Lederens handlerum ved anvendelse af kontraktstyring

1 Summery
The Public Managers latitude of action in the use of formal agreements.
Formal agreements has in recent years become an essential tool for
municipalities in the renewal of the Danish public sector. It is through
contracts that many municipalities determine the level of service and set the
framework for co-operation between the orderer of services and contractors
i.e. between the municipal council and the institutions.
The contract sets the agenda for the politicians’ expectations of how public
managers and public employees execute their responsibilities. The
consequence of this practice for managers and employees in the
municipalities is, so far, an under-exposed research area.
This master thesis focuses on the interim consequences of the introduction of
formal agreements on Bornholm through, among other things, qualitative
interviews with politicians and centrally placed public sector managers.
Specifically, the thesis pursues two problems:
- Partly, which institutional pressures municipalities are subject to when
choosing management tools and which ideals are behind the choice of
formal agreements in order to gain an understanding of why the
politicians on Bornholm have chosen formal agreements as a
management tool.
- Partly, what latitude of action has been established by management
with formal agreements. Finally, it is assessed how senior executives
may act within the installed room for management.
The thesis concludes that the modernisation of the public sector and the
process of reorganisation in connection with formal agreements will lead to a
change in the strategic ‘sphere of possibility’ and the managerial latitude
within local government and that politicians, public sector managers and
employees will form new relationships within a formal agreements
municipality.
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