Public Governance - Code for Chief Executive...

Public Governance - Code for Chief Executive Excellence


Content

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Structure of the book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Part one: Conditions and challenges for public sector chief executives in Denmark. . . . . . . 13

Fundamental traits and challenges for chief executives in a politically-led organisation . . . . 15

Characteristics unique to Denmark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Characteristics unique to the public sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Values in the public sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

The challenge: executive management is tandem management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

New conditions and challenges for chief executives in a politically-led organisation . . . . . . . 21

Changes in the decision-making structure of the public sector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

The challenge: an expanded management universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

The knowledge society – from openness to communication and involvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

The challenge: an interactive public sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Governance – new methods of combining forms of co-operation and management . . . . . . . . . . 29

The challenge: multiple competing management principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Part two: Public Governance - Code for Chief Executive Excellence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Nine recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

1. Clarify your managerial space with the political leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

2. Take responsibility for ensuring that the political goals are implemented

throughout the organisation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

3. Create an organisation which is responsive and capable of influencing the

surrounding world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

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4. Create an organisation which acts as part of an integrated public sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5. Require the organisation to focus on results and effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

6. Possess vision and work strategically to improve the way your organisation

accomplishes its assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

7. Exercise your right and duty to lead the organisation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

8. Display personal and professional integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

9. Safeguard the public sector’s legitimacy and democratic values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Part three: Self-evaluation method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Phase 1: The full Code - a first sounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Phase 2: My chief executive role and management style

– focusing on the individual recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Phase 3: My chief executive role in the future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Part four: The History of the Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Aims and principles of the Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Involvement of the chief executives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Involvement of Danish and foreign researchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Public Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

The three themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

The Forum’s code model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Project phases and key events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Workshop in Fredensborg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Opening conference: Executive management makes a difference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Workshop Conference: Debate on chief executive challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

The Midpoint Conference: On the trail of good public sector executive management . . . . . . . . 126

Code seminars: Good public sector executive management in daily life – your turn to speak . 128

Camp Code I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Camp Code II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

International development seminars: Management Excellence in the Knowledge Society

and An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Conference: Public Governance – a code for good public sector executive

management in Denmark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

The elements in the Forum’s knowledge generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

The three research teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

The three theme panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

The three e-surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Prize competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Process experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Board and secretariat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Appendix

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Appendix (outline) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

1. Summary of the Forum’s three e-surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

2. The project’s activities in chronological order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes in chronological order . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

4. The Forum’s publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

5. Participant lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

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Foreword Almost two years ago, the chief executives in the Danish state, county and municipal

administrations set themselves a common goal: under the title of Public Governance,

they would develop a code for chief executive excellence which would apply across the

entire Danish public sector.

The background for this project was widespread recognition of the fact that excellence

in executive management is a prerequisite for meeting the current and future chal-

lenges faced by the public sector.

The level of ambition was high: we wished to develop a code that would apply to the

most important tasks of chief executives, but which at the same time would be specific

enough to inspire individual top executives to reflect on and develop their managerial

behaviour in their daily work.

The Code which we now present is the result of a process that called for persistent

commitment on the part of chief executives across the whole public sector, as well

as a challenging and educational partnership between the research world and the

chief executives themselves. At the same time, new networks and relations have been

created across the boundaries of the public sector, and between the research world and

the chief executives.

The work on the development of the Code has already helped to sharpen the focus

of chief executives on their own management practice; however, the real effect will

only become apparent in the long term. Accordingly, the launch of the Code should be

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regarded as the start of a new process, in which public sector chief executives will

perform concrete work with the Code within their own organisations.

The Code sets the agenda for excellence in public sector executive management, and

we hope it will contribute to further debate on executive management in the public

sector, not only in Denmark, but also internationally. We would like to encourage all

public sector chief executives to make use of the Code, both individually and in co-

operation with others.

Forum Board,

Forum for Top Executive Management

May 2005

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Structure of the book

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Structure of the bookThe book is structured on the basis of the Forum’s Code model:

The book’s first part begins with an analysis of the challenges. This analysis encompasses

both the enduring and the emerging challenges which especially characterise the public

sector, and which chief executives in the public sector must act within, understand and

communicate in their management of public sector organisations. This analysis forms

the Forum’s diagnosis and its justification for the formulation of a Code. The analysis

focuses on the common characteristics of public sector executive management, and

describes four images of chief executive challenges which form the starting-point for

the Code for Chief Executive Excellence.

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Analysis of challenges

Code:

RecommendationsSelf-evaluation

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Four images of chief executive challenges:

- Executive management is tandem management

- An expanded management universe

- An interactive public sector

- Multiple competing management principles

The second part contains the Code itself, which consists of nine recommendations for

chief executive excellence in Denmark. As illustrated by the Code model, the Code en-

compasses the chief executive’s most important tasks. The nine recommendations are

equal in value, and each of them demands commitment. The recommendations of the

Code reflect the ways in which the chief executive, on the basis of personal leadership,

can act within and create coherence between the primary top management perspec-

tives: politics, organisation and the surrounding world.

The individual recommendations are followed up by a manageable number of action-

oriented questions relating to the chief executive’s management of the organisation,

and which function as signposts towards the chief executive’s application of the Code

to his or her own management practice. The nine recommendations are also followed

up by a short description and rationale.

The third part contains a self-evaluation method for use by individual chief executives.

The purpose of this method is to facilitate the use of the Code and enhance its impact

in relation to concrete chief executive managerial practice.

There is a clear link between the Code and the self-evaluation method; the method is

intended to function as a “Code-mirror” which will allow individual top executives to

reflect on their own management practice in the light of the Code’s recommendations.

The self-evaluation method is for the chief executives’ own use.

The self-evaluation method is structured in the form of three phases:

Phase 1: The full Code – a first sounding

Phase 2: My chief executive role and management style – focusing on the

individual recommendations

Phase 3: My chief executive role in the future

Part four describes the thorough process of debate and knowledge generation which has

given rise to the Code for chief executive excellence. The process utilised by the Forum,

based on involvement and networks, has been crucial to its results.

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Conditions and challenges for public sector

chief executives in Denmark

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Conditions and challenges for public sector chief executives in Denmark

The point of departure for the Forum and for this analysis consists of two observations.

Firstly, the Danish public sector is characterised by certain conditions which present

unique challenges for public sector executive management. Secondly, these long-

standing and well-known challenges are being reinforced, and at times even

sharpened, by current changes and developmental trends within the public sector and

in the surrounding society.

Danish society and the Danish public sector are facing significant challenges. In

concrete terms, the trends in the composition and norms of the population will

continue for many years to come to place the public sector under significant

pressure to deliver more and better public services within a tight budget. Public

sector chief executives themselves point out that on-going improvements in effi-

ciency and the constant prioritisation of resource use are among their most important

challenges. In addition, they also point to the future implementation of the

Structural Reform, increased public-private sector interaction, and the need for

efficient interaction within and between the public organisations with the aim of

achieving wholeness, efficiency and coherence in the public sector’s overall execution

of its mission.

Every day, public sector chief executives face questions, dilemmas and competing pres-

sures that rarely admit of a single, clear-cut solution. Most chief executives agree that

the challenges faced by the public sector have created a need for renewal and innova-

tion. However, they are also of the opinion that such renewal and innovation can take

the form of adjustments and improvements in the existing set-up, and thus do not

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require more fundamental changes in the practice or structure of the individual public

sector organisations.

The question is how public sector chief executives can handle this paradox between

innovation and conservation – how can chief executives develop the capacity of public

sector organisations to tackle current and future challenges?

The aim of this analysis is to describe the conditions, developmental trends and chal-

lenges that which characterise the public sector in particular, and which public sector

chief executives must understand, handle and communicate in their management of

the public sector organisations. The focus of this analysis is on the shared traits in pub-

lic sector executive management across all levels of government. The analysis thereby

forms a point of departure for the Forum’s Code for Public Governance – public sector

executive excellence in Denmark.

Fundamental traits and challenges for chief executives in a politically-led

organisation

Characteristics unique to Denmark

The task of the chief executive in the public sector in Denmark is unique in

comparison with other countries, since the professional chief executive fulfils

both the role of an advisor to the political leadership and a top-level mana-

ger employed by the organisation. This is a fundamental characteristic of the Danish

system.

The two roles of the appointed chief executive are mutually supportive. This double role

gives chief executives the possibility to integrate their leadership of the organisations

with providing advice to the political leader/leadership. The double role thus gives the

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chief executive the responsibility to build bridges between policy and professionalism,

and between policy and implementation.

This double role creates an interplay in the daily management of the public sector

organisation, for which the mayor/minister is the responsible overall leader. The

management space for the appointed chief executive is politically defined, and there

is the potential for a lack of clarity in the division of roles and responsibilities

between the political leader and the appointed chief executive. The appointed chief

executives must exercise their corporate management of the organisation in close

co-ordination with the political leader and with constant regard for their democratic

responsibility.

For the public sector chief executive, an essential task is to exercise, secure

legitimacy for and create room for both the leadership task and the advisory task,

which vary in scope and require different personal and professional skills. It is

a constant challenge for the public sector chief executive to ensure a correct

balance between these two chief executive roles and to provide the requisite

focus to them both. According to the chief executives themselves, advising

the political leaders is what takes up most of their time. This assessment is confirmed

by the management staff on the level directly beneath the chief executives (directors

of agencies, deputy directors, department heads, administrative directors), who agree

that the chief executives tend to spend the largest amount of their time advising

the political leadership.

Some other special characteristics and conditions for public sector chief executives in

Denmark could also be mentioned, such as the tradition for seeking consensus across

party lines and the population’s high degree of trust in and satisfaction with the public

sector, which is unique in comparison with other countries. The relatively low power

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distance and the high degree of employee influence are also characteristic conditions

for public sector management in Denmark.

Characteristics unique to the public sector

Compared with management in the private sector, the management task in the

public sector is characterised by conditions which create different ground rules and chal-

lenges. Private companies are to an increasing degree experiencing the need to act on the

same premises as public sector organisations, for example in the area of social

responsibility, while on the other hand, public sector organisations have for many

years looked to the private sector as a source of inspiration, and have borrowed

management perspectives and tools from it. Nonetheless, it is possible to point to

a number of fundamentally different conditions for chief executives in the public

sector in comparison with the private sector.

The public sector is characterised by a complex bottom line with many simul-

taneous, sometimes contradictory and partially equivalent success criteria.

Efficiency, output levels and quality in accomplishing the tasks assigned to the

public sector must be balanced by respect for democratic values and the rule of law,

as well as regard for the community and the vulnerable, etc. This requires that the

Chief Executive and the organisation are capable of orienting themselves towards

and combining multiple – in some cases conflicting – bottom lines and varying

criteria for success.

In the public sector, the political leader is also the leader of the administration. Accordingly,

the chief executive must exercise his or her overall leadership in close co-operation with

the political leader and with constant regard for democratic responsibility. The Chief

Executive must create a balance between, on the one hand, exercising visible leadership

and, on the other hand, promoting the visibility and impact of the political leader.

While a private company can deploy its resources on the basis of its expected

earnings and growth strategy, public sector organisations must operate with different

ground rules for their economic transactions. The goals, frameworks and resources for

the public sector organisation’s production are politically defined, and in addition, public

sector production, regardless of whether it involves public projects or services, must be

guided by concerns for public welfare, the common good, the big picture and the interests

of society.

The principle of transparency and openness is a fundamental condition. All decisions

and actions must be capable of being publicly justified. Although many private enter-

prises are beginning to open themselves up to the public, for example with regard to the

company’s brand or corporate image, this is more of a corporate-level strategic choice

than a norm or a principle to which they are required to adhere. In the public sector, by

contrast, the need to conduct decision-making processes which are completely open

from their start to their implementation, with no loss of legitimacy, is a constant and

fundamental challenge.

While competition comprises a driving force in the private sector, the necessity of

co-operation is a characteristic trait of the public sector. For citizens and consumers,

quality and coherence in public services and the efficient utilisation of resources are

more important than the manner in which the public sector is organised. Public sector

organisations have an obligation to co-operate and co-ordinate with each other in order

to promote the efficient utilisation of resources and the quality of their services.

Finally, a fundamental condition of public organisations is that their field of activity

and structure can be altered from one day to the next as a consequence of political

decisions.

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Values in the public sector

The public sector plays a special societal role, which finds reflection in several

traditional values. Studies have shown that, apart from minor variations between

levels and sectors, there is a general public sector ethos which is deeply rooted

in time. The classic values which are common to the entire public sector could be

summarised as: 1) The public sector has a responsibility towards society in general,

2) There must be openness and transparency, 3) The rule of law must be safeguarded

and 4) Norms of impartiality, objectivity and loyalty must be adhered to.

Chief executives, both in their role as objective, non-partisan and loyal advisors to the

political leadership and as leaders of their organisations, have an obligation to safe-

guard the public good and the fundamental democratic values of Danish society. The

obligation with respect to the public good can embrace many complexities: special

interests versus holistic considerations, short-term interests versus long-term

considerations, financial versus social or environmental considerations, etc.

