Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen

Ensuring political responsiveness: politicization mechanisms in ministerial bureaucracies

Although politicization is a perennial research topic in public administration to investigate relationships between ministers and civil servants, the concept still lacks clarification. This article contributes to this literature by systematically identifying different conceptualizations of politicization and suggests a typology including three politicization mechanisms to strengthen the political responsiveness of the ministerial bureaucracy: formal, functional and administrative politicization. The typology is empirically validated through a comparative case analysis of politicization mechanisms in Germany, Belgium, the UK and Denmark. The empirical analysis further refines the general idea of Western democracies becoming ‘simply’ more politicized, by illustrating how some politicization mechanisms do not continue to increase, but stabilize – at least for the time being. Points for practitioners The claim of increasing politicization of the interaction between ministers and civil servants is often made in research and government practice. As the completely neutral bureaucracy is a myth rather than empirical reality, all democracies have to balance demands for both neutral expertise and political responsiveness. The latter often involves the introduction of politicization mechanisms. Politicization comes in a variety of forms, and the article develops a typology covering formal, functional and administrative politicization. Further it empirically demonstrates how politicization mechanisms not only increase, but how they develop and interact, altering balances of neutrality and responsiveness in potentially conflicting ways.

Conceptualizing and Measuring Transformational and Transactional Leadership

Existing conceptualizations and measures of transformational and transactional leadership have unclear theoretical bases, confound leadership and its effects, and are not necessarily suitable for public organizations. Overcoming these problems is necessary to test how leadership affects performance. Many public administration scholars apply the concepts, emphasizing the need to ensure that the concepts are applicable in both public and private organizations. The article reconceptualizes transformational and transactional leadership and develops and tests revised measures that can be employed on employees and leaders, are robust in terms of repeated use by the same respondents, and are applicable to public and private organizations alike.

Explaining differences in ministerial ménages à trois: multiple bargains in Belgium and Denmark

While special advisers play an important role in most Western governments, the research on the subject is limited. This article aims to explain variations in the ménage à trois relationships between ministers, senior civil servants and special advisers in two different politico-administrative systems. The theoretical starting point is to conceptualize and explain such trilateral relationships as multiple Public Service Bargains. We find that the differences in Public Service Bargains generate differences in these ménages à trois relationships, resulting in different types of functional differentiation as well as differences in the degree of cooperation vis-à-vis conflict. These differences are primarily the result of differences in the interests as well as formal, institutional rules and the competencies of the actors involved. The empirical data include documents as well as interviews with and questionnaires completed by senior civil servants. The countries compared are Belgium and Denmark. Points for practitioners Our study confirms that it is important for a ‘ménage à trois’ (ministers, special advisers, SCSs) ‘… to spell out the terms of the bargain applying to political advisers (…)’ (Hood and Lodge, 2006: 128) in order to regulate the relationship between special advisers and SCSs and avoid potential conflicts among them. In addition, the study shows that the number of political appointments plays a role in the relationship. Finally, the study shows that clear differences in the competencies brought to the bargain by the two types of agent may ensure cooperation and mutual respect, whereas an overlapping of competencies may cause rivalry.

The Public Service Bargains of Danish Permanent Secretaries

Danish permanent secretaries, top civil servants in the Danish state administration, are formally both administrative heads of their ministries as well as prime advisers to Danish ministers. In this article we analyse whether and how the public service bargain (PSB) (Hood and Lodge, 2006) of Danish permanent secretaries primarily reflects elements of a managerial role as prescribed in many of the New Public Management reforms or whether their role as policy adviser is as important as their role as manager, as is formally prescribed. The PSB is assessed in terms of the typology of Hood and Lodge, including the dimensions: reward, competency, loyalty and responsibility. The analysis demonstrates that although elements of a managerial bargain have entered the role of Danish permanent secretaries, it is not more salient than the advisory aspect of the PSB.Danish permanent secretaries, top civil servants in the Danish state administration, are formally both administrative heads of their ministries as well as prime advisers to Danish ministers. In this article we analyse whether and how the public service bargain (PSB) (Hood and Lodge, 2006) of Danish permanent secretaries primarily reflects elements of a managerial role as prescribed in many of the New Public Management reforms or whether their role as policy adviser is as important as their role as manager, as is formally prescribed. The PSB is assessed in terms of the typology of Hood and Lodge, including the dimensions: reward, competency, loyalty and responsibility. The analysis demonstrates that although elements of a managerial bargain have entered the role of Danish permanent secretaries, it is not more salient than the advisory aspect of the PSB.

