Please do not quote without permission from the authors

The historical development of values

in Danish administrative reform

by

Torben Beck Jørgensen, Karsten Vrangbæk, Ditte-Lene Sørensen

University of Copenhagen, Department of Political Science

Paper to be presented at the EGPA permanent group on ethics and integrity, Malta 2009

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The historical development of values in Danish administrative reform

Torben Beck Jørgensen, Karsten Vrangbæk, Ditte-Lene Sørensen:

University of Copenhagen, Department of Political Science

1. Introduction

Public sector reforms have been analysed extensively in the international literature (e.g. Pollitt and

Bouckaert 2000, Kettl 2000). Reforms aim to change administrative structures in order to promote

particular practices. Thus, “institutional politics” are important in any reform (Knight 1992,

Christiansen and Klitgaard 2008). But ideas and values seem to be an inherent and equally

important part of administrative policies (John 1998). In spite of this obvious linkage between

values and administrative reform there have been few systematic studies of the historical

development in values for administrative reform policies. This paper seeks to remedy this blind spot

in the literature by focusing on the development in value statements for administrative reform

policies in one case country, Denmark.

The analysis builds on nine official public reform documents. The first reform document was

published in 1923 and the last one in 2007. This period includes political unrest after the First

World War, the depression in the thirties, reflections and “after thought” following the Second

World War after thoughts, the construction and expansion of the welfare state, the financial crisis of

the state in the seventies, and the entry of New Public Management in the eighties and onwards. We

regard this period as long enough and the historical context of such variance, that we can expect a

development in reform values.

Though a descriptive analysis of developments in values over time is the core empirical

contribution, the paper also aims to provide tentative explanations for changes in value profiles.

Further, the aim is to develop an analytical approach for the study of values in administrative

reform policies and to illustrate the use of this approach by analyzing developments in the Danish

case. For that purpose, each of the nine public reform documents has being scrutinised and coded

using the same basic approach

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The research question of the paper is:

How have values in public sector reform documents changed in Denmark between 1923 and 2007,

and how can we explain such changes?

2. Theory

Two types of theoretical contributions guide our analysis. The first deals with the conceptualization

of public sector values. How can they be analyzed and what is their importance for public

administration practices?

The second theoretical basis is a combination of “value dynamics” and institutional change

literature, which is used as an entry to our tentative explanations for value change, the second part

of our research question.

2.1 Theories of public sector values

Most writers do not define value clearly. Some writers (e.g. Posner & Schmidt, 1994; Keating,

1995; Goodsell, 1989; Van Wart, 1998) define value mainly by listing concrete examples. In part of

the literature we may get an understanding from the implicit synonyms used for value. Lawton &

Rose (1994) talk about ideas, Richard & Smith (1998) about an ethos, The Nolan Committee (1995)

and Maguire (1998) about standards and principles and Beck Jørgensen (1996) and Beck Jørgensen

et.al (1998) about the normative basis. Sometimes values are understood as strongly associated with

interests (Van Dyke, 1962; Gundelach, 2002) or as identical with organisational principles

(Richards & Smith, 1998; Egeberg, 1994), which adds some confusion to the discussion.

Van Deth & Scarbrough (1995) takes us in the right direction when defining value as expressing

“the desirable”. But we have to turn to the American antropologist Clyde Kluckhohn in order to

find an elaborate definition:

“A value is a conception, explicit or implicit, distinctive of an individual or

characteristic of a group, of the desirable which influences the selection from

available modes, means, and ends of action.” (Kluckhohn, 1962:395)

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Most writers consider values important, not because they are nice, but because they are expected to

a) form our perceptions of reality, b) give identity to individuals as well as organizations and c)

guide behaviour (as suggested in the definition). Values are highly important. They can be the

driving forces for members of resistance, loyal civil servants, dedicated scientists, missionaries and

terrorists. Normative power – control by values – is not soft power. It is hard core business.

Public values are those that specify

• “the rights, benefits, and prerogatives to which citizens should (and should not) be entitled;

• the obligations of citizens to society, the state and one another; and

• the principles on which governments and policies should be based.” (Bozeman, 2007:13).

