Browsing Working Papers (DBP) by Year Published
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Ougaard, Morten (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper is about Poulantzas, historical materialism, international relations, and the current crisis. My purpose is to discuss how some Poulantzian theoretical contributions can be applied to the study of subject matters that are the focus of academic fields such as International Relations (IR), International Political Economy (IPE), International Politics, World Politics and others. I deliberately abstain from singling out any of these disciplines or fields or labels and from trying to define them precisely, because one of my arguments is that historical materialism (HM) is a research program2 that contains its own theoretical definition of the object under study. This object, with inspiration from Poulantzas’ notion of the imperialist chain and his general theory of society, I will define as the global social formation or for short, world society. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8678 Files in this item: 1
Morten_Ougaard.pdf (214.2Kb) -
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What Would it Mean to be an Artisan of Finance?Thompson, Grahame (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper confronts the question of what a revitalized financial sector might look like if this were to be reconfigured so as to reproduce first an artisanal like persona for the financial analyst and craft like organizational structure for financial businesses, and secondly if this were to be re-territorialized so that it acted like a partisan rather than, as at present, like a disembedded footloose structure of ‘global finance’. Initially the analysis is pitched at a rather abstract and theoretical level – pulling together artisans, nomads and partisans and tracing their intellectual lineages. But the chapter ends with three very concrete illustrations of actual financial relations in practice that meet some of the criteria for being both artisanal and partisanal. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8458 Files in this item: 1
Grahame_Thompson.pdf (1.310Mb) -
The Political Implications of Limited Liability, Legal Personality and CitizenshipThompson, Grahame (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper investigates the legal and commercial consequences of companies being considered as both an entity and a person in law – hence the notion of ‘cyborg’ in its title. It concentrates upon legal personhood and relates this particular feature to the issue of corporate citizenship. In turn corporate citizenship provides a link to considering the political role of companies, since in claiming citizenship they are implicitly at least claiming a particular set of political rights consequent upon that status, and announcing a particular politically constrained context associated with their operational characteristics. But what would be involved in granting companies full citizenship rights in the image of natural person citizenship? The paper explores this issue in connection to the differences between corporate social responsibility and an earlier idea of the socially responsible corporation that arose in the debate between Adolph Berle and Edwin Dodd in the 1930s, focussing on the notion of ‘enterprise entity analysis’ that was posed in that debate, and which has reappeared more recently. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8323 Files in this item: 1
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Danske og internationale udviklingstendenserSchulze, Christiane; Greve, Carsten (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Kontraktbaseret styring har været på den politiske agenda i OECD landene siden de tidlige 1980’erne og i dag er kontrakter et helt centralt element i den moderne regering ((Ejersbo & Greve 2005: 62, Greve 2008a: 4). Internationalt var det især med Reagon-regeringen i USA og Thatcher-regeringen i Storbritannien, at der blev rettet interesse mod kontraktstyring1. Denne udvikling bør ses i lyset af New Public Management (NPM) reformerne, som blev skyllet ind over OECD landene siden 1980’erne (Fortin 2000, Kettl 2000, Bouckaert og Pollitt 2004). NPM kan overordnet forstås som ”brug af ledelsesinspiration fra den private sektor og [som] brug af markedsmekanismer”(Greve 2003). Ved siden af privatisering og deregulering iagttages kontrakter som et determinerende element i NPM (Fortin 2000:1). Kontrakter kan helt grundlæggende defineres som en aftale mellem bestiller og leverandør, der angiver vilkårene for levering af en service eller et produkt (Domberger 1998:12). Kontrakter er dog ikke bare en entydig formel aftale, der forstås på samme måde af enhver aktør. Tværtimod er kontrakter også afhængige af læsernes perspektiv såvel som omgivelsens normer, traditioner og legale rammer. Den er derved ikke uafhængig af de institutioner, som eksisterer i omverdenen og en kontrakt kan have forskellige betydninger i forskellige kulturer og lande. Desuden bliver kontrakten også selv en institution, der skaber en helt bestemt måde at omgås med hinanden, som adskiller sig fra de mere traditionelle hierarkiske styringsformer. Sidst men ikke mindst er kontraktens form også afgørende for, hvilken form for samarbejde og styring der vælges til og fra. En kontrakt er således langt fra et neutralt styringsværktøj, men påvirker tværtimod aktivt organisationernes organisering og styringsform. Det er derfor, at denne rapport skal belyse, hvorledes kontraktstyring i både eksterne og interne relationer af den offentlige sektor blev introduceret, hvilke udfordringer og ændringer det har medført for offentlige og private, samt hvordan det har påvirket forholdet mellem staten og samfundet... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8383 Files in this item: 1
