universitet, Socialstyrelsen och Tullverket. I boken presenteras myndigheternas historia och vad som styr verksamheten. Det bygger på både empiriskt material och intervjuer med ledande f. d. chefer för de olika myndigheterna. Resultatet är varierande. I vissa fall styrs myndighetens verksamhet mycket av politikerna, bland annat genom ekonomi, regeringsbeslut och utnämningar. I andra fall är myndigheten självstyrande i förhållande till politikerna. Det är en genomarbetad undersökning som borde intressera studenter likväl som andra som intresserar sig för svensk politik och förvaltning. [...]" Kent Lidman, lektör, BTJ-häftet nr 19, 2015.

Om författarenPatrik Hall är docent i statsvetenskap vid Malmö högskola och har tidigare bland annat gett ut boken Managementbyråkrati på Liber.

In recent decades, we have witnessed an increasing use of projects and similar temporary modes of organising in the public sector of nations in Europe and around the world. While for some this is a welcome development which unlocks entrepreneurial zeal and renders public services more flexible and accountable, others argue that this seeks to depoliticise policy initiatives, rendering them increasingly technocratic, and that the project organisations formed in this process offer fragmented and unsustainable short-term solutions to long-term problems.

This volume sets out to address public sector projectification by drawing together research from a range of academic fields to develop a critical and theoretically-informed understanding of the causes, nature, and consequences of the projectification of the public sector. This book includes 13 chapters and is organised into three parts. The first part centres on the politics of projectification, specifically the role of projects in de-politicisation, often accomplished by rendering the political “technical”. The chapters in the second part all relate to the reframing of the relationship between the centre and periphery, or between policy making and implementation, and the role of temporality in reshaping this relation. The third and final part brings a focus upon the tools, techniques, and agents through which public sector projectification is assembled, constructed, and performed.

In recent decades, we have witnessed an increasing use of projects and similar temporary modes of organising in the public sector of nations in Europe and around the world. While for some this is a welcome development which unlocks entrepreneurial zeal and renders public services more flexible and accountable, others argue that this seeks to depoliticise policy initiatives, rendering them increasingly technocratic, and that the project organisations formed in this process offer fragmented and unsustainable short-term solutions to long-term problems.

This volume sets out to address public sector projectification by drawing together research from a range of academic fields to develop a critical and theoretically-informed understanding of the causes, nature, and consequences of the projectification of the public sector. This book includes 13 chapters and is organised into three parts. The first part centres on the politics of projectification, specifically the role of projects in de-politicisation, often accomplished by rendering the political “technical”. The chapters in the second part all relate to the reframing of the relationship between the centre and periphery, or between policy making and implementation, and the role of temporality in reshaping this relation. The third and final part brings a focus upon the tools, techniques, and agents through which public sector projectification is assembled, constructed, and performed.

Through an in-depth analysis of ethnographic case studies, Patrik Hall, Malin Åkerström and Erika Andersson Cederholm illustrate the inner workings of meetings, exploring phenomena such as meeting chains, meeting escapes, the digitalisation of meetings, subtle meeting diplomacy, and seductive business events. This book emphasises how negotiations, collaborations and power dynamics are performed during meetings, making meetings the most fundamental working map of organisational hierarchies. Ultimately, Why Meetings Matter highlights the crucial importance of meetings in an increasingly collaborative professional working landscape.

Offering a cutting-edge approach to a longstanding social phenomenon, this book will be of great interest to academics, students and researchers in the fields of sociology, political science and organisation studies. Including ethnographic studies with practical case-based applications, it will appeal in particular to office-based professionals as it provides new insights into a taken-for-granted workplace activity.