Translating Agency Reform

Translating Agency Reform

Public Sector Organizations Editors: B. Guy Peters, Maurice Falk Professor of Government, Pittsburgh University, USA, and Geert Bouckaert, Professor at the Public Management Institute, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium Organizations are the building blocks of governments. The role of organizations, formal and informal, is most readily apparent in public bureaucracy, but all the institutions of the public sector are composed of organizations, or have some organizational characteristics that affect their performance. Therefore, if scholars want to understand how governments work, a very good place to start is at the level of the organizations involved in delivering services. Likewise, if practitioners want to understand how to be effective in the public sector, they would be well-advised to consider examining the role of organizations and how to make the organizations more effective. This series will publish research-based books concerned with organizations in the public sector and will cover such issues as: the autonomy of public sector organizations, networks and network analysis, bureaucratic politics; organizational change and leadership and methodology for studying organizations. Titles include: Geert Bouckaert, B. Guy Peters, Koen Verhoest THE COORDINATION OF PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS Shifting Patterns of Public Management Amanda Smullen TRANSLATING AGENCY REFORM Rhetoric and Culture in Comparative Perspective Koen Verhoest, Paul G. Roness, Bram Verschuere, Kristin Rubecksen and Muiris MacCarthaigh AUTONOMY AND CONTROL OF STATE AGENCIES Comparing States and Agencies Public Sector Organizations Series Series Standing Order ISBN 978 0 230 22034 8 (Hardback) 978 0 230 22035 5 (Paperback) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England

Translating Agency Reform Rhetoric and Culture in Comparative Perspective Amanda Smullen Assistant Professor, Department of Politics, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Amanda Smullen 2010 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-58072-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-36865-5 ISBN 978-0-230-28970-3 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230289703 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10

Contents List of Tables Acknowledgements viii x Part I Setting the Scene 1 1 Translating Agency Reform 3 Introduction 3 The purpose of the book and theoretical background 4 Theoretical perspectives 7 The selection of countries and role of comparison 9 Defining agency talk 12 The plan of the book 14 2 Agency Reform: Tracing a Public Management Fashion 16 Introduction 16 The international agency story from solution to problem 16 Agency reform initiatives in The Netherlands, Sweden and 20 Australia The contours of Dutch agency reform 20 The contours of Swedish agency reform 24 The contours of Australian agency reform 30 Conclusion 38 Part II Theory and Trajectories of Talk 41 3 Theoretical Concepts and Tools: Rhetoric and Culture 43 Introduction 43 Agency talk and social construction 44 The study of rhetoric 45 The New Rhetoric 46 Grid Group Cultural Theory: context and talk 55 GGCT and the cultural flavour of public management talk 58 Translating agency reform: putting rhetoric and culture 62 together Conclusion 64 v

vi Contents 4 The Trajectory of Agency Talk Across The Netherlands, 65 Sweden and Australia Introduction 65 The selection of official documents 66 The trajectory of Dutch agency talk 1991 1998 68 Dutch agency rhetoric: agencies as a unique and 69 accountable alternative The cultural flavour of Dutch agency talk over time 76 The trajectory of Swedish official agency talk 1983 1997 80 Swedish agency rhetoric: agencies for democracy 82 The cultural flavour of Swedish agency talk over time 89 The trajectory of Australian agency talk 1997 2004 94 Australian agency rhetoric: agencies for customer service 95 The cultural flavour of Australian agency talk over time 102 Conclusion 107 Part III Comparing and Explaining Agency Talk 109 5 Comparing Official Agency Talk: National Speaking 111 Styles and the Role of Cultural Context? Introduction 111 Comparing rhetorical situations across high and low 112 group political cultures Comparing rhetorical styles across high and low group 116 political cultures National styles of speaking across high and low group 126 political cultures Similarities in talk: a role for political culture and 128 transnational stories? The correspondence between political culture and 130 national styles of speaking Conclusion 132 6 The Role of Culturally Flavoured Stories and 135 Their National Translations Introduction 135 Comparing common cultural flavours and their 136 rhetorical styles Agency talk and an individualist rhetorical style 136 Agency talk and a hierarchical rhetorical style 139

Contents vii Agency talk and an egalitarian rhetorical style 143 Hood s predictions and the rhetorical elements 147 of cultural world views in agency talk Shifts in the cultural flavour of agency talk: 150 reactions of rhetoric or the rhetorical situation? The national limits of shifts in the cultural flavour 153 of talk Translating fashionable agency stories 155 Conclusion 156 7 Conclusion 159 Introduction 159 National styles of speaking and fashionable 159 management stories Theoretical contributions and evaluation 163 Reflecting on public management knowledge 166 Speaking persuasively in high and low group 169 political cultures Appendix A Analysing the Documents 170 Appendix B Selection of Documents 173 References 176 Index 185

List of Tables Table 2.1 A chronology of Dutch agency reforms 23 Table 2.2 A chronology of Swedish agency reforms 29 Table 2.3 A chronology of Australian agency reforms 37 Table 3.1 Conceptual framework: The New Rhetoric 55 Table 3.2 Four ways of life: grid group cultural theory 56 Table 3.3 Four stories in public management according 61 to a cultural theory framework Table 4.1 An overview of the selection of documents 67 Table 4.2 The rhetoric of Dutch agency accounts 77 1991 1998 Table 4.3 The cultural flavours of Dutch agency talk 79 over time Table 4.4 The rhetoric of Swedish agency accounts 90 1983 1997 Table 4.5 The cultural flavour of Swedish agency talk 91 over time Table 4.6 The rhetoric of Australian agency accounts 103 1996 2004 Table 4.7 The cultural flavour of Australian agency 105 talk over time Table 5.1 Comparing the rhetorical situations of 114 agency talk in high group political cultures Table 5.2 Comparing similarities and differences in 118 the universal audiences Table 5.3 Comparing similarities and differences in 119 particular audiences Table 5.4 Comparing National Styles of Speaking 128 Table 6.1 Comparing individualist rhetorical styles 139 across high and low group political cultures Table 6.2 Comparing hierarchical rhetorical styles 142 across high and low group political cultures Table 6.3 Comparing egalitarian rhetorical styles 146 across high and low group political cultures viii

List of Tables ix Table 6.4 Hood s predictions for the rhetorical styles 148 of cultural flavours Table 6.5 Translating an individualist story of public 155 management Table 6.6 Translating a hierarchical story of public 156 management

Acknowledgements I would like to thank Christopher Pollitt and Sandra Van Thiel for their comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. I would also like to thank Robbert and Anna Mels for their support and patience in awaiting the various completions of this book. x