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A linguistic contribution to the comparative study of national ways of thinking and communicatingLundquist, Lita (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Recently, it was observed that the French President Nicolas Sarkozy ‘uses a lot of verbs’ (Calvet & Véronis 2008), what contributes to the impression he makes of being a “turbopresident”. At the same time, the (then) Minister of State in Denmark, Anders Fogh-Rasmussen, was characterised as being arrogant because of his top-down, formal, and impersonal way of communicating. If these two styles of communication stuck out as being noticeable in their French and Danish political framework respectively, it is because they were seen against the backdrop of social norms spelling out other rules for communicating in the two societies; a French norm, for presidents at least, stipulating not to use a lot of verbs, and a Danish norm telling not to be formal and impersonal. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8207 Files in this item: 1
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Hull Kristensen, Peer; Lotz, Maja (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper suggests that it is time to take the agency of teams seriously. Whereas the debate has previously focused on how firms may function more effectively by using team-based work-organization, our aim is to discuss and understand how teams effect the evolutionary dynamic of companies. Fieldwork in four Danish manufacturing companies helped us discover that firms as “communities of teams” are highly dynamic entities with complex layers of different team forms that operate, innovate and improve by constantly recombining work, collaborating across organizational divisions and redistributing authority, thereby challenging some of the existing “idioms” of team research and theories of the firm. The paper builds on these findings as we attempt to rethink research on teams by re-describing the evolutionary dynamics of firms and suggesting some themes that call for comparative research. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8205 Files in this item: 1
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A Route to a New Negotiating Order in High Performance Work Organizations?Hull Kristensen, Peer (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Contrary to a widely held view, rather than seeing the certification of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) as a barrier to increasing employee participation, this article views new ways of structuring participation as a necessary step towards making improvements in OHS management systems. The article first considers how work organization has changed and then in a similar way traces how bargaining has shifted from being distributive to become integrative to create a fundamental change in the negotiation regime. Finally, by analysing an OHS-certified firm in greater depth, the article shows how solutions for improvements in OHS management and notable bottom-up formulations of OHS benchmarks may help us discover how the organizational form of firms in which high-performance work organization can be developed through new participative structures. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8204 Files in this item: 1
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Lessons from Special Education in FinlandSabel, Charles; Saxenian, AnnaLee; Miettinen, Reijo; Hull Kristensen, Peer; Hautamäki, Jarkko (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8206 Files in this item: 1
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Examples from Danish and FrenchLundquist, Lita (Frederiksberg, 2009)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7821 Files in this item: 1
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Ideological Continuity and the Organization of Anti-Socialist Propaganda in the Danish Business Community, 1945-1974Lund, Joachim (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In Denmark, only minor changes took place in the economic elite after the liberation. Retributions with economic collaborators were dealt with in the legal system, and business managers who had been involved in pro-German political activities during the occupation withdrew to their executive offices and kept a low profile. With Nazism defeated, other ideational forces of integration surfaced as prewar anti-Socialist feelings and activities were invigorated. As an integral part of a general fight against economic regulation and for free trade, anti-Socialism became an important integral factor among Danish business leaders during the immediate postwar years. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7917 Files in this item: 1