In this paper we concentrate on the third element in the definition. Speaking more concretely, public

values then associate to principles that must be followed by public organisations while regulating

citizens, producing services or advising politicians.

Values are highly intangible phenomena and the study of values is a challenge for the empirical

researcher. Values can be expressed in several ways. Values can be found embedded in the

construction of buildings, in organizational value statements, in concrete behaviour as well as in

routines and rituals, in the mind sets of civil servants, in organizational structure, in administrative

reforms, and in public sector reform documents, i.e. governmental blueprints on why and how to

organize the public administration in specific ways.

Strong values can be identified on all levels. However, more often than not, value changes will face

time lags between levels. Values may be specified unambiguously in reform texts but may be

implemented only with severe delays in value statements and organizational structures, not to speak

about concrete behaviour and the mind sets of individuals. When we look at values specified in

reform documents it is clear that we study verbalizations of a time spirit or of somebody’s time

spirit, not implemented values. Thus, the reader is reminded that it is beyond the scope of the paper

to analyse effects of public sector reform documents.

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2.2 Value dynamics and institutional change

The study of value dynamics includes

a) the process of changing value configurations in public organizations,

b) the resulting value profiles and

c) their likely impact on organizational or individual behaviour (Beck Jørgensen & Vrangbæk,

2008).

As indicated earlier, the focus in this paper is mainly on the second element, describing the value

profiles in reform documents and following that we focus on the first element, i.e. explaining why

value profiles in reform documents change, while analysis of the impact on practices and behaviour

is outside the scope.

Change processes can be conceptualized as four different ideal typical processes. The first focuses

on changes driven by a functional (teleological) logic. The emphasis is on values as an instrument

to facilitate practices that can address particular problems or concerns. Values in reform documents

are consciously chosen and infused by powerful actors who believe that the implementation of these

values lead to favourable consequences, e.g. changed perceptions of reality, changed identity and/or

changed behaviour. Intentions and the assumption of rational problem solving are important

elements in a functional-teleological explanation.

This explanation of changes is inherent in some organisation theory which assumes that certain

structural and cultural adaptations constitute rational responses to environmental challenges, e.g.

contingency theory (Mintzberg, 1983; Galbraith, 1973) and functional cultural theory (Schein,

19XX). A functional-teleological explanation fits well into the traditional democratic ideal that

elected politicians through a hierarchical chain of command are in charge of the public sector

including the choice of the driving values behind the behaviour and decisions of public servants

(Olsen, 19XX).

The second understanding of change processes is based on the idea, that value changes may follow

a more or less autonomous dynamic where pendulum swings and life cycles are inherent motors of

change. Life cycle theories have been developed for nearly all levels of human life, e.g. from the

psychological level by Eriksson and Piaget, the organisational level by Adizes to the world cultural

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level by historians as Spengler and Toynbee, and the idea of life cycles can be applied to

governance structures and values as well (Hood & Jackson, 1994; Hood & Schuppert, 1988).

Values may thus have particular life cycles where they gain support, become institutionalized and

over time fade from the scene, either because they become taken-for-granted, because they are

outshined by new “fashionable” values (Røvik, 2000), or because the costs and benefits of a

particular value are unevenly distributed over time. Negative practical implications may replace

initial enthusiasm. For example, independent professional standards as a value may look appealing

at the beginning but may develop into expert arrogance in the long run.

From a normative point of view autonomous value dynamics such as life cycles may be considered

problematic, since these theories suggest a dynamic pattern which is out of the hands of responsible

policy makers.

Insert Table 1. Ideal-type theories of value change about here

The third ideal typical process focuses on value changes as a result of conflicts of interest and ideas.

Value change is thus seen as the result of social actors’ attempts to promote particular values in

order to facilitate the pursuit of their material and ideational preferences. Reform values live and die

with their carriers and a change in value profiles is the consequence of a changed power balance

between value carriers.

Also, values may call for their opposites. Innovation calls for continuity, transparency calls for

secrecy, advocacy calls for neutrality, and so on. In short, the vitalization of a particular value

provokes the emergence of opposing values. In the next turn, the conflict between opposing values

may create changes. The interesting point within this type of explanation is how conflicting values

are handled. This is to some extent dependent on the depth of the value conflict (Martinsen & Beck

Jørgensen, 2009) and on how unambiguously the values in question are formulated (Bruijn, Dicke

& Steenhuisen, 2008).