A fifth value, which is as widely held in the public sector as the other four, is that

of renewal and innovation; however, the context within which it occurs has

changed. Whereas previously, the renewal of public sector organisations took

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The challenge: Executive management is tandem management

The tasks of a chief executive in the public sector in Denmark are characterised by the chief

executive’s dual role as an advisor to the political leadership and as the appointed leader of

the organisation. In the politically-led organisation, the minister/mayor is the top-level leader.

The management and management space at the top of the public sector organisations can be

described as ”tandem management”, with the first choice always falling to the political leader,

while the managerial role, space and responsibility of the appointed chief executive are shaped

in an on-going interplay with the political leader.

place against a relatively stable backdrop, today, public sector chief executives must han-

dle change in a more complex context and with a less stable outlook. This more complex

context for the agenda for change in the public sector is the subject of the next section.

What are the development trends that public sector chief executives need to under-

stand and communicate, and which demands do these trends impose on chief execu-

tives in the management of their organisations?

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The public sector plays a special societal role, and public sector executive management is mark-

edly different from executive management in the private sector. The public sector organisation

operates, for example, with a complex bottom line and with different considerations.

and success criteria, which must be continually weighed against one another. In his or her

advisory role to the political leader, as well as in the management of the organisation, the public

sector chief executive must maintain awareness of the need to create an integrated whole and

safeguard the democratic rules of the game.

The question is, how can chief executives, in their interplay with the political leader, clarify

and substantiate their management space (legitimacy, mandate and authority) on an on-going

basis in order to be able to fulfil their obligations to this dual role? How can chief executives

organise and exercise their tasks so as to achieve a balance between the provision of advice

to the political leader and the management of the organisation? And how can the chief

executive ensure continuity between policy and professionalism, and between policy and

implementation? In brief, how can the chief executive ensure that the organisation retains

an adequate focus on both the implementation and impact of policy decisions and on

the advice provided to the political leadership?

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New conditions and challenges for chief executives in a politically-led organisation

The fundamental conditions for public sector chief executive management, as

described above, have altered in recent years. They have been supplemented or

reinforced by a number of recent development trends in the public sector and in society

in general. These trends will be summarised under three main headings: 1) Changes in

the decision-making structure of the public sector, 2) The knowledge society

and 3) Governance.

Changes in the decision-making structure of the public sector

On-going changes are occurring in the framework conditions of the public sector

which are having a significant impact on where and how decisions are made and

policies created. Changes in tasks, new assigned tasks, public-private co-operation,

Europeanisation and globalisation all contribute to creating more decision-making

arenas, with more players and different types of interests and inputs. These changes in

turn make for an increasingly complex and fragmented public sector, which increases

the need for openness and transparency in relation to the citizens and stakeholders,

as well as for efficient interaction within the public sector organisation and across

the sector.

The organisation of the public sector could be described as continual alternation

between the decentralisation and centralisation of political and administrative

decision-making responsibility. The political and operational responsibility for many

welfare-related tasks has been decentralised since the 1970s to the counties and

municipalities, where a further decentralisation has occurred, including the estab-

lishment of consumers’ and parents’ committees. Similarly, tasks and skills

at the national level have been transferred to independent units, companies and

boards. Movement is thus occurring in two dimensions: in part between admini-

strative levels, and in part on the administrative levels themselves. Decentralisa-

tion is followed up by centralisation, which, amongst other things, is intended to

co-ordinate activities and control the consumption of resources by individual

public organisations as well as in the public sector as a whole. The centralisation

tendency is for example manifested in the annual agreements on local government

budgets, as well as through detailed legislation and the management of goals, frameworks

and contracts, as well as through the introduction of quality standards and controls.

The alternation between decentralisation and centralisation can be interpreted as an

expression of the on-going harmonisation of policy creation and the decision-making

structure in the public sector. The intention is partly to balance the decision-making

responsibility between the different political levels, and partly to balance the gains that

come from centralised control and co-ordination with the benefits that accrue from

decentralising managerial responsibility.

At the same time as these movements are occurring within the national bounda-

ries, a Europeanisation and globalisation of the political and administrative decision-

making processes is taking place. The boundaries between domestic and foreign

policy are becoming blurred, and the position of the Danish state as the undisputed

sovereign decision-maker in Denmark is changing as jurisdiction is transferred to the

EU. More and more of the areas that previously were purely domestic political concerns

now take place within the framework of the EU’s supranational decision-making

procedures, in which planning, negotiation and binding decision-making have direct conse-

quences for the individual public sector organisations and policy areas in Denmark.

The immediate and direct consequences of globalisation are experienced differently in

different parts of the public sector. However, it seems clear that globalisation is leaving

its mark on all areas of Danish society, and that the public sector must be responsive

to the challenges and changes that this brings in its wake. Society is being influenced

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to an increasing degree by external trends, international competition, business cycles

and events in other parts of the world. The lifestyles of Danes are changing, and new

needs and problems are arising that the public sector must address – as an employer, as

a public authority, and as a supplier of public services.

Overall, Europeanisation and globalisation mean that the number of inputs to the

political and administrative decision-making processes is increasing, while at the

same time there is a growing need and greater opportunity for interaction across both

organisational and national boundaries.

Finally, the interaction of the public sector with private actors can also be regarded as

a manifestation of the differentiation of the public sector’s decision-making structure.

The introduction of management forms inspired by new public management (NPM) into

the public sector has led to a greater differentiation between policy and production. The

interaction between public and private actors has been intensified, and a larger part

of the public sector is operating under semi-market conditions. The marketisation of

public enterprises, privatisation, outsourcing, partnerships and co-operative

endeavours with private actors all contribute to the fragmentation of the public sector’s

decision-making structure, in which a part of the political control over the public

sector’s services has been shifted to other decision-making arenas made up of market

participants, consumers and citizens.

The challenge: An expanded management universe

The conditions for exercising chief executive management in the public sector have changed.

The consequence of decentralisation, centralisation, internationalisation and public-private

co-operation is the differentiation and fragmentation of the public sector’s decision-making

structure. For the public sector chief executive, the challenge is to simultaneously handle this

fragmentation while creating wholeness and coherence in the organisation’s execution of its

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The knowledge society – from openness to communication and involvement

To an ever increasing extent, the political agenda and the norms in the public sector

have been oriented towards developing the citizen-oriented public sector. The aim is

for the public sector - in its organisation, services and product development - to build

upon openness and responsiveness to the logic of the citizens and consumers, rather

than the logic of the system. The development of a more service-oriented, interactive

and engaging public sector follows on the heels of a more demanding, resourceful and

informed population.

In a modern knowledge society with new technology and increasing media competition,

the politically-led organisation is influenced by interests, demands and values from

many sides. The public sector organisation and the universe of public sector values

are being influenced and expanded as ever more groups become active in more and

assignments and in the provision of advice to the political leadership. Consequently, it is not

enough for public sector chief executives to orient themselves vertically ”upwards” towards

the political leadership and ”downwards” in the management of their organisations. The chief

executive and the public sector organisation must increasingly orient themselves both later-

ally and ”externally”, across the country’s borders. The fragmentation and increased complexity

have thus expanded the chief executive’s management universe and created new conditions

under which to seek to create an integrated whole and safeguard the democratic rules of the

game.

The challenges facing the public sector organisation could be summarised as the need to

create openness and transparency in relation to citizens/stakeholders, and the need for efficient

interaction, co-operation and co-ordination across the public sector. The question is precisely

what requirements does this impose on chief executives, who, through their interaction with

and advice to the political leadership, and in the management of their organisations, must clear

the way for these developments?

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more decision-making arenas and exert influence on the fields of operation and policy

decision-making processes of public sector organisations.

Information technology and digital administration present new possibilities for com-

munication, both internally within the public sector and between the public sector

and the surrounding society. Information technology also represents a challenge to the

public sector’s previous methodologies, monopolies and structures.

Developments in information technology mean that the public sector’s stakehold-

ers will be continually better able to conduct a dialogue as equals with the individual

public sector organisation, and to challenge its monopoly of knowledge, particularly in

relation to the definition of what is the correct knowledge, the correct solution or the

appropriate level of quality for the individual. Via the Internet, individuals can to

an increasing degree look over the shoulder of the public sector organisation, acquire

a knowledge of the legal basis for decisions, and gain insight into processes and

justifications with respect to both the advertised and the actual level of service, alternative

services, etc. Information technology makes it easier for the individual to compare the level of

service offered by different public authorities and service suppliers, as well as across

national boundaries. Information technology also makes it easier for the citizen to

come into contact with the public sector organisation’s political and administrative

decision-makers.

Information technology and digital administration thus play an independent and

important role as a driving force in the modernisation and rationalisation of the

citizen-oriented public sector, as well as in societal relations and in relation to the

individual public sector organisation’s production, communications and services

towards its stakeholders.

Information technology and digital administration bring new opportunities to moder-

nise the public sector’s execution of its tasks, such as through the establishment of inte-

grated, co-ordinated and targeted public services which were previously divided among

different authority levels. The prerequisites for this are the sharing and management

of knowledge, co-operation and co-ordination across traditional organisational and

professional delineations in the public sector and in relations with external suppliers. A

final prerequisite of special importance is the involvement of and interaction with the

consumers/citizens, as co-creators of the services.

These developments pose new opportunities and challenges to the public sector

organisation, first and foremost in relation to its accessibility and its communi-

cation with citizens, who are seen as something more than mere consumers of

public sector services. The goal in the citizen-oriented public sector is to create

value for money in terms of quality. The public sector organisation’s service

and dialogue with the individual citizen must be based upon knowledge of and respect

for the citizen’s values and needs, and on a perception of citizens as co-participants,

with their own resources and a shared responsibility for the development of public

sector services.

Openness and transparency are stimulated by the media, which to an increasing

degree challenge and set up new frameworks for politics and public administration.

The need for the public sector and the political processes to relate to the media

is not new. Studies have shown, however, that a change has taken place in recent

decades in the way the media acts, partly due to the greater number of TV channels and

radio stations and the increasing level of competition between them. More programmes

are being produced with political content, but political journalism has tended to

shift its focus from substance to form. In addition, there is a trend towards personal

and small-scale problems, which might previously have been given scant public at-

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27

tention, being publicised in the press and rapidly attaining significance in the national

political agenda.

The choice of stories and perspectives by the media has an influence on both the

political agenda and on the formation of opinions and norms among the public.

As the media grows increasingly involved in influencing the formation of the politi-

cal agenda, it creates the need for politicians to act on the basis of an understanding

of the media’s strategies and logic, so as to set their own agenda. This provides other

possibilities and conditions for the political decision-making processes. This picture is

confirmed by public sector chief executives, who see ‘media-isation’ as a substantial

challenge to the basic conditions under which they perform their daily work. For many

chief executives, the challenge lies in finding ways to constructively handle this interplay

with the media; many also feel that they need to cultivate skills and gain experience in this

area.

Information technology, digital administration and the media affect the conditions and

frameworks under which the public sector performs its tasks in a number of ways. The

speed is increased, decision-making processes become more exposed and their outcome

less predictable, and all decisions can in principle be challenged. The individual public sec-

tor organisation is thus forced to maintain a constant focus on processes, justifications and

communications strategies.

The media, information technology and digital administration represent significant

opportunities for public sector organisations to open up to and conduct a dialogue with

their surroundings, as well as to communicate their goals and messages to the public,

brand the policies and service offerings of public sector enterprises, set the agenda

and influence the formation of attitudes towards developments in society and the public

sector.

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The challenge: An interactive public sector

The challenge for the public sector organisations is to be able to grasp the new possibilities

and conditions provided by information technology, digital administration and the media. These

include increasing demands made on consumers/citizens, faster speeds and greater openness,

communication and involvement on the part of the citizen-oriented public sector.

A new approach is demanded of the public sector chief executive in order to manage and

utilise the open processes and possibilities provided by information technology and digitalisation,

involving not only technology and organisation, but also procedures and norms. Information

technology and digitalisation have opened the door to many possible developments in the

public sector, ranging from openness and transparency to new methods of communication,

dialogue and negotiation. On all levels, public sector managers, case officers and service staff

must be equipped to enter into dialogue with the consumer concerning the right solution for

the consumer’s tangible needs, problems and expectations. As an extra aspect of this change,

the public sector organisations also face the significant challenge of having to focus on the

continual development of attractive workplaces and the recruitment of skilled employees.

The question is, how can the chief executive support the integration into the organisation’s

overall activities of a focus on results and effects, as well as greater communication and

involvement? What is the role of the chief executive here, and how can the chief executive

ensure an appropriate balance between innovation, a willingness to take risks and reliable

operation?

The media represent a number of channels through which the public organisation’s messages

may be communicated to the public, and interaction with the media has become a necessary

premise for public sector executive management. The question is how the chief executive can

and must relate to this development in interaction with the political leadership, and in relation

to the norms within the organisation, such as those governing media contact? How can the chief

executive integrate the norms, strategies and skills required for the marketing, branding and

influencing of opinion that public sector organisations undertake through the use of

information technology, digital administration and media relations?

