This paper reports on a study of value co-destruction in public services, i.e. diminishment of value by interaction between providers, users, and other actors. The goal is to contribute to the public service logic (PSL) that suggest a shift from linear co-production to dynamic value co-creation. However, PSL has devoted scant attention to value co-destruction. The paper contributes by identifying four dimensions representing causes of value co-destruction in public services. The paper also shows how value may be co-destroyed in the interaction between several types of actors, thus advancing a service ecosystems perspective for understanding value co-destruction.

Purpose Service networks are inherently complex as they comprise of many interrelated actors, often driven by divergent interests. This can result in imbalance, which refers to a situation where the interests of at least one actor in a network are not secured. Drawing on the “balanced centricity” perspective, the purpose of this paper is to explore the causes of imbalance in complex service networks. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a qualitative case-based approach, this paper examines a public health service network that experienced imbalance that was detrimental to the lives of its users: the Mid-Staffordshire National Health Service (NHS) Trust, UK. Drawing on service-dominant logic and stakeholder theory, case evidence provides insight into the origin and drivers of imbalance in complex public service networks. Findings The origin of imbalance stems from competing institutional logics of various actors (patients/public, employees, managers, regulatory bodies, etc.), but the degree to which these competing institutional logics lead to imbalance is moderated by accountability, communication, engagement, and responsiveness within the service network. Research limitations/implications By uncovering causes of imbalance in complex public service networks, this paper pinpoints important research avenues for developing the balanced centricity perspective. Practical implications The inherent existence of multiple parallel institutional arrangements makes networks imbalanced, but value creation can be achieved when the appropriate mechanisms are fostered to manage balance between divergent logics. Originality/value By examining imbalance as the underlying cause of network dysfunction, this research contributes to understanding of the dynamics in, and performance of, complex public service networks.

ISF och Skatteverket ar huvudman for var sin del av ett forskningsprojekt om effektiviseringsmojligheter i Forsakringskassans och Skatteverkets verksamhet. I foregaende delrapport (ISF Arbetsrappor ...

I denna rapport redovisas resultatet fran arbetet i den forsta fasen av ett projekt som behandlar onodig efterfragan. Projektet har sin empiriska bas i Forsakringskassan och Skatteverket och utfors ...

‘Travelling ideas’ denotes the fact that virtually identical management ideas crop up more or less simultaneously in similar organizations. Røvik, who recently launched his ‘virus-inspired theory’ approach, seeks to pinpoint the possibility that the encounter between idea and practice may be lasting, ideas may affect practice, and leaders in organisations may play a more active role than the one often depicted in management fashion theory. This article is a contribution to his virus-inspired theory. It focuses on processes in their pragmatic form, as value-creating flows in organisations. We have studied Process Management (PM) as an idea, and how it has penetrated and flourished in the Swedish Customs Service. We argue that the empirical test in this article supports Røvik's belief that a virus-inspired theory gives a richer picture than the fashion theory. Through our analysis we show that four of our six hypotheses, derived from the virus-inspired theory, are strengthened by the empirical story from the Customs Service.

Vart uppdrag har varit att behandla fragor om att i offentlig verksamhet arbeta utifran livshandelser. Mojligheter och risker diskuteras utifran svenska och internationella exempel. Dokumente ...

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate what happens when a new management idea with manufacturing origin is implemented in a healthcare organization. In this paper, it is focussed on process management: what happens when the processes are highlighted, process owners are appointed and more power is allocated to the process dimension of the organization.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the case of a hospital group in Sweden to investigate difficulties in implementing process management. The studied hospital group has been involved in systematic fundamental change to the system for nearly a decade. The research project was conducted using a collaborative management research approach in which academic researchers worked together with the development director.FindingsThe paper shows that the organization itself in many ways becomes an obstacle to the achievement of a process‐oriented management style. In the empirical story, voices from the healthcare staff reveal conflicts over organizing principles and structures such as budgeting and reimbursement systems – systems obviously built on a more functional view from an organizational perspective. It is not completely evident that the two alternative perspectives are able to co‐exist easily – managing them seems to be an advanced balancing act.Originality/valueThe paper provides an illustration of knowledge transfer from manufacturing to service industries. It focuses on the meeting between a Swedish healthcare organization and the idea of process management.