Civil Servant Involvement in the Strategic Communication of Central Government Organizations: Mediatization and Functional Politicization

ABSTRACT This article investigates the involvement of permanent civil servants in strategic communication in government organizations within the context of mediatized democracies. Based upon an argument that the involvement in strategic communication is to be seen as part and parcel of a functional politicization of the civil service, the article identifies a significant and positive relationship between media awareness and functional politicization across the ministerial hierarchy as well as between media pressure and functional politicization, although moderated by organizational level and position. Based upon these empirical findings, the article demonstrates how strategic communication for pursuing and achieving political ends in central governments involves a permanent civil service aware of and positioned in organizations subject to pressures from the news media. The article discusses how these findings relate to different perspectives on strategic communication in central government organizations and identifies the need for mediatization research to re-emphasize central government organizations as organizations in their own right but just as importantly as an instrument for governments. Furthermore, the article points out the relevance for including non-elected actors into the research on political communication from politicians once elected into offices. The empirical analysis is performed in the context of Danish central government organizations.

Who's at the table? An analysis of ministers’ participation in EU Council of Ministers meetings

ABSTRACT The Council of Ministers is an important part of EU decision-making. However, contrary to what is formally expected member, states are not always represented by ministers at Council meetings. Unfortunately, our knowledge of who is actually participating is limited. First, the article investigates the extent to which ministers actually participate in Council meetings. We conclude that a substantial number of the participants are not ministers. Second, based on an institutional approach, the article tests six hypotheses as to when ministers participate. Here, we find the salience of meetings, the importance of the policy area, the length of EU membership and a high share of EU-positive parties enhance the likelihood of ministerial participation. Finally, we test whether the existence of junior ministers affects the likelihood of politicians participating. Here, our findings are inconclusive. The article builds on a database including all participants in Council meetings between 2005 and 2009.

Institutional Change and Professional Norms: A Study of Grading Behavior in Higher Education

This study investigates how an institutional exogenous change interacts with professional norms in relation to behavior in public organizations. We test how a new grading scale introduced in 2007 changed grade point averages and pass rates at two university departments. Data consist of register data on grading between 2004 and 2010. We find that the new grading scale both increased grade point averages and pass rates and halted the negative time trend in these variables. These effects are even greater for exams with an external examiner. The main conclusion is that grading systems affect grading both immediately and over time.

Political instability and the ability of local government to respond to reputational threats in unison

This article investigates whether local governments are able to act in a unified manner when responding to reputational threats posed by negative media coverage. Based on an argument that local governments facing political instability are less able to perform in unison, the article investigates a number of expectations, including various types of political instability (council, agenda and policy area instability) and their relation to different types of responses to negative media coverage from the political and administrative actors (communication behaviour, responsibility and blame-avoidant behaviour, and sanctioning behaviour). The article finds such relationships for some of these aspects. The analysis also indicates that the reputational history of a local government is related to the degree of unified behaviour. The empirical analysis is primarily based on a survey sent to all Danish public managers in the three upper levels of the local government hierarchy. Point for practitioners Reputation management has become an area for strategic management in the public sector, not least in local governments. This article demonstrates that public managers need to pay attention to the degree of political instability characterizing their local governments when dealing with reputational threats. If the local government is characterized by political instability, the need to address potential disagreements between administrative and political actors becomes vital. Furthermore, public managers need to take into account the reputational history of their organization as it may challenge the ability to coordinate a unified response across the political and administrative leadership during reputational threats.