Improving trust-based management in Nordic urban governance and management education

The ideas of trust-based management originate from reforms in Denmark from 2011 and particularly from experiments in the City of Copenhagen and have since spread to the public sector in Norway and Sweden. These ideas are perceived by some as an innovation, and often as different from traditional management and control in the public sector. This project examines how the ongoing trust reforms are perceived and implemented in practice in large, complex public organizations. The project has had three main objectives: 1) to develop a conceptual framework for understanding new models for trust-based management in the public sector, and how these relate to older theories of trust-based management; 2) to investigate how large, complex organizations such as cities perceive and implement trust-based leadership, in order to derive "best practices" and "promising practices" for use by stakeholders such as politicians, managers, employees; and 3) to ensure that teaching in higher education is in line with and actively influences the new trust-based forms of management in the public sector so that future employees and managers are better prepared for a working life based on trust-based management. To achieve these purposes, this project has studied the perception and implementation of trust-based governance and management in two Nordic cities, Oslo and Aarhus. The project has used mixed methods with interviews, surveys, analyses of information use and case studies in the education and home care sectors, and particularly of management by objectives and self-governing teams in the two municipalities, to find out how trust-based management work in large municipal organizations. Observations of lectures, analyses of course descriptions and an experiment-based survey have also been conducted among students to investigate how bachelor's programs in management and public administration and teacher and nursing education facilitate (or not) trust-based management and attitudes towards cooperation, given that these professions often interact in many municipalities. The analyses show that the trust reforms are about simplifying, changing, anchoring or renewing management practices to debureaucratize the administration, make necessary changes, create a better understanding of continuing necessary practices, and renew management practices, particularly through delegation of tasks, empowerment of managers and employees, user orientation and cooperation between management and employees' organizations and with users. The ideas in the trust reforms are thus largely based on well-known management theories, such as management by objectives and self-control, transformational leadership, collaborative management and employee-driven innovation. The ideas in trust-based management are thus neither new nor possible to delimit as a single model for practice. The ideas can be better seen as principles for adapting governance and management to local conditions on the basis of delegation, cooperation and trust between management, employees and users. The analyses indicate that organizational units that have introduced more trust-based management than before achieve higher trust between managers and employees and more work autonomy for employees, and that this may have a positive correlation with organizational results and innovation, as managers and employees assess this. At the same time, it is difficult for many to have clear perceptions of what trust-based management is in practice, and it can be challenging for both managers and ordinary employees to relate to changes that entail more responsibility as a result of trust reforms when the organizations (municipalities) have to deal with many other reforms at the same time. Our analyses also indicate that the flow of information between managers and employees, both through formal and informal channels, is important for trust and work autonomy. We studied students' attitudes towards collaboration in five bachelor's programs and two master's programs. In the management and public administration programs, trust reforms and/or trust-based management were taught, while in the students' opinion there was little teaching in trust reforms and trust-based management in the nursing and teacher programs. Overall, the trust reforms can be seen as systematic follow-up of previous reforms and administrative practices to adapt governance and management to Nordic working life practices with a high level of trust between the social partners and a high degree of autonomy among employees and in working groups. The project has been an interdisciplinary collaboration between Oslo Metropolitan University, Aarhus University, Oslo Municipality and Aarhus Municipality. The project's results have been published in scientific articles and a scientific anthology in Norwegian (Trust Reforms and Trust-Based Governance and Management), in addition to dissemination through teaching, lectures and professional articles.

The project has developed a conceptual framework for understanding the main elements of trust-based management and its intermediate and long-term impacts for organizational results and innovation. The research revealed that trust-based management is not one model for best practices but consists of general management ideas based on common management theories involving decentralization and user orientation, such as stewardship theory, management by objectives and self-control, autonomous work teams, employee driven innovation, and collaborative management. These theories provide principles that the reforming organizations may apply in redesigning current governance and leadership practices to enhance de-bureaucratization, delegation, empowerment, user orientation, and collaboration by facilitating flows of work-related information, work autonomy, and trust. The project has described trust reform activities in the Scandinavian countries with an emphasis on Norway based on content analysis of newspaper articles and document analyses of official reports and research articles. The project has particularly explored general processes and possible mechanisms in trust-based management utilizing the developed conceptual framework in empirical analyses with original survey data and used case studies based on interviews and observation to document promising practices as well as challenges, for example regarding justice between work teams and professions, in practices and organizational processes following trust-based management in schools and home care services. The research analyzing students’ perception of the extent of teaching in trust reforms and/or trust-based management in different educational programs, as well as students’ attitudes to collaboration across professions and management levels, will be used to facilitate continued emphasis on relevant management practices for a working life based on high trust in society and organizations. These outcomes of the research are relevant for supporting both good management practices in city and urban governance at the organizational level in the intermediate term as well as supporting public policy at the national level in the longer term. The results are also relevant to sustain or improve the quality and relevance of accounting and management education as well as other professional education in higher educational institutions. Over the medium to long term, these outcomes will impact the students', professionals' and managers' ability to work together in large, complex organizations, and thus strengthen political institutions' ability to address societal challenges and build partnerships based on and promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies.

In this project, we will explore how the emerging trust reforms in Oslo and Copenhagen, sometimes called the new Nordic model of governance, are constituted and put into practice in the educational and elder care sectors, and disseminate this knowledge to/in collaboration with researchers, practitioners, and educators. We have three main aims: 1) to develop a conceptual framework for understanding new models of trust-based management in the public sector, and how these relate to older models and theories of trust-based management; 2) to investigate how large, complex organizations such as cities conceive of and implement trust-based management, deriving ‘best practices’ and ‘promising practices’ for use by stakeholders (politicians, managers, employees) as well as researchers, educators, and students; and 3) to ensure that management education is not just aligned with, but also actively shaping and influencing, the new trust-based management reforms in public sector organizations, enabling management programmes to educate future managers who can better navigate and facilitate complex management challenges and opportunities. To achieve these aims, we will conduct case study research, surveys, information audits, and interviews to determine how trust-based management functions in large municipal organizations in Oslo and Denmark. We will also develop questionnaires and experiments, observe lectures, and analyse course curricula in accounting and audit to examine how current bachelor programmes within management and public administration – as well as professional programmes in education and healthcare, given the intersection of these professions in public sector organizations – facilitate (or not) trust-based management and inter-sectoral understanding and collaboration. The project is an inter-disciplinary collaboration between Oslo Metropolitan University, Aarhus University, Oslo municipality, and municipal partners in Denmark (confirmation pending).