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Governance – new methods of combining forms of co-operation and management

The changes in the decision-making structure in the public sector, along with the

establishment of more decision-making arenas and the freer and faster spread of

information, communication and knowledge all point in the direction of a departure

from the hierarchical form of management.

The hierarchical form of management presupposes a chain of decision-making

levels originating at an authoritative centre, and management which takes place

via rules, norms and delegated authority. The hierarchy has traditionally been,

and still is, the prevalent form of management in the public sector. Although

decentralisation has occurred to consumer and citizen committees and to decentralised

operating units, the political and administrative responsibilities are still uniquely

located with the minister or the mayor/municipal council and the appointed chief

executive of the organisation. Under current trends, however, it has proved increasingly

difficult to understand and explain the public sector organisation as a well-delineated

and unique entity which can be governed from a single hierarchical centre.

The concept of governance may be viewed as an expression of the new and

different forms of management, interaction and co-ordination that have arisen in

connection with the outsourcing of tasks to private enterprises, the creation of public

and public-private companies and the establishment of networks, partnerships

and other co-operative structures to undertake public sector tasks, etc.

In addition to the hierarchical form of management, three further forms of

management may be identified, namely market-based, profession-based and network-

oriented management. The existence of different forms of management is not in

itself a new phenomenon within the public sector. What is new is the alteration of their

relative weight in the various sectors (with the care sector, for example, characterised

by network management, while the infrastructure area is to a greater degree domi-

nated by traits from the market-based form of management) and the use of different

combinations, with elements from the various forms of management being combined

in new ways. As other forms of co-operation and management mechanisms are being

established, the role of the hierarchy is being redefined.

By comparison with the hierarchy, the market-based form of management is in a

certain sense a more spontaneous or direct form of management, ordered by the

”invisible hand” of the market through the interaction of demand and supply. The

marketisation of the public sector has been encouraged by regulation, and in recent

years there has been movement from a supply-driven to a more demand-driven

public sector. Outsourcing, free choice programmes and user fees are examples of how

the market-based form of management is making inroads into the public sector

and is challenging the previous conceptions and their accompanying incentive

structures. Where once the public sector made its own independent decisions on

public sector production, in future consumer demand will also be a factor

determining what the public sector organisation will offer - or create the necessary

frameworks to provide.

The spread of market-based forms of management is not solely an expression of the

introduction of new forms of management and interaction into the public sector arena;

it is equally an expression of the fact that new values, market logic and market-based

reasoning are gradually being introduced into the public sector, where they are thriving

alongside what we might term the classic values.

Efficiency, productivity, competitiveness, documentation, innovation and customised in-

dividual services are examples of the ”new” values that affect, supplement and – on occa-

sion – challenge the ”old” core values such as rule of law, stability and continuity. Some of

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31

the new values, considerations and reasoning can be combined with pre-existing values,

while others challenge the well-known values and give rise to dilemmas and conflicts.

One form of dilemma can be triggered by the societal trend towards individualisa-

tion, which makes client profiles more complex for public sector organisations. The

citizen/consumer of public sector services has never been a discrete entity, but

adopts a number of different roles with respect to the public sector, for example as a

consumer, taxpayer, voter and employee. The demands and expectations of the

individual will depend, amongst other things, upon which value/interest carries the

greatest weight in the specific situation or caseIn the political agenda for the

citizen-oriented sector, there is an expectation that public sector services will

increasingly be adjusted to specific and individual needs. If the equal treatment of

citizens is increasingly based on differentiated treatment, a dilemma may arise between

the need for coherent and stable service for the many (the public good) and the need for

specifically-adapted services for the individual or group (special interests), in addition

to the cross-pressures that arise between the infinite needs of the citizens/society for

public sector services and the public sector’s limited resources.

Another dilemma linked to the spread of the public sector into a semi-market invol-

ves the ongoing need to balance the financial, managerial and service-related benefits

of marketisation against the possible loss of political and democratic control. Market-

based forms of management and co-operation imply new types of management and

control tasks for the public sector. The placement of responsibility for production and opera-

tions for public sector tasks in market-based co-operative endeavours must be carried

out with regard for public sector control, democratic responsibility and the public good.

Finally, a not insignificant challenge lies in the confrontation between market-based

and profession-based forms of management.

The profession-based form of management is typically found in knowledge-intensive

organisations, where the work processes and output require a high degree of profes-

sional/vocational expertise which is difficult for outsiders to evaluate.

The profession-based form of management is greatly emphasised in the public sector,

which is characterised by many different knowledge-intensive environments (such as

the social, health care and educational sectors). Moreover, public sector organisations

often contain a number of different occupational milieus characterised by strong

common cultures centred on professional values. Such occupational groups have a

high level of education supplemented by specialised acquired knowledge, and hence

often possess a monopoly of knowledge in their fields, self-determination in their work

and a strong collective professional identity and culture. Management in these

profession-based units is typically anchored in professional values, autonomy and

internal professional control.

A typical dilemma can arise when demands for increased efficiency and produc-

tivity on the part of occupational professionals in a public sector organisation are

perceived as conflicting with the rule of law, professional norms of quality or professional

autonomy.

The combination of the profession-based management form (with its focus on profes-

sional values and standards) and the market-based management form (with its focus

on the interests and behaviour of consumers) is one of many significant challenges

posed by the need of public sector organisations, and of the public sector in general,

for democratic and cross-cutting holistic orientation and prioritisation. The more the

public sector is influenced by market-based management, the greater the challenge

will presumably be to get market orientation to go hand in hand with professionalism

within the politically-established frameworks.

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33

The network-oriented form of management also plays a significant role in the pub-

lic sector. A network is defined as a type of informal, negotiated order based upon

negotiation, dialogue, hearings, involvement and representation. A network is created

in a collaboration between independent players with a certain common interest in a

field or activity. Network players will however often seek different goals through their

participation in the network. The network-based form of management can be viewed

as a response to the increased need for co-ordination and interaction within the public

sector and in relation to the surrounding society. A network may be large or small, may

have a short or long lifespan, and may be formed within or between organisations. They

can also be formed between the public and private sectors.

Networks based on more or less formalised collaboration between organised stake-

holders, commercial enterprises and public authorities are examples of the network-

based management form. Informal networks of civil servants who co-ordinate a

policy area across organisational boundaries are another example of network manage-

ment. The network management form may be an expression of the fact that a field

exists which spans traditional professional and organisational boundaries, but in which

a hierarchical management form would be unsuitable for co-ordinating and manag-

ing processes, as the parties are equals and/or their status in the network changes

over time as well as in relation to the matter under consideration. At local level, the

politicians, the administration and the public institutions participate in networks

with many groups (e.g. associations of all types, companies, other public authorities,

professional organisations, ad hoc groups of citizens, etc.) for the purpose of executing

the tasks assigned to the public sector and following up on political initiatives.

The network-based form of management gives rise to various dilemmas, particularly

in relation to their design, definition of objectives, responsibilities and legitimacy. The

challenge for the public sector organisation lies in establishing and participating in

relevant networks which can promote and improve the accomplishment of the

tasks assigned to the public sector, but in a manner and with a mandate that ensures

legitimacy and respects the political responsibility. This presupposes that the public

sector organisation is aware of, identifies and secures the involvement of the relevant

stakeholders, and upholds values in a manner which is responsible, appropriate and

well justified.

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The challenge: Multiple competing management principles

The existence of differing forms of management within the public sector is not in itself new.

What is new is the change in their relative weight and the appearance of different combinatory

models, in which elements from the various forms are combined in new ways. The presence of

and competition between different forms of management in the public sector arena illustrates

how the public sector organisation enters into a multidimensional stakeholder perspective

which makes it necessary for the organisation to orient itself towards and enter into interaction

with a large number of different players (values and interests) at different levels, both within

and outside the organisation.

The challenge for the public sector chief executive consists of mastering and being aware of

the strengths and weaknesses, competing values and partially contradictory forms of logic that

characterise the hierarchical, market, profession-based and network-based forms of manage-

ment, respectively. The question is, how can public sector chief executives equip themselves to

understand, communicate and act within the entire spectrum of forms of management and

their associated forms of logic?

The interplay and combinations between the various forms of management can give rise to

a number of independent challenges for chief executives, who in their advice to the political

leadership and their management of the organisation must choose the right context in which

to place a given issue. The underlying legitimacy and value basis for a given matter can be

ambiguous and may vary, depending upon the precise form of management on which the

individual case, process, decision or initiative is based. From the perspective of the chief

35

executive, such a situation creates an ”ethical moment” in work and decision-making. These are

situations in which laws and rules fail to provide clear answers and guidelines, and in which a

public sector chief executive must take decisions which are based to a great extent upon the

conscience, experience and current knowledge of the individual.

The question is, how can the chief executive in the individual public sector organisation create

the preconditions to ensure that the organisation’s conscious selection and use of particular

management forms is in harmony with the politically determined goals and the needs of the

surrounding world, as well as those of the organisation?

A special challenge is associated with the tasks of management in public sector organisa-

tions dominated by specialised professional groups of personnel, particularly in the light of the

increased complexity associated with accomplishing the assigned tasks, as well as the

continual expansion in size of the organisational units, the requirement to focus on results, and

the need for cross-cutting co-ordination, prioritisation and co-operation. The question is how chief

executives in their choice of management forms can combine, communicate and challenge the

various competing and at times conflicting values that characterise the public sector organisa-

tion. How can the chief executive act as a bridge-builder between the political decisions and

values and professional values and implementation?

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38

Public Governance– Code for Chief Executive Excellence The nine recommendations for executive excellence comprise the backbone of the

Code. The recommendations are intended to function as a shared set of norms for what

characterises a good public sector chief executive.

It is the ambitious expectation that the nine recommendations will:

- Define the most significant tasks of a chief executive.

- Comprise a shared frame of reference for chief executives across all levels of the

public sector.

- Sharpen the focus of the individual chief executives on their own roles, management

style and conduct.

- Give the individual chief executives an opportunity to periodically reflect on

their own management practices in relation to the organisation’s results.

- Provide material for dialogue at the top of the individual public sector organisation.

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1. Clarify your managerial space with the political leader

2. Take responsibility for ensuring that the political goals are implemented

throughout the organisation

3. Create an organisation which is responsive and capable

of influencing the surrounding world

4. Create an organisation which acts as part of

an integrated public sector

5. Require the organisation to focus on results and effects

6. Possess vision and work strategically to improve the way that your organisation

accomplishes its assignments

7. Exercise your right and duty to lead the organisation

8. Display personal and professional integrity

9. Safeguard the public sector’s legitimacy and democratic values

Code for Chief Executive Excellence in Denmark

Nine recommendations

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41


42


A. What do you do to ensure that you and your political leader have a

shared understanding of the nature of your interplay in the

management of the organisation?

B. What do you do to encourage ongoing discussions between you and

your political leader concerning your specific division of responsibilities

with respect to the management of the organisation?

C. What weight do you assign to your respective roles as advisor to the

political leadership and leader of the organisation?

D. What do you do to reconcile the political demands towards the

organisation with the framework for the execution of its tasks?

43

As a public sector chief executive, your space to exercise management is dependent

on the preferences of your political leader. The political leader is the senior manager

with responsibility for the organisation. In practice, however, the political leader will

choose to share his or her managerial space with you by delegating responsibility for a

number of the daily management tasks. In this manner, you are given the responsibility

to both advise and serve the political leader as well as to manage the organisation. The

fundamental principle of the Danish system is that these two tasks are integrated and

mutually dependent.

”The challenge for ensuring organizational performance is to devise a strategy for balancing the

roles of the senior public executives: between the important role of policy and political advice; and

the critical function of ensuring high-performing government programmes. They have irresistible

demands and incentives for the former. If they do not attend to the latter, the performance of govern-

ment will, in all likelihood, fail to reflect the quality of the advice they give.” 1

In the Danish system, the dual roles of the public sector chief executive are regarded as

a strength, because they provide the chief executive with the opportunity to integrate

the tasks of providing advice to the political leader and managing the organisation. This

”We have an administrative management

space only if we are able to deliver proper

political advice.” (Danish chief executive)

Note 1. Donald F. Kettl, Christopher Pollitt, James H. Svara: ”Towards a Danish Concept of Public Governance:

An International Perspective”, Forum, August 2004.

44

enables you, as a chief executive, to reconcile your management-related prioritisation

of the tasks to be accomplished by the organisation with the political demands, and to

discuss the consequences of the political demands and prioritisations with the political

leader. However, this dual role can also present the executive management challenge

of creating an appropriate balance in the amount of attention you devote to each of the

two tasks. In some cases the division of responsibilities between you and your politi-

cal leader will be clear and unambiguous, but in most cases, your space to manage the

organisation will emerge in daily interaction with your political leader. This applies both

to your relative prioritisation of the tasks of providing advice and exercising manage-

ment, and to the division of responsibilities that you establish between you and the

political leader concerning the management of the organisation. However, you have

a special responsibility to ensure that you and your political leader attain a common

understanding of the nature of your interplay and your respective roles in the manage-

ment of the organisation. As a chief executive, your responsibility in this context is to

advise the political leader so that you can arrive at a clear division of tasks and working

practices which will satisfy your respective conditions for exercising management both

jointly and separately. The clarification of your mandate and managerial space is not

something that can occur once and for all, but must rather be discussed and clarified

on an on-going basis with the political leader. This can occur both in connection with

specific situations and as an element in discussions of principles and general views.