As conflicts goes to the heart of politics, this approach fits well with a realistic approach to

democracy.

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The fourth approach argues that value change occurs in an evolutionary-competitive fashion, where

the “fittest” values prevail over time. Fitness implies the ability to retain legitimacy and support in

the social environment. Public organisations subscribing to values such as effectiveness and result-

orientation may gain more than average legitimacy and support from parent departments and budget

authorities. Likewise, organisations displaying values such as user-orientation and friendliness may

gain applauses from their customers or clients.

It can be difficult to distinguish clearly between this approach and the conflict approach. But in

cases where public organisations act on market or quasi-market like conditions as for example in

the free school sector in Denmark the evolutionary-competitive model may offer a realistic

explanation of value changes.

Considering changes in reform values it is not easy finding market like situations. But in so far

“good governance” (usually implying values such as legality, effectiveness and transparency)

becomes an institutional advantage in a global competition between states those reform values that

prevail are those that have been successful in terms of adapting to a global context.

It is likely that changes in life cycle and market models are rather slow and incremental, and that

changes of the teleological and conflict types imply more abrupt and path-breaking changes in value

profiles. Yet, it is also fully possible within these two types of change dynamics to find examples of

incremental processes building upon existing development paths. To understand the possible types

of “within-path” incremental changes in value profiles we draw on the typology developed by

Streeck and Thelen (2005) for institutional changes.

Streeck and Thelen define institutions as “Building blocks of social order: they represent socially

sanctioned, that is, collectively enforced expectations with respect to the behaviour of specific

categories of actors or to the performance of certain activities. Typically they involve mutually

related rights and obligations for actors, distinguishing between appropriate and inappropriate,

“right” and “wrong”, “possible” and “impossible” actions and thereby organizing behaviour into

predictable and reliable patterns.” (Streeck and Thelen, 2005, p. 9.).

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Based on this definition we understand institutions as: socially sanctioned manifestations of

underlying values into collectively enforced expectations. Values are the foundation of shared

understandings of appropriate and inappropriate, “right” and “wrong”, and “possible” and

“impossible” actions. In this sense all institutions are underpinned by values, but not all values end

up being institutionalized into socially sanctioned “rules” of behaviour. Our empirical material does

not allow an analysis of the actual institutionalization and the consequences for behaviour. But by

following the development of values in official administrative policy documents over time, we are

likely to capture values that have an enduring legitimacy, and thus are likely to also have been

institutionalized into administrative practice and behaviour.

We can also assume that values for public administration policies may follow some of the same

development logics identified by Streeck and Thelen for institutions, i.e. we can assume that there is

a certain degree of “stickiness” or path dependency, but that the paths may occasionally be altered

due to significant external or internal pressures. More specifically Streeck and Thelen identify the

following development logics: Abrupt/path breaking change, displacement, layering, drift,

conversion, exhaustion. The first represents abrupt non-incremental change, whereas the following

represent various types of more gradual, incremental change processes where change implies

replacement, reinterpretation, re-application or addition into new configurations. Applying this line

of thinking to our discussion of value change, and combining with the four ideal typical value

change processes, we get the following table of more detailed classification options for analyzing

different types of path-breaking and within-path incremental value changes (in italics):

Insert Table 2: Path breaking and incremental value changes about here The table may be used to analyze particular trajectories of value change, and to classify such change

events as either path breaking or characterized by different types of incremental processes.

Unfortunately our data is too general to allow such detailed analysis of changes at this point, but we

hope to able to supplement our analysis with more detailed studies of particular time periods and

selected values in the future.

3. Method

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The data material for our study of administrative reform values is a systematic reading of nine

official documents that explicitly deal with matters regarding the organization of Danish national

administration. The documents are considered key texts in several previous studies of Danish

administrative reform history (Andersen 1995, Greve 2005). Obviously administrative policies are

discussed in other public documents, parliamentary debates etc, but the advantages of the selected

nine documents are 1) that they explicitly aim to present organizational ideas and 2) that values

underpinning such ideas are often more or less explicitly stated.

