This Master thesis is about public sector values. The basis for our main thesis question is that public sector values are in a process of change. The international reform wave "NPM" is based on ideas from private management, economic, organization- and management theories and has from the early 1990's introduced a new approach to Norwegian public management with focus on economic values. The public sector's legitimacy has mainly been based on values such as democracy, equality, social responsibility, openness and due process of law; the public ethos. We have carried out a quantitative and qualitative survey at two state institutions, NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) and St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim. Our survey confirms our hypothesis that public sector values are in the process of change.
The concept of public ethos may over time be subject
to change, based on social development, changes in the ethics and values of the
general population, new organizational procedures as well as internal and
external institutional forces. According to our respondents, the managements of
St. Olavs Hospital and of NTNU have directed a lot of focus on efficiency,
productivity, routines and control due to pressure from the authorities while
at the same time being monitored by control organs and the media. Our
respondents represent powerful professions, and their focus has been to protect
the values of their profession. Thus, less focus has been placed on community
and democratic values.
Our survey shows small deviations related to the respondent's age. Managers
that took part in our qualitative analysis felt under more pressure in relation
to economical values than employees without managerial responsibility. Results
showing weakened community- and democratic values do not correspond with
similar surveys performed in some municipalities in Trøndelag during the period
2008-2011, where the conclusions showed that these values were relatively
stable. However, these surveys were performed at a management level, whereas
our survey has been made at the level where the public services are performed.
Public employees are obliged to act in accordance with many different goals and
values, including core organizational values. We have also queried whether the
core values of these state institutions are integrated throughout the
organization. Not all of our respondents are aware of these core organizational
values although they do have legitimacy. It has also been noted that these
values are seldom used as a basis for job performance, nor in goal-stating-,
problem solving- or language creating- processes. Thus, it is hard to identify
the overall identity of the specific institution.
The perception of public sector values is important to society as a whole, however these values are perceived as rather unspecific and may be interpreted differently based on one’s own set of references. Thus this type of survey contains some elements of uncertainty. We therefore hope that more research will be carried out on public sector values and ethos.
Elin Røsok og Laila Øie