45

2. Take responsibility for ensuring that the political goals are implemented throughout the organisation

46

2. Take responsibility for ensuring that the political goals are implemented throughout the organisation

A. What do you do to ensure that the political goals and intentions are

clearly understood by the organisation’s management and staff?

B. How do you contribute to ensuring that policy and professionalism

mutually support one another?

C. How do you work to ensure that the various professional units

regard themselves as a part of the organisation when performing

tasks that require intra-organisational co-operation?

D. How do you acquire the requisite knowledge to enter into a dialogue

with the professional units concerning the execution of their tasks

and their development?

47

As a public sector chief executive, you are at the focal point of a very large organisation

with a broad portfolio of tasks and encompassing many different professional groups.

Regardless of whether the personnel groups concerned are at a town hall, in a state

ministry or employees in an area such as health care, education, research or therapy,

they are all characterised by special professional norms and values that are specific to

the sector and organisation. The ethic of following professional norms is strong among

public sector employees, but must not have the effect of causing the professional

environments to become isolated from the political goals and management frame-

work. The sense of identity, dedication and strong commitment to professional values

is a strength, but also presents pronounced executive management challenges. On the

one hand, you must ensure that political wishes regarding the accomplishment of the

assigned tasks are incorporated and implemented in all corners of the organisa-

tion, even when the political goals challenge the autonomy of professional methods,

orientations and assumptions. On the other hand, you must obtain expert knowledge

and input from your professional staff concerning the effect of the political goals, so

that this can be utilised and incorporated into your on-going advice to the political

leadership, as well as towards the enhancement of service, quality and efficiency.

”I can never run away from the fact that I am the

one who is responsible for presenting the pro-

fessional expertise to the politicians. And I am

also the one who must ensure that the decisions

of the politicians are implemented – regardless

of what the individual employee might think of

them.” (Danish chief executive)

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There is a constant challenge to your ability to communicate and justify, and to create

balance and build bridges between various considerations, so as to ensure that policy,

implementation and professional expertise go hand-in-hand. It is necessary for you

to enter into dialogue with and challenge the organisation’s professional groups, with

respect for their particular challenges and dilemmas. It is your task to ensure that

professional environments do not become isolated and pursue narrow professional

or personnel policy goals and desires. All parts of the organisation must under-

stand and respect the rules of the game that apply in a politically-led organisation,

including the fact that the accommodation of the political goals, the use of resources

and the achievement of results implies co-operation between different professions and

the sharing of knowledge laterally within the organisation. It is your responsibility to

ensure that the management and staff of the organisation are aware of and understand

the political goals and intentions, and that they pursue these goals. You must

require that the organisation’s professional units assess their degree of goal fulfilment,

including what works and what is inappropriate, and that this assessment is

communicated to you.

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3. Create an organisation which is responsive and capable of influencing

the surrounding world

50

3. Create an organisation which is responsive and capable of influencing the surrounding world

A. What do you do to ensure that the organisation’s assignments are tackled

with a point of departure in the perspective of citizens and consumers?

B. What do you do to keep the organisation open, interactive and

accessible by the outside world?

C. What do you do to safeguard and enhance the organisation’s reputation?

D. How do you work to create consistency between the organisation’s

communications, its daily practices and the political goals?

E. What do you do to create a constructive interplay between the

organisation and the media?

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As a public sector chief executive, one of your primary tasks is to create an organisation

in which your employees display respect for the citizen and the consumer, are open

and responsive to changing trends and requirements, and are professionally compe-

tent in their fields. The legitimacy of the public sector depends to a large degree on the

quality of the direct interaction between individual employees and the citizen. Citizens

must encounter skilled employees who are both responsive to individual needs and

act as guarantors of the legal rights of the citizen. The legitimacy and reputation of the

public sector is, however, also affected by its ability to communicate externally. Thus, for

you and your organisation to be able to affect the surrounding world, you must ensure

targeted and persistent communication of the goals and strategies that your political

leadership has set, and thereby also successfully communicate what your organisa-

tion stands for. The reputation of the public sector is not created through marketing

measures alone; it is created through the daily encounters of citizens, consumers

and companies with the public sector, and will depend on whether they experience

consistency between what the public sector says and its actions in practice. The media

are central players. They can help to ensure that citizens gain insight into the public

sector, and function to a large extent as the population’s watchdog, monitoring the

”I think very systematically about what

the things we do will mean for citizens

and users – how they will be affected, and

how they will react.” (Danish chief executive)

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performance by the public sector of its assigned tasks. The media are also an important

player when the public sector needs to communicate key messages about goals and

directions. It is thus crucial that the organisation enjoys open and constructive

interaction with the media, even in difficult cases. The responsibility for communica-

tion cannot be borne by you alone, or by delegating the task to professional commu-

nications experts. You have the important task of creating an organisation in which

the management and staff, at all levels, are trained and willing to communicate with

citizens and users, with the media, and with the surrounding world in general. A

prerequisite for this is a clear communications strategy which creates a common under-

standing of what should be communicated, who should be communicated with, and when

and how the communication should occur. This in turn presupposes a permanent focus on

developing communications-related skills among the organisation’s management and

staff.

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4. Create an organisation which acts as part of an integrated public sector

54

4. Create an organisation which acts as part of an integrated public sector

A. What do you do to encourage the organisation’s management and

staff to plan and organise their assigned tasks in co-operation with other

relevant working partners?

B. What do you do to ensure that the assigned tasks are executed in

a manner which improves the consistency and quality of services

for citizens?

C. What do you do to ensure that the organisation’s management and staff

perceive themselves, develop themselves and act as elements in an

overall public chain of value, in which each element, in interaction with

others, contributes to the wholeness, efficiency and coherence of the

overall task performance by the public sector?

D. What do you do to contribute to the on-going debate concerning which

frameworks promote or hinder the coherent and co-ordinated

performance of public sector assignments?

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As a public sector chief executive you are first and foremost the leader of your own

organisation, but you also have a responsibility to support the consistency and co-

herence of the entire public sector, where relevant. This duty to undertake co-operation

and co-ordination is a management condition that is specific to the public sector, in

contrast to the private sector, in which the expansion of market share and the

formulation of competitive and growth strategies are the primary motive forces. Public

sector organisations have an obligation to co-operate in the execution of their tasks,

so that citizens and users will experience coherence and quality in the performance of

these tasks. It is not the obligation of the citizen to understand how the public sector

functions; it is the responsibility of the public sector organisation to create co-ordinated

solutions that are based on the needs of citizens. Those wishing to start a business, for

example, should be able to obtain flexible and integrated advice from various authorities

with regard to local development plans, planning permission, environmental approvals,

employees, taxation, etc. Couples with handicapped children should obtain flexible and

empathetic support for their needs, which will change over time, in connection with

assistance and advice, care and training, follow-ups, resources, altered access to the

labour market, etc. The changes that the public sector is undergoing in connection with the

”We must not pursue our own interests when

organising the execution of the tasks assigned to

us. We need to think beyond our own organisa-

tions, so that citizens experience systematic

consistency – irrespective of who is responsible

for the task.” (Danish chief executive)

56

reform of its mission and structure emphasise the necessity of looking beyond your own

organisation. New forms of organisation and co-operation in the execution of public

sector tasks – in partnerships and networks, and in co-operation between public, private

and volunteer-based players – are contributing to an ever more complex situation. The

need for co-ordination, co-operation and coherence in the public sector will require an

expansion in your management perspective. It is not sufficient for you to orient yourself

upwards towards the political leadership and downwards to undertake the manage-

ment of your organisation. You must increasingly orient yourself towards the outside

world, and laterally across the public sector. It is your duty towards the organisation’s

management and staff to highlight and emphasise the value of co-operation across

organisational and professional boundaries. Digital administration and transverse

project units can provide an opening and a driving force in this respect. You must create

the preconditions, i.e. the necessary processes, structures, technology, skills and culture,

for your organisation to be able to plan and execute its assigned tasks in co-operation

with relevant stakeholders both inside and outside your own organisation, with the

aim of creating enhanced efficiency, quality and coherence in the services provided to

citizens.

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58


A. How do you create on-going focus throughout the organisation on the

connection between aims and means?

B. How do you create a link between the common goals and values of the

whole organisation and the goals and values of the decentralised units?

C. What do you do to ensure that efforts and results are measured, made

visible, discussed and followed up?

D. What do you do to ensure that the knowledge obtained through

evaluations brings about improvements?

E. How do you react when you become aware of errors and inefficiencies

in the execution of your organisation’s assignments?

59

As a public sector chief executive, it is an important part of your work to ensure that

all managers and employees are focused on results and effects. It is not enough to

define goals and formulate plans of action – it is also necessary to have a strong chief

executive focus on the creation of results in all parts of the organisation. In step

with the development of new forms of governance and organisation, the day-to-day

management responsibility for this task has to a large extent been delegated to the

managers of the individual units. While decentralisation has shown itself to be a strength,

it poses challenges for you as the senior manager of the overall organisation. You have

a special responsibility to create a result-oriented management culture among the

organisation’s managers; a culture characterised by curiosity and a constant striving

to perform the assigned tasks even better than before. It is your task to ensure that the

focus of the individual units on results and effects does not occur at the expense of

wholeness and consistency. Similarly, it is your responsibility to ensure that the

organisation’s fulfilment of its goals is assessed and rendered visible in order to

create on-going improvements. There can be many different explanations when

the results fail to live up to the goals you have set; accordingly, it is a special chal-

lenge to ensure that results follow-ups are applied in a forward-looking manner, to

”We are certainly better at formulating our

goals than at following up on whether we reach

them. It ought to be a matter of course that we

systematically measure whether the results

compare favourably with our efforts, and that

we actually use the knowledge we gain when

we follow up and act on it.” (Danish chief executive)

60

implement actions that create improvements. You must create a framework and

incentives that promote systematic follow-ups of the core tasks, and encourage

individual units to enhance their performance on the basis of knowledge of the

relationship between resources, skills, activities and results. This requires the creation

of a culture in which it is natural that the efforts of individual employees

are measured and evaluated, and in which managers have the courage and

the latitude to act firmly in their personnel management. Ensuring an inter-

relationship between aims and means is a continuing challenge in the public

sector. Setting overall priorities will always be a political task, but as chief

executive you have a special responsibility to ensure that the interrelationship

is visible and discussed, and that the priorities are put into effect. This

requires, on the one hand, openness and responsiveness to inputs from all parts of the

organisation, and, on the other hand, the ability to act when you have evidence that

parts of the organisation are not functioning efficiently.

61

6. Possess vision and work strategically to improve the way your organisation

accomplishes its assignments

62

6. Possess vision and work strategically to improve the way your organisation accomplishes its assignments

A. What do you do to make your organisation aware of and inspired by what

takes place outside the organisation – both locally and globally?

B. What do you do to create an organisation that can act in an

international setting?

C. How can you create a balance between reliable operations, innovation

and a willingness to take risks?

D. How do you help to ensure that you and your political leader are in

continual possession of the knowledge and broad perspective required

to develop new ways of executing the organisation’s core tasks?

E. How good are you at promoting and leading innovative processes that

can convert ideas and new knowledge into practice?

F. How do you form a general view of strengths and weaknesses by combi-

ning hierarchical, market-based and network forms of management?

G. How do you promote internal and external knowledge sharing?

63

As a public sector chief executive, it is your responsibility to continually develop your

organisation’s structures, processes, technologies and skills, so that it satisfies the

political goals and expectations in terms of quality and efficiency, and achieves

excellence. The operational frameworks of public sector organisations are subject to

continual change, and there is always pressure to deliver more for the same or fewer

resources. This requires you to be vigilant and visionary in relation to the environ-

ment in which your organisation operates – global or local, public or private. All public

sector organisations are affected by globalisation, and as a chief executive, you must

lead the way in developing your organisation’s globalisation strategy. You must be

prepared to learn from and be inspired by a broad spectrum of environments and

sources in Denmark and abroad. You must be aware of and allow yourself to be

challenged by trends that are relevant to you, your organisation or the services it

provides. You must lead the way in efforts to develop the organisation, and display an

open attitude towards innovation, without this being allowed to exert a deleterious

effect on daily operations. You will be constantly challenged to allocate resources

appropriately and maintain a balance between, on the one hand, the need for

dynamism, experimentation, daring and creative conflict, and on the other, the

”We are very introverted and prone to shut out

the outside world. One of the greatest challenges

of the coming years will be to break down the

walls and see what is going on outside the

organisation and around us.” (Danish chief executive)

64

need of the organisation and society for security, stability and zero errors. It is your

responsibility to ensure that the choices made and initiatives pursued in connection

with organisational development and change are robust and make a genuine and

constructive contribution to the organisation’s efficiency and the execution of

its tasks. The hierarchy is still a predominating, but no longer the only form of

governance in the public sector. The market (such as in contract management,

outsourcing and competition) has made inroads, and the establishment of networks

in which tasks are executed with the broad involvement of professional groups and

service users is an emerging governance concept for public sector organisations. These

governance reforms are built upon varying and sometimes competing incentive

structures and considerations. As a chief executive, it is your responsibility to ensure that

the selection and combination of different forms of governance are informed choices,

and that the management-related challenges and consequences of these choices are

dealt with.