The documents are read through the lenses of 15 values. The selected values are: innovation,

independent professional standards, accountability towards society in general,

transparency/openness, judicial values (legality, due process), efficiency, satisfying users´ needs,

political governability/loyalty, equal opportunity, continuity, user democracy, balancing interests,

networking, career opportunities, listening to the public opinion.

These values were selected from 72 values mentioned in the research literature (Beck Jørgensen &

Bozeman, 2007). The selection was guided by 3 principles:

• The value selection must include both traditional-classic values (e.g. political loyalty,

judicial values), so called modern NPM values (e.g. satisfying users´ needs, efficiency), and

general systemic values (e.g. innovation, continuity), cf. also Hood´s (1991) classification

(sigma, theta and lambda).

• The value selection must include values that can be supposed to “represent” four important

ways of organising the state (corresponding to four general organizing principles):

• The governing state -hierarchy (political loyalty, judicial values, continuity)

• The autonomous state-clan (independent professional standards, accountability towards

the society in general)

• The negotiating state-network (balancing interests, creating networks)

• The responsive state-market/self-administration) (individual user needs, productivity,

user democracy, listening to the public opinion)

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• The value selection must include human resource values (equal opportunities, career

opportunities

The same 15 values were also used in a major survey study of civil servants from all parts of the

Danish public sector (Vrangbæk, 2009; Beck Jørgensen, 2006) and in a study of top public

managers in the newly restructured local governments in Denmark (Asboe Kristensen & Beck

Jørgensen, 2008).

There is a risk that the 15 values (out of 72 mentioned in recent literature) introduce a bias when

used as a lense in the reading of reform texts as far back as in 1923. To overcome this problem a

process of inductive reading was undertaken where the aim was to evaluate the relevance of the 15

values against other possible public values. No other values emerged as clearly more important than

the 15, and none of the 15 appeared entirely irrelevant in the documents. This process therefore did

not give rise to significant changes of the classification scheme.

The values in each document were evaluated according to the following scale:

[ ] = value not mentioned in text

◦ = value mentioned superficially

○ = value mentioned in several ways and related to different issues

● = core value mentioned extensively and as a key value around which other values are organized

Explaining change dynamics in depth requires additional qualitative methods. Both interviews and

literature studies would be relevant as a supplement to the adopted mainly quantitative method.

Naturally, in the present case we have limited opportunity to extend the analysis with such methods.

We are thus forced to rely on more tentative analyses based on extrapolations from general

literature on administrative policy changes and on general historical knowledge.

4. Descriptive analysis

The following table provides an overview of the values as they appear in the key public

administration policy documents.

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Insert Table 3: Value profiles found in reform texts about here

An initial scanning of the pattern indicates that there are two relatively distinct periods. The period

from the 1920s and until the early-mid 1970s is characterized by an emphasis on what could be

termed traditional public sector values. Political loyalty/governability, judicial values and

accountability towards the society in general are core values in all of the policy documents in the

period. These values do not disappear in the following period, but are overshadowed by a set of

more individualistically focused and managerial ideas. The period from 1983 until 2007 is

characterized by a high degree of emphasis on values like satisfying users´ needs, career

opportunities, efficiency and innovation. All of these point towards a more individualistically

oriented public sector both internally in terms of career opportunities, and externally in terms of

catering to individual user needs. Efficiency is also emphasized as a core value in this period along

with innovation.

Besides the general picture, there are, however, some interesting details that deserve mentioning. A

few values appear to be of relatively minor importance in all periods. Listening to the public

opinion never appears as an important value, not even in the period where individual users´ needs

take a lead. Either the public sector is there for the politicians, the general society (a public interest

value) or for the individual users – not for a public opinion. The emergence of the media society has

apparently not influenced administrative reform texts, and in this way the public sector seems to be

resistant to change. Similarly, independent professional standards is not underscored as an

important value, which is quite surprising because the modern social state to a high extent builds on

expertise. This is not reflected in the reform documents. Finally, user democracy has a very limited

space in reform texts, limited to the nineties.

Three values have some importance in the whole period: continuity, balancing interests and

networking. Though continuity can be said to give way to innovation, it is never crowded out.