WP CBP 2009-68.pdf (183.4Kb) -
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Abstract: It has become common over the last 25 years to formulate general ethical standards for management of public administration, not only in developing countries, but in most western democratic societies too. Standards of ethical conduct currently exist for public managers in USA, England, New Zealand, Canada, Australia5, and a number of other countries6. They apply to members of the civil service on the basis of professional merits (meritocracy) as well as to public officials on the basis of their political appointment (politocracy). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7791 Files in this item: 1
WP CBP 2009-64.pdf (159.2Kb) -
Pedersen, Ove K. (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The aim of discourse analysis is to reveal the ontological and epistemological premises which are embedded in language, and which allows a statement to be understood as rational or interpreted as meaningful. Discourse analysis investigates whether – in statements or texts - it is possible to establish any regularity in the objects which are discussed; the subjects designated as actors; the causal relations claimed to exist between objects (explanans) and subjects (explanadum); but also the expected outcome of subjects trying to influence objects; the goal of their action; and finally the time dimension by which these relations are framed. Discourses thus comprise the underlying conditions for a statement to be interpreted as meaningful and rational. At the same time, discourse analysis is the study of rationality and how it is expressed in a particular historical context. Discourse analysis is part of the Constructivist (or Social Constructivist) approach within the humanities and social sciences. It assumes that basic assumptions with regard to being, self and the world are constructed by individuals living in a historical and cultural context which is produced and reproduced by their speech acts. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7792 Files in this item: 1
WP CBP 2009-65.pdf (77.48Kb) -
Institutionelt brud i den offentlige moderniseringspolitik? OPP og udlicitering i de danske kommunerHelby Petersen, Ole; Ring Christensen, Lasse (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Vi stiller os i dette paper kritisk spørgende til det nye i OPP og søger at belyse, om OPP markerer et institutionelt brud med det i dansk moderniseringspolitik velkendte begreb udlicitering. Vi giver svar gennem to del-analyser. Først sammenlignes nøgletal for danske kommuners brug af udlicitering og arbejde med OPP-modellen. Analysen viser, at OPP-arbejdet overvejende foregår i større kommuner med en gennemsnitlig økonomi og en ideologisk sammensætning på borgmesterposterne på linje med gennemsnittet i landets kommuner. Hvorimod kommuner med højt udliciteringsniveau oftest ledes af borgerlige borgmestre, så er OPP-kommunerne økonomisk og ideologisk på linje med gennemsnittet af landets kommuner. I anden delanalyse kigger vi på reguleringsrammen for brug af henholdsvis OPP og udlicitering. Det kommunale selvstyre og de årlige kommuneaftaler fungerer som en institutionel ramme omkring de reguleringstiltag, som regeringen har mulighed for at anvende. Fælles for reguleringen af kommunernes udlicitering og OPP ligger et bærende princip om metodefrihed i opgaveløsningen. Hvor grænserne for metodefriheden går, er dog ikke en fastlåst størrelse, men genstand for løbende forhandling mellem det statslige og kommunale niveau. Vi konkluderer, at OPP på centrale parametre ikke blot er en forlængelse af udlicitering, men en selvstændig og bemærkelsesværdig kontraktmodel, som er ved at institutionaliseres i de danske kommuner. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7788 Files in this item: 1
WP CBP 2009-63.pdf (128.2Kb) -
Pedersen, Ove K. (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The aim of discourse analysis is to reveal the ontological and epistemological premises which are embedded in language, and which allows a statement to be understood as rational or interpreted as meaningful. Discourse analysis investigates whether – in statements or texts - it is possible to establish any regularity in the objects which are discussed; the subjects designated as actors; the causal relations claimed to exist between objects (explanans) and subjects (explanadum); but also the expected outcome of subjects trying to influence objects; the goal of their action; and finally the time dimension by which these relations are framed. Discourses thus comprise the underlying conditions for a statement to be interpreted as meaningful and rational. At the same time, discourse analysis is the study of rationality and how it is expressed in a particular historical context. Discourse analysis is part of the Constructivist (or Social Constructivist) approach within the humanities and social sciences. It assumes that basic assumptions with regard to being, self and the world are constructed by individuals living in a historical and cultural context which is produced and reproduced by their speech acts. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7792 Files in this item: 1