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66


A. How do you handle your role as the personnel policy manager for the

entire organisation?

B. How do you fulfil your responsibility to ensure that the organisation

can recruit staff with professional and personal skills?

C. What do you do to ensure that your management team, viewed as a

whole, possesses the requisite professional and personal skills?

D. How do you contribute to the ongoing evaluation of the latitude to

exercise leadership at all levels?

E. How do you fulfil your responsibility to take difficult decisions

(e.g. firings or demotions) and carry them out in an appropriate manner?

F. How do you ensure that management decisions are explained,

communicated, and acted upon?

G. How do you ensure that you are accessible for members of your

organisation?

67

As chief executive you have not only the right, but also the duty to lead your

organisation in such a way that it thrives and develops. Demographic trends in the

composition of the population are placing the public sector under pressure, and the

competition for qualified employees is becoming more intense. Accordingly, you must

preserve and promote the organisation as an attractive workplace. As a chief executive

you are responsible for ensuring that the organisation performs the tasks assigned to

it, but you cannot do everything yourself; much is outside your direct control, and you

must solve your management tasks by managing through others. You must be aware of

your own strengths and weaknesses, and organise the work of your inner management

team so that it provides you with overview and insight without becoming a bottleneck

in the organisation. You must seek to ensure that your inner management team, as a

whole, is in possession of personal and professional skills that reflect the challenges

faced by the organisation. You must organise and orchestrate management work in the

organisation from top to bottom, and create the necessary conditions for the exercise

of clear and visible leadership at all levels of the organisation. The recruitment and

training of managers must have your particular attention, partly in order to

ensure dialogue and the anchoring of your leadership values and objectives. You

”I have had many different leaders over the

years. The one I remember best gave me lee-

way, but you were never in doubt about what he

wanted, and you could always count on actions

following the words.” (Danish chief executive)

68

must establish systems that will make it possible for you to follow up on whether the

organisation’s behaviour and execution of its assigned tasks is occurring in

accordance with your wishes. You must yourself be visible and available for the

organisation, and you must be continually aware of the interrelationship between

responsibility, skills, knowledge and resources, so that institution and department

managers can carry out their assigned management tasks. You must be able to

justify your choices and create the understanding that the balance between

decentralised management space and central control can be dynamic. Finally, you must

assume responsibility for difficult decisions such as firings or demotions and carry them

out in a humane and professionally correct manner.

”Top executives must personally embody the spirit and culture they wish the organization to fol-

low. They must build teams, from top to bottom of the organisation, which focus on implementing

policy effectively. And they need to build a broad consensus behind a proactive approach to

reshaping and refining the organization’s capacity and vision.” 2



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70


A. What do you do to ensure that the advice you provide is always based

upon principles of impartiality, objectivity and loyalty?

B. How do you handle acting as a role model for the organisation, with

all eyes upon you?

C. What do you do to ensure that advising the political leadership and

highlighting your own profile do not occur at the expense of managing

the organisation?

D. How good are you at creating consistency between what you demand

of others and what you do yourself?

E. How do you contribute – through your behaviour and management

style – to ensuring that ideas and criticism are aired in the organisation?

F. How good are you at giving and receiving feedback?

G. How do you acquire knowledge of the concerns within your organisation?

71

As a public sector chief executive, you must be aware that through your words, actions

and management style, you have a powerful influence on the culture and behavioural

norms of your organisation. The tasks of a chief executive impose high standards of

professional and personal integrity. You must possess moral courage and be personally

and professionally assertive, so that you are equipped to handle situations in which

you need to be particularly attentive to your impartiality, objectivity and loyalty. You

must be able to act in situations and ”ethical moments” in which your choices and

decisions cannot be justified with reference to a formal set of rules, but only by reference to

ethical and moral norms. As a chief executive, you are a role model for the organisa-

tion’s managers and employees, and everything that you do or fail to do will be the

subject of great attention. You thus have a particular responsibility to promote those

values and norms that you believe should characterise the organisation. You can do

this in many ways: by showing a sincere interest in your organisation, by your actions

when the organisation experiences success or commits errors, through your ability to

give and receive feedback, through your ability to be responsive and allow yourself to be

challenged, in your manner of taking firm decisions and justifying your choices, through

your compliance with deadlines and procedures, in your communications, and via your

”A chief executive must be both pleasant and tough.”

(Danish chief executive)

72

participation in the organisation’s social life. As a chief executive, you must play an

active role in establishing the overall management values and, especially, in living up

to them on a daily basis. You must allocate a high priority to your management task, so

that it is not sidelined in favour of your role as an advisor to the political leadership or in

order to enhance your own profile. The organisation must, in other words, be in no doubt

about ”who is minding the shop.” 3 You must work to establish your legitimacy, credibility

and integrity by ensuring that there is consistency between what you demand of others

and how you yourself act.



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74


A. How do you help citizens and users to remain confident that the

execution of your organisation’s tasks is grounded in objectivity,

equality and impartiality, and that every decision can be justified?

B. What do you do to ensure that your organisation is open and responsive

to special needs and wishes, while at the same time considering the

needs of the whole?

C. What do you do to ensure your organisation continuously develops the

requisite methods and skills to be open, communicative and engaging?

D. How do you help to maintain the public sector’s fundamental values of

impartiality, equality and objectivity?

E. How do you create clarity concerning when the decision-making

process is open and when it is closed?

75

As a public sector chief executive, you have a special responsibility to safeguard the

public sector’s legitimacy and democratic values. All public sector organisations operate

on the basis of a set of fundamental values concerning the public interest, openness,

the rule of law, equality, impartiality, objectivity, involvement and representative

democracy. These values express the most pronounced difference between the public

and private sector; they comprise the backbone of the public sector and express its

legitimacy and its special societal responsibility. As a public sector chief execu-

tive, you must find a balance, both in your advisory and managerial tasks, between

the need to involve stakeholders and the need to safeguard the public interest and

representative democracy. It is your responsibility to ensure that citizens, users and

employees understand precisely when and how they can gain influence in a given

decision-making process. It must be clear who has the responsibility for taking the

final decision, and how and when it will be taken. As a chief executive, you must ensure

that the public sector’s basic values are fundamental to and provide the underlying

justification for your advice to the political leadership, as well as in your daily

management of the organisation, and whenever the organisation is challenged or sets

a new course. However, it is one thing to ensure that you yourself understand and

”A good public sector chief executive is

capable of acting in an open space where

everything you do can be explained and

justified.” (Danish chief executive)

76

act in accordance with these values; it is another thing to create an organisation in

which they form the governing principles for action on a daily basis. It is your

responsibility to see that the organisation’s managers and employees safeguard

the interests and wishes of the political leader/leadership while at the same

time remaining loyal to the fundamental values of the public sector. All decisions

and actions must be justifiable, since they could potentially become the object

of political interest and public scrutiny. As a chief executive, you must constantly

ensure, through your advice, support and following-up, that your organisation’s

managers and employees live up to the confidence of the public that the

organisation will handle the execution of its assignments in an appropriate manner,

even when their wishes are not accommodated.

XX

Self-evaluation method

77

Self-evaluation method

“He who stops being better, stops being good.”

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)

78

The practical application of the Code represents a challenge for you as a public

sector chief executive, not least on the personal level. It challenges you to assess

your management style and manner of dealing with others, your personal and

professional management skills, and the repertoire of management tools that you

apply in decision-making and negotiating situations.

The self-evaluation method has been developed to help you to address this challenge. The

aim is to support, challenge and provoke you to reflect on and develop your management

style in the light of the Code. These self-evaluation tools are provided for your personal

use, and it is up to you to decide whether and when you wish to take the tests.

The self-evaluation method draws on the Code, and aims to set up a ”Code mirror” in

which you can observe the manner in which you exercise executive management.

CodeNorms for good public sector executive management

Self-evaluation methodReflections on your own management style

Phase 1: The full code – a first sounding

The nine recommendations in the code form a coherent strategy for good public sec-

tor executive management. The first step in the self-evaluation begins from this holistic

perspective. You are required to rate yourself on how well you handle the full Code. In

which areas do you act in a clear and deliberate manner, and where less so? The purpose

of phase 1 is to provide you with a basis upon which to reflect on your role both now and

in the future, for example in relation to your political leader, your management group

and the remainder of the organisation. It can give you a sense of where you stand in

relation to the full Code, and which areas you might wish to give some more attention.

Phase 2: My chief executive role and management style – focusing on the individual

recommendations.

Phase 2 emphasises the individual recommendations of the Code, and takes its point of

departure in your reflections on one or more specific and typical executive management

situations or incidents that you yourself identify. The assumption in this approach is

that there is learning potential in both positive and negative experiences, and you will

encounter questions which deal with both types of experiences. The specific situations

that you identify will be the key to analysing your behaviour and management style.

The questions will challenge you to consider the causes, advantages and disadvantages

of your actions from all angles, and explore ways in which you might have handled the

situation differently.


Phase 3 enables you to set goals for your management behaviour and development for

the coming year. What will you do differently? What should others observe that you are

doing differently, and how can you achieve this? In this connection you can consider

the most important or easiest targets for you to achieve, and from whom you can seek

feedback. You can also choose a different time horizon.

79

80

Considerations before you begin

The method presumes that you take a concrete, constructive, open and honest view of

your role and management style. In addition, there are a number of other considera-

tions to be made before you start:

Your level of ambition?

- Which of the three phases of the

self-evaluation test do you wish to

take: one, two or all three?

Your method?

- Evaluation in isolation?

- Involvement of others?

- Who might be able to provide you with

constructive criticism and feedback?

Your reflections and goal?

- Private and confidential?

- Open and visible?

Time and location?

- Make sure you have peace and quiet

and ample time.

- When will you return to re-examine

the questions in the self-evaluation

test?

Phase 1.The full Code

Phase 3.My chief executive role in the future

Phase 2.Focus on the individual recommendations

81

Phase 1: The full Code- a first sounding

82

Phase 1: The full Code - a first sounding

1. You clarify your management space with the political leader

2. You take responsibility for ensuring that the political goals are implemented throughout the organisation

3. You create an organisation which is responsive and capable of influencing the surrounding world

4. You create an organisation which acts as part of an integrated public sector

5. You require the organisation to focus on results and effects

6. You possess vision and work strategically to improve the way that your organisation accomplishes its assignments

7. You exercise your right and duty to lead the organisation

9. You safeguard the public sector’s legitimacy and democratic values

8. You display personal and professional integrity

Recommendations in the Code’s valuesClear and

deliberate

Less clear and

deliberate

What is your general impression, when you consider the nine

recommendations of the Code?

➤ Where are you clear and deliberate in your management style?

➤ Where are you less clear and deliberate in your management style?

83

Observe the distribution of the fields you ticked:

➤ Is there agreement between your actual and your desired management style

– i.e. between what you do and what your organisation needs?

➤ Is it clear to your management group and organisation where your focus lies?

➤ Is it clear to your management group where you expect them to step in to

support the execution of the recommendations?

➤ Are there any recommendations in relation to which you feel you have a need

to develop your role and management style?

➤ In the light of this initial reflection of your management style in the full Code,

are there any specific recommendations that it would be interesting for you

to explore in depth?

84

85

Phase 2: My chief executive role and management style

– focusing on the individual recommendations

86

1. You clarify your management space with the political leader

A. What do you do to ensure that you and your political leader have a shared understanding of the nature of your interplay in the management of the organisation?B. What do you do to encourage ongoing discussions between you and your political leader concerning your specific division of responsibilities with respect to the management of the organisation?C. What weight do you assign to your respective roles as advisor to the political leadership and leader of the organisation?D. What do you do to reconcile the political demands towards the organisation with the framework for the execution of its tasks?

General impression

What is your general impression when you consider the recommendation and your

responses to the associated questions?

➤ Is there consistency between your daily management practices and your own

needs, the needs of your political leader and those of your organisation?

➤ How do you think your political leader assesses your management practices?

Phase 2: My chief executive role and management style – focusing on the individual recommendations

87

Reflections

Identify one or more situations in which you, your political leader and/or your senior managers might wish that your role, conduct or management style had been different.

➤ Why did you act the way you did in the situation(s)?

➤ In what ways could you have acted differently?

➤ What consequences would this have had?

In which specific situations do you or your political leader typically feel a need to discuss your division of responsibilities in relation to managing the organisation?

➤ How would you characterise your role in this dialogue?

➤ Are there situations in which you could work to strengthen your dialogue concer-

ning the division of responsibilities, the ground rules and the management space?

88

2. You take responsibility for ensuring that the political goals are implemented throughout the organisation

A. What do you do to ensure that the political goals and intentions are clearly understood by the organisation’s management and staff?B. How do you contribute to ensuring that policy and professionalism mutually support one another?C. How do you work to ensure that the various professional units regard themselves as a part of the organisation when performing tasks that require intra-organisational co-operation?D. How do you acquire the requisite knowledge to enter into a dialogue with the professional units concerning the execution of their tasks and their development?