Together with networking and balancing interests we may label these values as enduring systemic

values: whatever the fashion might be in terms of the best way of organising the public sector, these

values remain on the scene.

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Two values – efficiency in particular but also career opportunities – spoil the general picture a bit.

Despite our intuitive classification of these two values as modern values, we found them expressed

in all reform documents. It is true that they gain in importance during the period, but they are not

new values. Especially, it is interesting to recognise efficiency as a classic value as this particular

value in standard NPM understandings is labelled as the modern value. However, measured

relatively, efficiency may have come to be the dominant value, since the “true” classics – political

governability/loyalty, judicial values and accountability towards society in general – looses

momentum in the latter part of the period.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the two human resource oriented values – equal opportunity and

career opportunities – are not balanced. On the contrary, it seems that the value of career

opportunities is close to crowd out equal opportunity.

Summing up, the overall picture fits nicely with the general understanding that traditional values

have lost importance compared to more modern values. But within that picture we have pointed out

several specific developments that seem not to be part of the general picture. The challenge, then, is

how we can explain these changes.

5. Explanations of changes in reform values

At a general level the distinctive two periods roughly correspond to the story of transformation of

traditional public management to an era with introduction of business like ideas under the headline

of New Public Management from the 1980s and onwards.

Applying the value dynamics perspective from above, we can interpret this development firstly in a

teleological perspective as instrumental responses to changing contingencies. The first period

includes the wartime threats to the democratic states and the expansion of the welfare state in the

post WWII period. The period leading up to WWII and the war time raised severe challenges for the

functioning of the state. It is thus not surprising that core administrative policy documents focus on

fundamental values related to political (democratic) governability, judicial values and the

responsibility of the state administration to serve the population in general.

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The period from 1980 and onwards was first characterized by issues related to the overextension

and financial (in)sustainability of the welfare states in light of general macroeconomic crisis trends.

This led to an increased focus on efficiency and innovation of services as a way to generate more

mileage for the money, and introduce more timely service strategies. The trend towards

individualization of service concepts continued and gained strength during the relative economic

upturn in the 1990s. The same period also saw a realization of the need to consider recruitment and

retention strategies for public sector staff. Life long employment as a civil servant was less

attractive to younger cohorts of top academics, and the state administration realized that it was

necessary to develop new human resource approaches. This is reflected in the continuous emphasis

on career opportunities as a value in the administrative policy documents.

All in all, this perspective offers a rather coherent explanation with focus on context, problems and

rational problem solving. If we accept this explanation we in principle assume that one rational

actor has written the reform document in question.

If we apply the autonomous value dynamics perspective we can interpret the shift in emphasis in the

early 1980s in Denmark in two different ways. Firstly, one is tempted to argue that the traditional

hierarchical view of the state – political governability, judicial values, and a general responsibility -

runs out of energy. Not because it is a bad solution to actual problems but because the model is

considered old fashioned and out-debated. To actors the model has become less attractive. At this

point the life cycle may become self reinforcing: if actors loose faith in a particular way of

organising the state, this way of organising probably performs less well.

Secondly, the value change in Denmark can be seen as a reflection of broader international “fashion

trends” in general public sector thinking, which - with the help of OECD as an international value-

broker - penetrated deeply into Danish ideas about the organization of public administration.

Specific fashion trends included the idea of de-bureaucratization, a new approach to public

management, and the belief that market forces should in varying ways play an important role in

most parts of the public sector. Naturally, the two explanations can reinforce each other. Finally, a

small life cycle can probably be seen in the nineties, where user democracy became fashionable and

shortly after faded away.

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According to this model we would expect the NPM era to captured in a life cycle itself. The rising

interest in issues such as ethics, integrity, good governance, transparency and the widespread

development of codexes for responsible public behaviour, which can be found in international

organisations and at conferences since late nineties, suggest that NPM is running out of energy.

The change in dominant values in the early 1980s can also be seen in a conflict perspective. In

Denmark a conservative-liberal government took over after decades of mainly social democratic

rule. They shortly after launched a “modernization programme” which in many ways signalled a

new approach to public sector organization, possibly also reflecting that political leaders in UK

(Thatcher) and the US (Reagan) signalled a change in value dominance (“Government is not part of

the solution – it is the problem”). We can follow this path when looking at political governability,

which became a more inferior value in 1983, regained strength in 1993 after a social democratic

take over and finally lost significance after a liberal-conservative come back in 2002. The return of

a more explicitly expressed neo-liberal ideology may also explain why accountability towards

society in general was at its lowest level in 2002 and 2007.