WP CBP 2009-65.pdf (77.48Kb) -
Rocha, Robson S. (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The present article investigates co-decision making with focus on the development of partnerships arrangements (PAs) between managers and trade-union representatives in a Danish multinational company which has grown through cross-border mergers and acquisitions. The findings show the difficulties which trade-union representatives and management face in combining different forms of corporate governance and supporting PAs. The article argues that hybrid forms of PAs are unlikely to develop, due to historically embedded governance institutions, which create distinct expectations about how a firm must be controlled and who has the rights to exert this control. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7343 Files in this item: 1
wp cbp 2008-60.pdf (195.0Kb) -
Pedersen, Ove K. (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In recent years, the concept of international competitiveness has (re)emerged as a paradigm in public discourse. In this paper I introduce the concept of institutional competitiveness to show how the concept of international competition has been reformulated as part of a political project for initiating economic globalization. It is my intention to show how the concept of institutional competitiveness (CIC) has raised to become important in the last 25 years, moving from a simple conversation among academics into a political discussion with real-world effects. The purpose of the paper is to describe the rise and movement into the realm of practice. The purpose is also to show how the voyage has come to include institutional change as an important policy instrument and the use of institutional analysis as a key utensil for policy makers. It is my claim that discourses and institutions are used with the intention to enhance the competitiveness of nations and enterprises; why discourses and institutions have become a political phenomenon of interest and salience for policy makers and decision takers. It is also my claim that knowledge of institutions is applied to explain economic growth and to assess the potential relevance of institutional reforms; why interpretations of institutions has been become a policy tool for the implementation of globalisation. It is this dual role of discourses and institutions I describe in the following. The whole debate on the CIC will be looked upon as an example of how institutions (as a political phenomenon) and institutional analysis (as a policy tool) have become part of a policy approach. Two caveats are necessary. It is not my ambition to describe the conflicts of interests and the accidents of history involved in moving the process from dawn to mid-day. Neither is it my ambition to explain why the travel has happened in the first place. Even if the process is engulfed in conflicts – at several levels and including multiple interests – I will NOT identify these, nor describe them. The purpose of the paper is only to describe not to explain. The paper will be organised as follows. First, I describe how the concept of national and institutional competitiveness is discussed. In order to describe how the concept of competitiveness has been redefined over the past 20-25 years I include literature from economic theory and business analysis (Aiginger 2006b; Siggel 2006). It is in this context that the concept of Institutional Competitiveness is introduced. Second, I trace the institutionalization of the discussion into expert systems. Two examples will be emphasized. One is the development of "The post-Washington consensus” another is The Open Method of Coordination within the EU. The presentation is based on a reading of policy papers, reports and other primary sources from international organizations and national governments. Third, I point to how the institutionalization has included a number of welfare reforms and ignited a process towards the transformation of national welfare states. I draw on primary and secondary literature in presenting the concept of competition state (Cerny 1990, 2007; Stopford et al 1991; Jessop 1994, 2003; Hirsch 1995; but also Rosecranze 1999; Bobbit 2002; Weiss 2003). Fourth, and finally, I emphasize how state-society relations have been changed. The concept of competitive corporatism (Rhodes 1998; Molina & Rhodes 2002) is employed. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7356 Files in this item: 1
wp cbp 2008-47.pdf (174.2Kb) -