General impression

What is your general impression when you consider the recommendation and

the associated questions?

➤ Where do you direct your attention in your daily work?

➤ Is there agreement between your daily management practices and the needs

of the organisation?

➤ How do you think your management group assesses your daily management

practices, in relation to their needs and those of the organisation?

89

Reflections

Identify one or more situations in which your responsibility to reconcile policy

and professionalism was challenged.

➤ What role, behaviour and management style did you make use of in relation

to your political leader/leadership, your senior managers and the other

managers in the organisation, respectively?

➤ Why did you handle the situation as you did, and what were the advantages

and disadvantages of this approach?

➤ How could you have handled the situation(s) differently – before, during

and afterwards?

➤ Which strengths and weaknesses in your behaviour and management style

were illustrated by the situation(s)?

90

3. You create an organisation which is responsive and capable of influencing the

surrounding world

A. What do you do to ensure that the organisation’s assignments are tackled with a point of departure in the perspective of citizens and consumers?B. What do you do to keep the organisation open, interactive and accessible by the outside world?C. What do you do to safeguard and enhance the organisation’s reputation?D. How do you work to create consistency between the organisation’s communications, its daily practices and the political goals?E. What do you do to create a constructive interplay between the organisation and the media?

General impression

What is your general impression when you consider the recommendation and the

associated questions?


➤ Is there consistency between your daily management practices and the needs



practices in relation to their needs and those of the organisation?

91

Reflections

Identify one or more situations in which you and your organisation were challenged

in your communication with the surrounding world.

➤ Why did you act as you did in the situation(s)?


➤ What did you learn about your strengths and weaknesses from the situation(s)

concerning your behaviour and management style in relation to the communi-

cation task required of you and your organisation?

➤ How can you promote qualities such as responsiveness, openness and

communication, of which you are not in direct control, in the organisation?

92

4. You create an organisation which acts as part of an integrated public sector

A. What do you do to encourage the organisation’s management and staff to plan and organise their assigned tasks in co-operation with other relevant working partners?B. What do you do to ensure that the assigned tasks are executed in a manner which improves the consistency and quality of services for citizens?C. What do you do to ensure that the organisation’s management and staff perceive themselves, develop themselves and act as elements in an overall public chain of value, in which each element, in interaction with others, contributes to the wholeness, efficiency and coherence of the overall task performance by the public sector?D. What do you do to contribute to the on-going debate concerning which frameworks promote or hinder the coherent and co-ordinated performance of public sector assignments?

General impression






93



Reflections

Identify one of the most recent or most important organisational and management-

related changes that you have made in your organisation.

➤ What influence did considerations of interplay, wholeness and coherence

within and outside your own organisation play in your choice of organisational

design?

➤ What weight did you assign to interplay, wholeness and coherence in the

manner in which you communicated and justified these changes to the

organisation’s management and employees?

94

Identify a situation in which there was a lack of coherence and quality in the services

offered to the public, and in which your organisation was involved.

➤ How did you act in relation to the managers and employees in your organisation?

➤ How did you act in relation to the relevant external working partners?

➤ How did you experience your role, behaviour and management style in the

specific situation?

➤ How could you have acted differently, and with greater effect?

95

5. You require the organisation to focus on results and effects

A. How do you create on-going focus throughout the organisation on the connection between aims and means?B. How do you create a link between the common goals and values of the whole organisation and the goals and values of the decentralised units?C. What do you do to ensure that efforts and results are measured, made visible, discussed and followed up?D. What do you do to ensure that the knowledge obtained through evaluations brings about improvements?E. How do you react when you become aware of errors and inefficiencies in the execution of your organisation’s assignments?

General impression








96

Reflections

Identify one or more situations in which you – perhaps together with your senior

management staff – conducted follow-ups or evaluations of the level of goal

achievement in specific initiatives or projects.

➤ What role did you play in designing frameworks and incentives which would

support the evaluation process from beginning to end?

➤ How visible and responsive were you in discussing and justifying the purpose

of the follow-ups?

➤ How do you view and practise your role in ensuring that your organisation’s

follow-up actions have the correct focus, and how do you apply the knowledge

gained to create changes in your own practices?

➤ What obstacles and barriers have you encountered to the systematic

measurement and following-up of the organisation’s activities and results?

97

➤ How can you, through your behaviour and management style, promote a

forward-looking, constructive and results-oriented evaluation culture

throughout the organisation?

98

6. You possess vision and work strategically to improve the way that your

organisation accomplishes its assignments

A. What do you do to make your organisation aware of and inspired by what takes place outside the organisation – both locally and globally?B. What do you do to create an organisation that can act in an international setting?C. How can you create a balance between reliable operations, innovation and a willingness to take risks?D. How do you help to ensure that you and your political leader are in continual possession of the knowledge and broad perspective required to develop new ways of executing the organisation’s core tasks?E. How good are you at promoting and leading innovative processes that can convert ideas and new knowledge into practice?F. How do you form a general view of strengths and weaknesses by combining hierarchical, market-based and network forms of management?G. How do you promote internal and external knowledge sharing?

General impression

What is your general impression when you consider the recommendation and the associ-

ated questions?




99



Reflections

Identify any areas in your organisation where you observe dynamism and energy in

relation to vision and openness towards development.

➤ What are the explanations for these cases?

➤ How can you apply this knowledge in the executive management role,

behaviour and style you display towards other parts of your organisation?

Identify any areas in your organisation where you observe inertia in relation to vision,

inspiration and openness towards development.

➤ What are the explanations for these cases?

100

➤ What can you do to bring about change?

➤ In which situations can you promote your organisation’s capacity for internal

and external knowledge-sharing through your behaviour and management style?

101

7. You exercise your right and duty to lead the organisation

A. How do you handle your role as the personnel policy manager for the entire organisation?B. How do you fulfil your responsibility to ensure that the organisation can recruit staff with professional and personal skills?C. What do you do to ensure that your management team, viewed as a whole, possesses the requisite professional and personal skills?D. How do you contribute to the ongoing evaluation of the latitude to exercise leadership at all levels?E. How do you fulfil your responsibility to take difficult decisions (e.g. firings or demotions) and carry them out in an appropriate manner?F. How do you ensure that management decisions are explained, communicated, and acted upon?G. How do you ensure that you are accessible for members of your organisation?

General impression




➤ Is there consistency between your daily management practices and the

needs of the organisation?



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Reflections

Identify one or more situations in which you were faced with a difficult decision, and

in which you, your political leader, your senior management and/or the persons af-

fected by the decision might wish that your role, behaviour or management style had

been different.

➤ Why did you act as you did in the situation(s)?


Identify one or more situations in which you were faced with a difficult decision in

relation to your role as the most senior manager employed by the organisation, and

which you handled very well through your behaviour and management style.

➤ How did you act in the situation(s)?

➤ What strengths and weaknesses do these two examples illustrate in your

behaviour and management style, in relation to your role as personnel

policy manager?

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8. You display personal and professional integrity

A. What do you do to ensure that the advice you provide is always based upon principles of impartiality, objectivity and loyalty?B. How do you handle acting as a role model for the organisation, with all eyes upon you?C. What do you do to ensure that advising the political leadership and highlighting your own profile do not occur at the expense of managing the organisation?D. How good are you at creating consistency between what you demand of others and what you do yourself?E. How do you contribute – through your behaviour and management style – to ensuring that ideas and criticism are aired in the organisation?F. How good are you at giving and receiving feedback?G. How do you acquire knowledge of the concerns within your organisation?

General impression








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Reflections

Identify one or more situations – ”ethical moments” – in which you faced competing

pressures from different values and ethical considerations.

➤ What role, behaviour and management style did you make use of towards your

political leader/leadership and the organisation?

➤ What strengths and weaknesses can you detect in your management style

and strategy?

➤ How could you have approached the situation(s) differently?

Identify one or more situations in which your conduct had an effect, for better or

worse, on the organisation.

➤ What did you do?

105

➤ What could you have done differently?

➤ What strengths and weaknesses do these situations illustrate in your

behaviour and management style?

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9. You safeguard the public sector’s legitimacy and democratic values

A. How do you help citizens/users to remain confident that the execution of your organisation’s tasks is grounded in objectivity, equality and impartiality, and that every decision can be justified? B. What do you do to ensure that your organisation is open and responsive to special needs and wishes, while at the same time considering the needs of the whole?C. What do you do to ensure your organisation continuously develops the requisite methods and skills to be open, communicative and engaging?D. How do you help to maintain the public sector’s fundamental values of impartiality, equality and objectivity?E. How do you create clarity concerning when the decision-making process is open and when it is closed?

General impression




➤ Is there consistency between your daily management practices and the

needs of the organisation?



107

Reflections

Identify one or more situations in which you have been challenged with respect to

your responsibility to safeguard legitimacy and democratic values in the execution of

the tasks assigned to your organisation.

➤ What role, behaviour and management style did you make use of towards your

political leader/leadership, the organisation and the stakeholders in the

surrounding world?

➤ What could you have done differently – before, during and after?

➤ What strengths and weaknesses do these situations illustrate in your

behaviour and management style?

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109


110


Use your reflections from phase 2 as a point of departure.

➤ On the basis of these reflections, what goals will you set yourself over the

coming year for your management style and behaviour?

➤ What will you do differently?

➤ What should others observe that you are doing differently?

➤ What aspects of your management style can help you to achieve these goals?

➤ What aspects of your management style may hinder you in achieving them?

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My contract with myself

➤ How will you maintain your reflections?

➤ Who will you ask to provide you with feedback?

➤ When will you return to re-examine the questions in this self-evaluation?

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The History of the Forum

The History of the ForumThe Forum for Top Executive Management has been an ambitious and innovative

management project in the public sector. The Forum was inaugurated in Septem-

ber 2003 as a joint project between chief executives spanning the municipal, county

and state levels of government. The ambition of the project has been to establish a

focus on good executive management through comprehensive debate and a

process of knowledge generation, and thereby develop a code for Public Governance

– Chief Executive Excellence in Denmark.

The first deliberations concerning the establishment of a forum for top executives

arose in the spring of 2002. For a long period of time, there had been an intense debate

concerning public sector management. The debate had centred on the idea that good

management makes a difference, and is a prerequisite for creating results and meeting

the challenges facing the public sector. However, the debate had focused only to a lesser

degree on the conditions for creating management space and the roles of top-level

managers employed by the politically-led public sector organisations.

There was thus recognition of the need to create a foundation for a debate on the spe-

cial management tasks of public sector chief executives, focusing on both the enduring

characteristics and the newer conditions for public sector management, which have

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Altered framework conditions for public sector executive management

E.g. globalisation, media,increased user expectations, changing values and new incentive structures

Altered conditions forpublic sector executive management

E.g. the increased speed, complex-ity, transparency and diminished predictability of the decision-making processes

What is good public sector executive management?

Enduring and emerging requirements for the public sector chief executive: - Roles- Strategies- Skills

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been set in relief by current trends and developments. The aim was to clarify the

characteristics of good public sector executive management, both now and in the future.

What were the precise roles, strategies and skills that could be identified?

The establishment of the Forum occurred at around the same time as the appoint-

ment of the Commission on Administrative Structure in October 2002, but there was no

connection between the two. Nonetheless, the coincidence has been described

by a number of chief executives as ”good timing”, partly because the work of the

commission has in many ways provided a constructive context – ”a feeling of

necessity” – for the debates in the Forum, and partly because a code for good public

sector executive management could help to support the chief executives in their work

of implementing the coming Structural Reform.

”It has been incredibly rewarding to spend time with colleagues from other sectors.

The Forum has been a place for constructive, open and honest discussions across

traditional boundaries, while the ”civil war” was raging outside.”

(Danish chief executive)

The process utilised by the Forum has been based on involvement and networks,

and it has been crucial to the results. The Forum’s criteria for success were to in-

volve the entire group of chief executives and make them the driving force in the

development of a shared understanding of executive excellence. The commitment

of the chief executives to the Forum has carried the project through to the launch-

ing of the Code. The common and cross-cutting debate between chief executives from

municipalities, counties and the state has been the primary force in bringing the

project to its goal.

”We were perhaps a bit hesitant at the start. Could our ambitious goals be realised?

There is no doubt that the project has benefited greatly from the commitment shown

by the chief executives.” (Danish chief executive)

Right from the start, the Forum established a website at www.publicgovernance.dk,

where the community of chief executives and other interested parties could follow the

project, its activities and its results on an on-going basis. The target group was also in-

formed and involved via a number of chief executive forums and networks at national,

county and municipal levels, as offshoots from the Forum project. During the process,

the Forum’s board and secretariat also published articles in various periodicals, trade

journals and anthologies. The Danish Ministry of Finance, Danish Regions and Local

Government Denmark have kept the political level informed on an on-going basis of

the aims and status of the Forum project. The Forum has amongst other things been a

theme of the Mayors’ Conferences of 2003 and 2004.