The other version of the conflict perspective: that the emphasis of one value calls for opposite

values can possibly be illustrated by referring to the sudden importance of transparency in 1946.

After secrecy – perhaps not as an ideal but rather as sheer necessity – during war time, openness is

called for.

When adopting the evolutionary-competitive perspective one type of explanation interests us. In the

first half of the twentieth century states argued and survived by weapons. In the second half, states

and their corporations and citizens has become competitors on a global market place. Competitive

states are competitive not for purely economic reasons but because society and the state are

constructed in a way that provides an institutional advantage. States are branded, their successes are

recorded by the World Bank and Transparency International, tons of indexes of trust, happiness,

health, etc. are constructed and consultants and administrative reformers create bench marking

procedures and select best practices. The value change from 1983 and onwards is a reflection of this

new situation, where adaptable states survive in terms of well being.

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As noted in the previous section, our study would be incomplete if we only focussed on value

changes. Efficiency is not specifically a key value in the NPM period. It has remained – with one

exception – quite an important value in the whole period. Why? One explanation can be that

reformers at the macro level never trust lower levels in the public sector to take sufficient care of

efficiency questions. This may also explain why independent professional standards play such a

remote role. Macro reformers believe that lower levels to a (more than) sufficient degree are

motivated and guided by professional standards.

Other lasting values, though less important, are accountability towards society in general,

continuity, balancing interests and creating networks. They emphasize the role of the public

administration as a quasi-political entity with a mediating and stabilizing mission.

It is also worth noting that beneath changes in the official reform values we may find much more

gradual changes and indeed variations. In some cases the fashion trends remained superficial

rhetoric while it had a lasting impact on value orientations in other parts of the public sector, e.g.

deregulation in infrastructures (railways, telecommunication, and energy).

6. Discussion

The main contribution of the paper is the empirical analysis of developments in values for

administrative policies in Denmark. The classification of values in the key administrative policy

documents led to a description of distinct patterns and historical trends.

The analysis of change dynamics was obviously on less firm ground, as it is rests on interpretations

extrapolated from general studies of administrative policy developments. We can not conclude as to

impact of the described value changes.

We applied a framework with four different types of explanatory ideas: teleological/instrumental,

life cycle/fashion trends, conflict and evolutionary-competitive. We analysed developments using

the four lenses separately, and found that each has some validity in different periods. This leads to a

tentative theoretical proposition that value changes over time are perhaps best understood by

applying a combination of different theoretical perspectives. Public sectors are inherently

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characterized by conflicts of interest. However these may at particular points become subordinated

to either clear contingency related measures, or strong fashion trends. Alternatively one might argue

that particular fashions and particular types of values will be carried forward by dominant groups

and may gain prominence at particular points in time. This will last until the balance of power shifts

and new dominant players arise, or new contingencies make it necessary to redirect attention, or

new strong fashion trends emerge. In this sense the overall picture may be more according to a

combination of the cyclical and/or evolutionary perspective, where particular regime configurations

develop in gradual evolutionary fashion, prosper and then loose momentum as other configurations

become more attractive for instrumental or symbolic reasons. Obviously more work is needed to

disentangle the different types of explanations.

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Reform texts

Administrationskommissionen af 1923 (Public administration commission of 1923)

Forvaltningskommissionen af 1946. 6. betænkning 1949. (National Commission on Public

Administration of 1946. Sixth report issued 1949)

Forvaltningskommissionen af 1946. 9. betænkning 1952. (National Commission on Public

Administration of 1946. Ninth report issued 1952)

Administrationsudvalget af 1960. Betænkning 301, 1962. (Public administration commission of

1960. Report 301 issued 1962)

Arbejdsgruppen vedrørende centraladministrationens organisation. 1971. Betænkning 629

(Korsbækudvalget). (Working group regarding the organisation of central administration. 1971.

Report 629 (”Korsbæk committee”).

