Widespread developments in organizing affect how leadership is embedded in public organizations. The link between leadership and formal positions in the hierarchy becomes less straightforward,... Show moreWidespread developments in organizing affect how leadership is embedded in public organizations. The link between leadership and formal positions in the hierarchy becomes less straightforward, since collaboration across organizational boundaries and flexible arrangements parallel to bureaucratic structures are increasingly common. Leadership is further complicated by the typical reality of unclear or competing goals, tasks, and stakeholder interests. Since navigating in such an ambiguous and complex context often requires a variety of leadership behaviours, this dissertation introduces a comprehensive perspective on leadership as a repertoire of behavioural options. Based on four empirical studies, this dissertation examines how leadership behaviour repertoires take shape in public organizations. By adopting a repertoire perspective, this dissertation underlines that leadership behaviour takes on many forms and is used in a variety of directions in relation to multiple stakeholders – by both managers and non-managerial employees – and indicates that use of the leadership behaviour repertoire can be explained by variation in situations, organizational context, and individual attitudes and experiences. These insights contribute to contemporary challenges for leadership in public organizations in theory and practice. Show less
This dissertation studies how domestic regulatory agencies and the officials representing them are influenced by and deal with the increasingly complex transnational environments in which they have... Show moreThis dissertation studies how domestic regulatory agencies and the officials representing them are influenced by and deal with the increasingly complex transnational environments in which they have come to operate. Based on (social) network analysis it demonstrates how decisions of domestic agencies regarding standard adoption are strongly guided by decisions of regulators in other countries, particularly those to whom they are directly related through network relationships. In understanding the way in which transnational networks affect domestic agencies, we should explicitly measure the structure of relationships that constitute such networks. However, based on qualitative analysis, this thesis also demonstrates that agencies have different capacities and resources for (transnational) networking and they are likely susceptible to transnational network influences in varying degrees. The effects of transnational networks on domestic agencies are thus moderated by the way in which transnational network activities are structured and coordinated inside these agencies. Overall, given the increasing prevalence of transnational networks in various regulatory and policy sectors, this dissertation provides a basis for further theorizing about ongoing and future developments in the fields of regulatory governance and public administration. Show less
Managing cutbacks has been an important task for many public managers. Given that demands for high-quality public services are ever-present and public organisations cannot simply choose to stop... Show moreManaging cutbacks has been an important task for many public managers. Given that demands for high-quality public services are ever-present and public organisations cannot simply choose to stop their services, public managers are often asked to find ways to “do more with less.” This dissertation examines what public managers do when they are confronted with cutbacks. In this dissertation, different public management perspectives are applied to study managerial behaviour during cutbacks. The perspectives are used to analyse how public managers, during cutbacks, manage upward to their political superiors, downward to their employees, outward to external stakeholders and, finally, how values of public managers manifest themselves in cutback decision-making. The results shed light on the enormous task that public managers face when having to manage cutbacks. Show less
This dissertation shows how diversity management and leadership relate to inclusiveness in public organizations and individual employee and team outcomes. Inclusiveness is about team members... Show moreThis dissertation shows how diversity management and leadership relate to inclusiveness in public organizations and individual employee and team outcomes. Inclusiveness is about team members feeling they belong to the group, while they can have their own unique identities. Inclusive leadership stimulates this by encouraging diverse team members to value, exchange, discuss and learn from their different backgrounds, perspectives and ideas. Inclusiveness in turn contributes to employees’ organizational commitment and involvement. This is particularly required in a changing society demanding of public organizations to be adaptive and responsive. Show less
Crises can disrupt entire societies and severely affect the lives of the people within them. If a crisis occurs, citizens and other societal actors expect governments to learn from it in order to... Show moreCrises can disrupt entire societies and severely affect the lives of the people within them. If a crisis occurs, citizens and other societal actors expect governments to learn from it in order to prevent the terrible events from happening again in the future, or, at least to be able to respond more effectively to them the next time. However, government organizations generally seem to have major difficulties in learning from crises. Nevertheless, every now and then, they do manage to learn extensively, and change their protocols, implement new policies, open up the organization’s culture, establish new organizational units, introduce training and simulation exercises, or improve communication. Why is it that public organizations sometimes learn from a crisis, but other times do not? The work reported reveals the major factors and mechanisms that explain crisis-induced learning by public organizations. The research draws on data from crisis management documents and interviews with employees of the Dutch food safety services (NVWA) related to four veterinary crises; EU legislation, evaluation reports, newspaper articles, and reports of national and EU parliamentary debates following four major oil spillages; 114 post-crisis evaluation reports in response to 60 crises in the Netherlands; and a survey of Dutch mayors. Show less
In Transforming for Europe. The reshaping of national bureaucracies in a system of multi-level governance, Caspar van den Berg explores the implications of the increasingly multi-level nature of... Show moreIn Transforming for Europe. The reshaping of national bureaucracies in a system of multi-level governance, Caspar van den Berg explores the implications of the increasingly multi-level nature of governance for the French, British and Dutch national bureaucracies.Power and competencies in Western Europe are shared by various layers of government as well as multiple types of state and non-state actors. What does this mean for the organisation and functioning of national bureaucracies?While the civil service has become less bureaucratic (in the Weberian sense) in some respects, it is more bureaucratic in others: task-separation and record-keeping for oversight have increased, while permanence of office and political neutrality in various places have decreased.The EU is not a single direct source to any of these developments yet its presence is certainly felt and cross-national distinction is less stark. Nevertheless, deeply ingrained national structures and cultures have thus far prevented the conver¬gence of national bureaucracies into a single European administra¬tive model.Caspar van den Berg (1980) studied International Relations at the London School of Economics and has a PhD from Leiden University. He currently works as an assistant professor at Leiden University and as a public management consultant at Berenschot. Show less
This research study uses the Cultural Theory as a theoretical framework to analyze the governance culture, values and strategic perceptions of top civil servants in the Netherlands. This results in... Show moreThis research study uses the Cultural Theory as a theoretical framework to analyze the governance culture, values and strategic perceptions of top civil servants in the Netherlands. This results in a cognitive map, based on the response to a questionnaire that was sent to the entire population. The majority of them (59 %) prove to adhere to the egalitarian world view stressing the equality of people and attributing a great significance to networks as regulatory social mechanisms. A substantial minority (24%) clings to the individualistic world view ascribing the highest importance to the individual and assuming that mutual relationships among individuals are shaped by contractual bonds and free market operations. Small minorities adhere to the hierarchical (12%) or fatalistic world view (5%). The majority also adhere to strategic perspectives like cooperation, a society-oriented professional role view, and an organic leadership orientation. Thus a set of shared values and beliefs shows up: an __esprit de corps__. This raises the question whether perhaps a neo-Weberian bureaucratic ethos is on the rise that is characteristic for the performance of top civil servants in a society that they themselves perceive primarily as an egalitarian network society. Show less