Aims and principles of the ForumThe board of the Forum constituted itself in 2002/2003.4 The goal of the Forum project

was defined from the start: to develop a code for Public Governance – good public sector

executive management in Denmark.

The Forum’s overarching ambitions:

• To clarify Public Governance in Denmark – develop a code and recommendations

• To develop a common chief executive culture, conceptual framework and language

through debate and the involvement of public sector chief executives.

”This will not be traditional committee-type work. The future Code is to be the re-

sult of a debate in our own ranks, between chief executives from all parts of the

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Note 4. The members of the Forum Board are listed in the appendix.

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public sector. This debate is important in itself, because it creates shared reflections

and contributes to developing a common language and norms for good public sector

executive management.” (The Forum Board, at the opening conference)

An important ambition was to organise the Forum as a dialogue-based, knowledge-

generating project between the community of chief executives and Danish and foreign

researchers.

Involvement of the chief executives

First and foremost, it was essential to involve the community of chief executives from the

state, county and municipal sectors in a common dialogue. The involvement of the chief

executives in a cross-cutting debate was thus viewed from the beginning as a goal in itself,

and a fundamental success criterion for the development of a common chief executive cul-

ture, conceptual framework and norms for good public sector executive management.

The unifying thread in the debate has been a focus on the similarities and common

aspects of the work of chief executives in all parts of the public sector. The Forum project

was not intended to result in a comprehensive catalogue of all possible facets and

nuances of public sector executive management, but rather to discover the central

characteristics of executive excellence across the public sector, and the strategies

associated with these characteristics.

This focus on common features arose from the need for a general conceptual frame-

work for public sector executive management, as well as the need for common

norms and reference points. The debate on public sector management illustrated

that not all strategies were equally good. The ambition was to establish a code for

executive excellence which would provide a reference point for the individual chief

executive, as well as for the individual public sector organisation and the public

sector as a whole. In the first instance, executive excellence is a matter of the

chief executive’s individual managerial flair and skills. However, it equally

involves the ability of the system as a whole to handle the challenges of the

times on the basis of a common language and common norms across the public

sector.

”The Code must make a practical difference to the individual chief executive. We need

to make executive excellence the response to our times, rather than rules and proce-

dures.” (Danish chief executive)

The chief executives all participated in the Forum project on an equal footing and in

their capacity as chief executives – and not, for example, as representatives of their

organisations, sectors, boards, theme panels or anything else. The Forum’s activities

have consistently aimed at achieving a mix of participants from every part of the public

sector.

Involvement of Danish and foreign researchers

The involvement of Danish and foreign researchers has also been an essential

principle for the Forum. While the debate and the formation of a conceptual frame-

work would principally be of relevance to public sector executive managers, it would

also require a theoretical foundation, and was intended to create a basis for dialogue

and knowledge generation between management researchers and chief executives.

One international and two Danish research teams were invited at an early stage

of the project to make contributions to the Code.5 In other contexts, too, the

Forum has encouraged mutual professional echanges between and among

researchers and public sector chief executives.

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Note 5. The participants in the three research teams are listed in the appendix.

The involvement of researchers was intended partly to secure theoretical input to

the Forum’s own debate and knowledge generation processes, and partly to stimu-

late the research communities’ knowledge of and interest in public sector executive

management as a field for research. The mutual professional challenges between

the theoretical and practical fields have constituted an important device with which

to stimulate debate and the formation of a conceptual framework for public sector

executive management.

”The researchers have provoked debate and a search for clarity. They have to a great

degree contributed to the systematisation and generalisation of our understanding of

public sector executive management.” (Danish chief executive)

Right from the start, one of the goals was to involve international researchers in the

debate on good public sector executive management in a Danish context, with the

aim of providing new perspectives as well as specific knowledge of best practices from

an international point of view. With fresh eyes and from an international perspective,

the international research team was able to pose thought-provoking questions to the

debate which hopefully challenged established ways of thinking.

The three teams of researchers worked in parallel and independently of each other. The

researchers participated in and contributed to a number of the Forum’s conferences and

workshops.

Public Governance

The ambition to develop Public Governance was partly inspired by the Nørby Commit-

tee, which was convened in 2001 by the then Minister of Trade and Industry to examine

and make recommendations for good company management in Denmark.6

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Note 6. ”The Nørby Committee Report on Corporate Governance in Denmark – recommendations for good corporate

management in Denmark.” December 2001. www.corporategovernance.dk.

However, the Forum has differentiated itself from the Nørby Committee in both

its content and its methods. The Forum’s content has been different because the pub-

lic sector is characterised by some fundamental conditions which give rise to special

ground rules for management, such as the public sector’s democratic values, its many

varied bottom lines, etc. Public Governance differs in other words from Corporate Govern-

ance in certain central respects, for which reason management perspectives, tools and

inspiration drawn from the private sector cannot enjoy unlimited application to

public sector management. The development of Public Governance in Denmark has

been organised as a common management project for the entire community of

public sector chief executives.

The field of activity for the development of Public Governance was defined by the

Forum Board as:

”The interplay of the top-level, appointed executive manager with the political leadership and

with the delivery system concerning goals, results, and behaviour, which ensures that the public

sector organisation is on the one hand capable of handling the demands and expectations of the

surrounding world, and on the other hand is itself in a position to shape developments.”

Against this background, Public Governance was viewed as a description of the

decision-making processes and decision-making skills involved in the day-to-day

executive management of a public sector organisation. In this respect, the Forum

defined its focus as something quite unique in comparison with, for example:

- Public Government – which typically refers to a political system’s structure,

legitimacy and parliamentary basis.

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- Public Management – which typically refers in a narrower sense to various

management disciplines and tools.

- Corporate Governance – which often refers to the work of boards and management

structures in private companies.

The Forum has focused on the roles and responsibilities of the individual chief execu-

tive as the top-level manager employed by a public, politically-led organisation, whereas

the Nørby Committee’s code for corporate governance focuses more on management

bodies – boards and senior management – and their roles and responsibilities.

Three themes

Public Governance has comprised the overall framework for the Forum’s debate and

knowledge-generation process, placing a focus on three central themes for public sector

executive management:

- The interplay between the political leader and the executive manager concerning

goals and strategies for the organisation

- When professionalism, politics and management go hand-in-hand

- Executive management and communication in the knowledge society

The function of the three themes has been to focus the debate on common, central

challenges for public sector executive management across the public sector.

The Forum established three theme panels, each consisting of approximately twelve

public sector executive managers from the state, counties and municipalities, as well

as researchers.7 The composition of the theme panels thus in itself reflected one of

the project’s goals of establishing debate forums between researchers and executive

managers across the public sector.

The purpose of the theme panels was to function as expert groups and sparring

partners and to provide a driving force for broad and relevant coverage of the individual

themes, thereby creating a point of departure for specific proposals, recommendations

and strategies for public sector executive excellence. In the course of a year, the panels

carried out an impressive series of meetings.

The Forum’s code model

The Forum’s code model has provided a framework and a point of reference for the

project’s debates, analysis and conclusion processes.

The analysis of challenges outlines at the macro level the conditions and developmental

trends addressed by the recommendations in the Code. The analysis encompasses both

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Analysis of challenges

Code:

RecommendationsSelf-evaluation

Note 7. The participants in the three theme panels are listed in the appendix.

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enduring and emerging challenges for public sector executive management, and consti-

tutes the Forum’s diagnosis and argument for the composition of the Code.

The Code itself relates to the individual chief executive’s role, conduct and strategies on an

organisational level in the management of a public sector, politically-led organisation. The

key specifications for the development of the Code were that it should consist of a limited

number of brief and clear recommendations, followed by a manageable number of action-

oriented questions concerning the chief executive’s management of the organisation.

In order to support the widespread use of the Code in actual chief executive practices,

it was accompanied by a self-evaluation method for the use of the individual chief

executive (individual level). The aim of the self-evaluation method is to give individual

chief executives an opportunity to reflect on their own management practices in the

light of the recommendations of the Code.

Project phases and key eventsThe Forum’s debate process has taken place at a number of key events which have

simultaneously comprised important milestones along the way.8

Note 8. A chronological overview of the project’s activities, conference programmes and publications in connection

with the various key events are included in the appendix.

The Forum’s phases and milestones

Start-up phasePhase of knowledge gathering and debate

(First and second halves)

Launch &

wrap-up

Workshop(March 2003)

Opening conference(Sept. 2003)

Workshop conference(Feb. 2004)

Midpoint Conference(Aug. 2004)

Code seminars(Oct. & Nov. 2004)

International development seminars(Feb. & March 2005)

Camp Code I & II(Dec. 2004 &March 2005)

Conference(May 2005)

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The Forum’s debate phase consisted of two halves, separated by the Midpoint

Conference as an important milestone. The aim of the first half was to present the overall

perspective and acquire as much practical and theoretical knowledge as possible concer-

ning chief executive management. During the second half, activities were oriented more

towards prioritising and finalising the actual content and formulations of the Code.

From the start, it was clear that the maximum involvement of the target group would

require a special effort. As expected, there were many other demands on the time of

the chief executives, not least due to the work of the Commission on Administrative

Structure. Nonetheless, the activities of the executive management project were charac-

terised almost without exception by large attendance and a high level of commitment.

Workshop in Fredensborg

In March 2003, the Board invited a dozen managers from the state, county and mu-

nicipal administrations, as well as researchers, to attend a workshop in Fredensborg to

discuss the introductory working papers. The main points of discussion for the work-

shop were: Are the goals and direction of the project correct? Have we defined the

correct problems? How do we ensure the involvement of the target group? The

discussion confirmed the focus and ambitions of the project.

”The content is good and relevant. The form must be new.”

(Danish chief executive, at the Fredensborg workshop)

The workshop raised a number of questions that would turn out to characterise and set

the tone for the Forum. Amongst other things, a justification was sought for the Forum

project– why right now? What had happened? What were the altered or new conditions,

challenges or questions that had created a need to focus on public sector executive

management and these issues at this precise time?

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In response, participants pointed out that not all of the challenges for public sector

executive management were grounded in current trends and developments. The debate

on good public sector executive management should take account of the fact that the

challenges for the public sector executive manager arise both from certain permanent

conditions for executive managers and from some more topical trends and develop-

ments in the public sector and in society in general.

As an example of a fundamental premise, the dual role of the chief executive, as

an advisor to the political leadership and as the person responsible for the organisa-

tion’s operation and management, was highlighted as a special characteristic of Danish

public service which has deep historical roots. Both at Fredensborg and for the

entire lifespan of the project, this fundamental condition became a central point in the

discussion of the dilemmas faced by public sector chief executives and the strategies that

they employ.

”In production enterprises, the chief executive spends 100% of his or her time

managing. In consulting enterprises, perhaps 80%. But in the ministries, we spend

perhaps 10% of our time on strategic management and 90-100% of our time working

on proposed legislation. We need more management.”

(Danish chief executive, at the Fredensborg workshop)

Opening conference: Executive management makes a difference

The Opening Conference on 1 September 2003 marked the opening round of the joint

management project and the debate on good public sector executive management. The

aim of the conference was partly to present the Board’s ambitions for the project to

the community of chief executives – to create an anchoring – and partly of course to

inaugurate the debate on good public sector executive management. More than 200

public sector chief executives participated in the conference.

”I think it is entirely correct to place good executive management in public sector,

politically-led organisations on a common agenda for the purposes of developing a

modern, efficien and visionary public sector. This is of course what it is all about – giv-

ing citizens the best possible service for their tax money.”

(Danish chief executive, at the Opening Conference)

The participants found it interesting and innovative to establish a common basis

for debate across all parts of the sector. There was however a concern that the

differences in day-to-day practices and conditions might in the end turn out to be

greater than the similarities. How far could we go in the direction of developing a

common language and shared norms? Likewise, there was a certain degree of

scepticism concerning whether it was realistic to try to develop a code that would

both be workable and interesting.

Workshop Conference: Debate on chief executive challenges

As its next major event, the Forum held a Workshop Conference on 24 February 2004

which was attended by approximately 150 chief executives. The purpose of the confe-

rence was to focus on the challenges for public sector chief executives and to exchange

experiences concerning these.

The conference took as its point of departure three case studies, each of which illustrated

some of the typical situations, dilemmas and cross-pressures experienced by public sector

chief executives. The three cases were based on real events, and formed a basis for debate

both in plenary sessions and in smaller groups: What is this case about? What challenges

does the chief executive face in this situation? What can the chief executive do?

The Midpoint Conference: On the trail of good public sector executive management

The Midpoint Conference held on 30 August 2004 was an important milestone,

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marking an end to the first half of the Forum’s debate process. Nearly 200 chief executives

participated in the conference, at which the three research teams presented their

contributions to the Code.9 The presentations by the researchers were subsequently

commented upon by three ”reviewer teams” made up of public sector chief executives

from state, county and municipal administrations.

The responses of the three research groups to the same assignment by the Forum Board

were interesting and differed markedly from each other. They described a number of the

same trends and developments, but accentuated different aspects of the conditions

faced by chief executives using concepts drawn from their separate research traditions.