Budgetdepartementet (1975). Betænkning 743. Planlægning i centraladministrationen.

Finansministeriet. – (Budget Office (1975). Report 743. Planning in the central administration.

Ministry of Finance).

Finansministeriet 1983. Redegørelse til Folketinget om regeringens program for modernisering af

den offentlige sektor. (Ministry of Finance 1983. Communication to the Parliament on the

Government’s programme for modernizing the public sector).

Finansministeriet 1993. Nyt syn på den offentlige sector. (Ministry of Finance 1993, A new

perspective on the public sector).

Finansministeriet 2002. Med borgeren ved roret. (Ministry of Finance 2002. Citizens at the steering

wheel)

Met opmaak: Lettertype:Niet Vet

Met opmaak: Lettertype:Niet Vet

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Table 1. Ideal-type theories of value change

I. Teleological-

instrumental II. Autonomous value dynamics

III. Conflict approach IV. Evolutionary-competitive

Key metaphor Purposeful-instrumental acts

Organic growth and death

Opposition, conflict Competitive survival

Logic Social construction to reach an envisioned end of state.

Imminent program. Prefigured sequence. Fashion cycles

Opposition between values and carriers of values

Natural selection among values and/or carriers of values

Event progression

Administrative policy values are consciously chosen and infused. Particular events or issues lead to consensus among powerful actors on the need to emphasize certain values.

Administrative policy values have a life course. Initial spread and enthusiasm is replaced by institutionalization and de-institutionalization as values loose novelty status or practical implications appear.

Administrative policy values live and die with the interests and power relationships between their carriers. Entry of new groups in power will change value profile. Value conflicts create change.

Administrative policy values change in a process of evolution, variation and competition for survival. The values that have the “best fit” in the social environment will survive.

Adapted from Van de Ven & Poole (1995)

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Table 2: Path breaking and incremental value changes I. Teleological-

instrumental II. Autonomous value dynamics

III. Conflict approach IV. Evolutionary-competitive

Abrupt/path breaking change

Conscious attempt to introduce fundamentally different values to solve specific issues

New fashionable values Introduction of new value path by change in dominating majority

Strong, new values out- power existing values in short time span

Displacement n/a n/a Competing social groups seek to gradually gain support for alternative interpretations of values

Slow and gradual support for alternative/subordinate values end up replacing the dominating values

Layering New values are introduced as patches on top of existing value structures

Existing values are presented in fashionable new language, and combined with new value elements

n/a New combinations or “value packages” may develop in an “organic” creation process

Drift Conscious lack of attention leads to withering

Lack of attention means that values grow out of fashion

Dominating groups strategically ignore values that do not fit their interests

Value survival depends on attention. Values become irrelevant if not reinvigorated

Conversion Existing values are consciously reformulated to serve new purposes

n/a Competing social groups seek to assign different meanings to existing values

n/a

Exhaustion Values that have lost relevance are removed

Values grow out of fashion and disappear

n/a n/a

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Table 3: Value profiles found in reform texts

[ ] = value not mentioned in text ◦ = value mentioned superficially ○ = value mentioned in several ways and related to different issues ● = core value mentioned extensively and as a key value around which other values are organized

Values/year 1923 1946 1960 1971 1975 1983 1993 2002 2007

Political governability ● ● ● ● ● ◦ ● ◦ ◦

Due process ● ● ● ● ◦ ◦ ● ◦ Responsibility to the society in general ○ ○ ● ○ ○ ○ ○ ◦ ◦

Transparency/openness ○ ● ◦ ○ ○ ○

Concern for the public opinion ◦ ◦ ◦ ○ ◦ ◦

Independent professional standards ◦ ◦ ○ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦

Continuity ◦ ◦ ○ ○ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦

Balancing interests ◦ ○ ◦ ○ ◦ ○ ◦ ◦

Create networks ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ○ ◦ ○ ◦

Equal opportunities ◦ ◦ ○ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦

Individual user needs ◦ ◦ ○ ○ ● ●

Career opportunities ◦ ◦ ◦ ○ ○ ● ● ● ●

Productivity ○ ○ ● ○ ◦ ● ● ● ●

Innovation ○ ○ ○ ● ● ● ●

Strengthen user democracy ○ ◦