Et essay i forbindelse med fagbladet Folkeskolens 125 års jubilæum.Pedersen, Ove K. (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Lærernes fagblad Folkeskolen fylder 125 år. Tillykke med det! Hermed kan vi fejre et af de mest citerede fagblade, som udgives af en af de mest indflydelsesrige, danske interesseorganisationer, og samtidig en af de vigtigste af alle faggrupper, nemlig folkeskolelærerne. Først af alt kan vi dog fejre den danske folkeskole. Uden den, ingen lærere, og uden lærere ingen forening og intet medlemsblad. Sammen med fagbladet Folkeskolen kan vi derfor også tillade os at fejre skolen; også selvom det er usikkert hvornår folkeskolen opstod, og hvorfra den skal dateres. Opstod den med kirkeordinantens om ”børneskoler” i 1539, med anordningen om ”almueskoler” i 1814, eller med lov om forskellige forhold vedrørende folkeskolen i 1899? Svaret er ikke ligegyldigt, men irrelevant i denne sammenhæng. I dette bidrag skal jeg hylde Danmarks Lærerforening, dets medlemmer, og deres fagblad, og jeg vil gøre det ved at påstå, at der er ét forhold, som i alle bladets 125 år og i alle DLF’s 134 år har optaget medlemmerne mere end noget andet - og det er folkeskolens formål. Folkeskolen fik sin første egentlige formålsparagraf i 1937, men lang tid før var dens opgaver fastsat ved ordinants, ved forordning, anordning eller lov. Det er derfor også ved sådanne bestemmelser, at skolen har fundet sin berettigelse og lærerne deres mission. Ligesom det er ved sådanne bestemmelser, at lærerforeningen har defineret, hvad der udmærker dens medlemmer, hvad der gør dem til en særlig profession, eller giver dem deres kaldelse. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7326 Files in this item: 1
wp cbp 2008-49.pdf (235.9Kb) -
Pedersen, Ove K. (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: I 1980`erne startede et reformarbejde, der stadig pågår. Intet viser mere slående hvor langt dette er kommet, end det forhold, at hvor bureaukratiet tidligere blev set som en byrde for borgeren, tales der nu om bureaukrati som en byrde for den offentlige medarbejder. I det følgende skal jeg beskrive den ny bureaukratiske model som gradvist er vokset frem siden 1980`erne og hvis konsekvenser vi hver dag bliver mindet om, når offentligt ansatte kritiserer modellen for at have negative konsekvenser både for effektiviteten i deres indsats og for kvaliteten af deres arbejde. Jeg skal argumentere for fire vigtige pointer: 1 – Den offentlige sektor er i dag organiseret anderledes end tidligere. En ny bureaukratisk model er sat igennem, hvilket bl.a. viser sig derved at medarbejderne klager over kontrol og styring og regeringen svarer igen med en reform for afbureaukratisering af dokumentationssystemet. 2 – Den nye organisation er flydende frem for fast. Den indebærer at det kommunale selvstyre flyder fra lov til lov og fra den ene kommunaløkonomiske aftale til den anden. Hvor tidligere organisationsformer indebar en vis stabilitet i udstrækningen af det kommunale selvstyre, i driftsansvar og i hvilke velfærdsydelser borgeren havde krav på, er den nuværende mindre stabil, indrettet til konstant forandring. 3 – Den nye organisation bygger på fire principper, der er gensidigt i modsætning til hinanden, hvilket fremprovokerer interessekonflikter mellem regering og personaleorganisationer og mellem ledelse og frontmedarbejdere. 4 – Interessekonflikterne har ført til politisering af det forvaltningspolitiske reformarbejde. Og til at de traditionelle grænser mellem overenskomstsystem (forhandlinger og konflikt om løn og arbejdsbetingelser) og forvaltningspolitiske reformer er under ændring. De to integreres, og begge politiseres. Artiklen er disponeret således. I det første kapitel skelner jeg mellem bureaukrati (som noget nødvendigt) og bureaukratisme (som noget uønsket). Jeg præsenterer tre historiske former for bureaukrati (og bureaukratisme) for at fremhæve nutidens. I kapitel 2 beskrives de fire principper bag nutidens organisering af den offentlige sektor. Det sker med det formål at påvise hvordan flere af disse er i modsætning til hinanden og fremprovokerer interessekonflikter. Kapitel tre analyserer hvordan kvalitetsreformen viderefører og udbreder de fire principper og styrker interessekonflikterne. Endelig – i kapitel fire – summes der op og fremtidens minefelt aftegnes. Først må vi dog lige afklare, hvad der tales om. Derfor følger nogle begrebsforskelle og en typologi over former for bureaukrati (og bureaukratisme). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7350 Files in this item: 1
wp cbp 2008-46.pdf (249.5Kb) -
Pedersen, Ove K. (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Hvad vi nu skal følge er et drama. Gennem menneskelige lidelser og politiske konflikter er der skabt en ny forestilling om individ og stat. Dette kapitel viser, hvilken form denne opfattelse får og hvordan den kommer til udtryk, dvs. hvor og hvordan vi kan konstatere, at en ny statsform er blevet til. Desværre må jeg skuffe de, som er tilhængere af dramaets social-historiske beskrivelse. Dette er ikke historien om, hvorfor og hvorledes en statsopfattelse blev kæmpet igennem. Mit formål er mere begrænset og slet ikke egnet til social-historisk beskrivelse. Desværre må jeg også skuffe de, der er tilhængere af at beskrive den ny stats tilblivelse gennem kampen for en demokratisk styreform. Jeg har ikke til sinds at beskrive kampen mod enevoldsmagten og for det konstitutionelle demokrati og dets menneskerettigheder. Også her er mit formål mere begrænset. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7357 Files in this item: 1
wp cbp 2008-57.pdf (89.49Kb)
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