One central and distinctive feature of Swedish public administration is the autonomy of government agencies operating at arm’s length from their ‘home’ ministries. To Swedes, this separation of policy-making and administration is no NPM idea: we have practised it for centuries. There are probably few reform processes at agency level that have exerted such an impact both on governance and on society at large as the recent transformation of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Forsakringskassan). The new Agency, launched in 2005 to supersede the previous 21 geographically dispersed offices, is responsible for much of the social security system. This Agency’s evolution into a more concentrated organisation is by no means unique: several other Swedish agencies, such as the Tax Agency and the Customs, have developed similarly in recent years. The rhetoric on the rationale for these reforms has also been the same. The aim has been to make these complex organisations more manageable, in order to foster efficiency and safeguard legal security. Soon after the Social Insurance Agency’s initial reform, it implemented several other reforms as well. The Swedish Agency for Public Management (Statskontoret) has been assigned by the Swedish Government to study these changes, and our paper is based on extensive qualitative data, collected on a longitudinal basis since 2005. The empirical sections of the paper are balanced by theoretical discussions centred on autonomy and control. In this paper we highlight some of the more relevant findings from the reform period at the Social Insurance Agency. We argue that the tendencies reflected in the data also characterise several other Swedish agencies and may have a bearing on the overall situation in Swedish public administration. Our assertion is that these changes largely concern centralisation and specialisation. Clearly, the organisation’s new hub can make decisions that were impossible for the former management. Centralisation has enabled case management to take place at regional and national level. Stress is often laid on the need to standardise and eliminate variations in local offices’ case management. As for the implications of centralisation, we ask what there is to lose. We discuss the drawbacks of the new, centralised organisation and more effective ways of preventing adverse effects of organisational change. We also argue that the gap between the organisation and citizens, instead of shrinking, seems rather to have widened for some parts of the organisation during the study period. The reforms, which were internally driven, mostly relate to cost-effectiveness and rationalisation.

One central and distinctive feature of Swedish public administration is the autonomy of government agencies operating at arm's length from their 'home' ministries. To Swedes, this separation of policy-making and administration is no NPM idea: we have practised it for centuries. There are probably few reform processes at agency level that have exerted such an impact both on governance and on society at large as the recent transformation of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan). The new Agency, launched in 2005 to supersede the previous 21 geographically dispersed offices, is responsible for much of the social security system. This Agency's evolution into a more concentrated organisation is by no means unique: several other Swedish agencies, such as the Tax Agency and the Customs, have developed similarly in recent years. The rhetoric on the rationale for these reforms has also been the same. The aim has been to make these complex organisations more manageable, in order to foster efficiency and safeguard legal security. Soon after the Social Insurance Agency's initial reform, it implemented several other reforms as well. The Swedish Agency for Public Management (Statskontoret) has been assigned by the Swedish Government to study these changes, and our paper is based on extensive qualitative data, collected on a longitudinal basis since 2005. The empirical sections of the paper are balanced by theoretical discussions centred on autonomy and control. In this paper we highlight some of the more relevant findings from the reform period at the Social Insurance Agency. We argue that the tendencies reflected in the data also characterise several other Swedish agencies and may have a bearing on the overall situation in Swedish public administration. Our assertion is that these changes largely concern centralisation and specialisation. Clearly, the organisation's new hub can make decisions that were impossible for the former management. Centralisation has enabled case management to take place at regional and national level. Stress is often laid on the need to standardise and eliminate variations in local offices' case management. As for the implications of centralisation, we ask what there is to lose. We discuss the drawbacks of the new, centralised organisation and more effective ways of preventing adverse effects of organisational change. We also argue that the gap between the organisation and citizens, instead of shrinking, seems rather to have widened for some parts of the organisation during the study period. The reforms, which were internally driven, mostly relate to cost-effectiveness and rationalisation.