”The researchers have provided good input and established a good agenda for

the debate.” (Danish chief executive, at the Midpoint Conference)

The contributions of the researchers were well received by the chief executives at the

conference as inspiring and thought-provoking contributions to the Code process. The

conference then formulated its success criteria for the future Code.

In its content, the Code was to express a coherent perception of public sector

executive excellence – not ”a Christmas tree that the individual can decorate with

a personal choice of principles and skills” or ”a menu from which the individual

can pick and choose.” The Code was to represent an integrated and practical

conception which would be capable of providing (i) a common frame of reference across

the entire public sector, (ii) a point of departure for personal reflections by individual

chief executives, and (iii) a tool for creating dialogue in the individual public sector

organisations.

Note 9. The participants in the three research teams are listed in the appendix.

Concerning the form of the Code, the message was: ”brief and clear”. The chief execu-

tives wished to see a practical and relatively succinct code with a manageable number

of action-oriented recommendations, written in clear language.

For the occasion of the conference, the Forum had produced five short “dogma films”

on public sector executive management. The contributors were political leaders,

private sector chief executives, representatives from the management level

immediately beneath the public sector chief executives and representatives from

the media, who in the film spots gave their own views of the challenges, preju-

dices, expectations, skills and good advice relevant to good public sector executive

management.

In addition to the three contributions from the researchers, the written summaries and

conclusions of the Forum’s three theme panels were also published in connection with

the Midpoint Conference.

After the Midpoint Conference, there were a total of six written contributions – or

building blocks – for use in the subsequent work of summarising and formulating

conclusions for the Code: three from the research teams and three from the theme

panels. Under the heading ”From research contributions to practical executive manage-

ment in daily life”, the goal of the Forum’s activities during the autumn of 2004 was to

involve as many public sector chief executives as possible in discussions on the content

and formulation of the Code’s recommendations.

Code seminars: Good public sector executive management in daily life

– your turn to speak!

In September, the Forum’s board and secretariat prepared a comprehensive list of all the

recommendations made by the researchers and theme panels. The list was rather long: 25

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recommendations, each with up to five sub-recommendations. This list formed a point of

departure for discussions at two seminars for the entire target group, held in October and

November of 2004 in Copenhagen and Aarhus, respectively.

At the code seminars, the chief executives had the task of prioritising and revising the

many recommendations. Between meetings, the chief executives were encouraged to

follow up in their own organisations by conducting dialogues with the politicians and

the senior managers/management groups. On the basis of the discussions held at the

first code seminar (in October) the Board and secretariat revised the list for the second

seminar.

At these working seminars, the code work and debate was expanded even further. Chief

executives who had not previously been able to participate, or who had participated

only to a limited extent, now received an opportunity to engage in the debate.

The seminars were marked by intense and concentrated discussions on the Code. What

were the most important recommendations? What was lacking? Which aspects of the

chief executive’s task had been insufficiently elucidated? Through discussions and

prioritisation exercises, chief executives from state, county and municipal admini-

strations sought to achieve a common result.

The code seminars enabled the participants to approach an understanding of the

special role, responsibility and function of public sector executive management,

irrespective of sector. The formulation of concepts and descriptions of executive

management were at the core of the efforts to arrive at brief, comprehensive and precise

formulations. A few themes from the seminars may be highlighted, to give a general

impression of the debates.

The chief executive as a role model for the organisation’s managers and employees was

a concept that evoked mixed feelings. However, there was general acknowledgement

that a code should address the function of the chief executive as a role model in the

organisation.

Everyone agreed that internationalisation and globalisation had become general facts of

life, but the consequences of these trends for chief executives were viewed very differ-

ently. For some, these were very real and present aspects of daily life, while for others

they were rather more indirect and distant. Internationalisation should be included in

the Code in a manner that reflected this variation.

Initiation of a dialogue on the chief executive’s role and management space as the top-

level and responsible manager of the organisation led to discussions of, for example,

the tension between individual and collective managerial responsibility. ”You cannot

do everything yourself,” it was said, and the chief executives saw both a necessity and

a dilemma in the use of management teams and the delegation and distribution of

managerial responsibility. The Code should, in an objective and precise manner,

describe how the chief executive can simultaneously practise clear and visible executive

management – through others.

The chief executive’s responsibility for promoting legitimacy and democratic values in

the public sector was something that everyone saw as a practically self-evident element

which should be included in the Code. However this was also a recommendation of a

more philosophical character, which was difficult to express in words that were brief,

clear and precise.

The chief executive’s relationship with and management of the occupational

professional employees and professional communities was a topic of discussion. On the

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one hand, the chief executive needed to treat the occupational professional employees

with respect and empathy and thus remain up-to-date with the practical conditions and

challenges, while on the other, the chief executive was required to manage the profes-

sional communities and secure the execution of the political goals.

Through the chief executives’ discussions, prioritisations and qualifications, the two

code seminars reduced the number of recommendations from 25 to 16.

Camp Code I

In the middle of December 2004, the Forum Board invited eight chief executives to an

intensive 24-hour seminar in Sweden. The working foundation for Camp Code was based

on the conclusions of the code seminars, in the form of an updated rough draft of the

recommendations and questions. The goals of the camp were to tighten the process still

further to allow the Board to formulate and determine the content of the final Code.

Camp Code II

During the course of January and February, the Board formulated the final Code. In March

2005 the Board invited those who had participated in the first camp to attend an initial

presentation of the completed Code. The general impression was that the Forum had

achieved its goal, with a Code that lived up to its objectives.

Camp Code litmus test

What was the overall impression of the Code as a whole in relation to:

- An appropriate mixture of soft/hard?

- The scope of the chief executive’s relationships and tasks in relation to the political

leadership, organisation and surrounding world?

- Self-contained?

- Occasion for reflection?

- Sufficiently action-oriented?

”The form is right on target. It is quite usable” (Danish chief executive, at Camp Code II)

International development seminars: Management Excellence in the Knowledge Soci-

ety and An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governance

During weeks 8 and 9 of 2005, the Forum for Top Executive Management and the inter-

national research team held two international development seminars in North Carolina,

USA, and the Netherlands. The purpose of the seminars was to focus on skills enhan-

cement for chief executives. On the basis of a draft version of the Code, the partici-

pants discussed challenges, strategies and chief executive skills with their colleagues.

Contributions were made by international researchers from the respective research

environments as well as foreign chief executive colleagues.

Conference: Public Governance – a code for good public sector executive

management in Denmark

10 May 2005: Presentation of the Code for Chief Executive Excellence, with the participation of

public sector executive managers, political leaders and management group/senior manage-

ment members, as well as representatives from research and educational institutions, the

consulting world, professional organisations, foreign working partners and the media.

The elements in the Forum’s knowledge generation The commitment of the community of chief executives was the primary driving

force which carried the project through to the launching of the Code. The debate and

knowledge generation process also received important inputs from the three research

teams, the three theme panels and the three e-surveys.

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The three research teams

The composition of the Danish research teams was the result of an open process in

which the Forum Board issued an invitation to all relevant institutes at the Danish

universities and business schools. Researchers with knowledge of and expertise in the

areas of administration/public sector management, human resources and processes of

change within public sector organisations in the knowledge and network society were

encouraged to submit a brief draft on how they wished to contribute to the project. The

rationale for this broad invitation was that the Forum Board did not wish to involve

specific persons in advance, which might exclude other qualified researchers from

contributing to the project. Two research teams submitted drafts which formed the

basis for a working relationship.

After a broad screening of the international research world to obtain the most qualified

persons, five international researchers – two from Europe and three from North America

– were directly invited to participate by the Forum Board. All responded positively, and

three were able to participate.

The Forum Board’s assignment for the three research teams was to provide a contribu-

tion to the Code for good public sector executive management that would be of practical

relevance and developed in dialogue with public sector chief executives.

The Forum’s task for the researchers

- A brief definition of the concept of Public Governance in a Danish context.

- A survey and specification of the challenges faced by public sector chief executives today.

Which dilemmas, cross-pressures and challenges can be identified?

- A description of chief executive strategies for good practice/excellence in the handling

of dilemmas and cross-pressures relevant to Public Governance.

- A proposed list of the chief executive skills required to handle such challenges.

The international research team was also asked to provide a proposal for a measuring

instrument/self-evaluation method to evaluate good management at chief executive

level in Danish public sector institutions.

The Forum appointed Carsten Greve, associate professor at the University of

Copenhagen and Copenhagen Business School, to function as consultant to the

international research team with respect to knowledge of the Danish political system.

The international research team, Carsten Greve and the Forum’s secretariat held three

working seminars during this period.

All three research teams prepared their contributions on the basis of data collected from

public sector chief executives, either in advance of the Forum and/or occasioned by the

Forum.

As an element of their report “Udredning om god offentlig topledelse” (”Report on good

public sector executive management”), Kurt Klaudi Klausen and Ove Kaj Pedersen car-

ried out a number of interviews with chief executives from the Forum’s target group.

The team also obtained knowledge of public sector executive management through

their participation in one of the Forum’s theme panels. On their own initiative, the

research team carried out a comparative analysis of codes for good public sector executive

management in the UK, the USA and New Zealand, and included this in their report.

Torben Beck Jørgensen and Karsten Vrangbæk based their contribution “Værdibaseret

bidrag til kodeks for god offentlig topledelse” (”Value-based contribution to the Code for

good public sector executive management”) on data from an extensive questionnaire-

based survey carried out among Danish public sector managers in connection with the

Danish Democracy and Power Study.

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135

The international research team based their contribution, ”Towards a Danish Concept

of Public Governance”, on interviews with public sector chief executives and leading

Danish politicians. In February 2004, the researchers carried out four focus group

interviews with around 16 Danish chief executives in order to reveal precisely which

challenges the chief executives themselves identified as the most significant. The

four focus groups were both mixed and divided up by sector. In May and June 2004 the

international researchers carried out interviews with five (county) mayors and former

ministers to hear the viewpoints of the political leaders concerning the division of roles,

expectations, etc. in their interplay with public sector chief executives.

The three theme panels

Participation in the three theme panels was by direct invitation from the Forum Board.

The members of the three theme panels participated as themselves and in their capaci-

ties as chief executives, and not as representatives for their sectors or organisations.

The three theme panels defined their own agenda and methodology. They worked in

parallel, independently and separately from each other, and met approximately once

per month during the period from November 2003 to November 2004. Their participation

was marked by great commitment, and the three theme panels in many ways typified

experiences of the common management project.

”The cross-cutting debate has far exceeded expectations.” (Danish chief executive)

The tasks of the theme panels

- Stimulate debate among the target group

- Generate knowledge of the area

- Prepare written contributions for researchers

- Prepare cases for use at the Forum’s Workshop Conference (February 2004)

- Recommend winners of the Forum’s prize competition, etc.

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The interplay between the political leader and the chief executive concerning goals and strategies

The task for theme panel 1 consisted of identifying challenges, dilemmas and recom-

mendations relating to that part of the chief executive’s role which involves interplay with

the political leader in managing the organisation. A permeating theme of the discussions

was the dual role of the chief executive, including the need to create language, awareness

and understanding in relation to developments in the interplay, contrasts and similarities

across the governmental sectors, and in particular, in relation to ways in which develop-

ment trends at the macro level are reflected in challenges at the organisational level, as

well as recommendations for good public sector executive management on this basis.

The theme panel prepared the debate document “Ti statements om nye udfordringer

for god offentlig topledelse” (”Ten statements on new challenges for good public sector

executive management”), which was submitted in June 2004 to the three research teams

to provide inspiration.

When professionalism, politics and management must go hand-in-hand

The task for theme panel 2 consisted of focusing on the problems and strategies asso-

ciated with the executive management of occupational professionals and professional

environments. In June 2004, the theme panel invited chief executives and occupational

professionals to a dialogue session on management in occupational professional

environments. The event provided an occasion to discuss some of the challenges and

problems that must be handled in the meeting between occupational professionals

and chief executives.

The mini-conference took as its starting-point a debate document produced by the

panel entitled “En anden verden – Topledelse i fagprofessionelle miljøer” (”Another

world – Executive management in occupational professional environments”). This de-

bate document was based on 13 interviews with chief executives and occupational

137

professionals within the educational sector, the health care sector and highly-specialised

administration. As a follow-up to the theme panel’s dialogue session, a publication was

drafted with the title “I dialog med topledelsen – Replikker fra seminar om topledelse i

faglige miljøer” (”In dialogue with the executive management – Remarks from a seminar

on executive management in professional environments”). Both documents were sub-

mitted in June 2004 to the three research teams to provide inspiration.

Executive management and communication in the knowledge society

The task for theme panel 3 consisted of identifying the new challenges and condi-

tions that the knowledge society poses to the public sector and to public sector execu-

tive management. On the basis of discussions in the panel as well as the secretariat’s

interviews with members of the panel and two debate meetings held for public sector chief

executives in the spring of 2004, the theme panel set out its view of the challenges and ac-

companying recommendations in the document “Topledelse og kommuniktion i videns-

samfundet” (”Executive management and communication in the knowledge society”),

which was submitted to the three research teams in June 2004 to provide inspiration.

The three e-surveys

As part of its efforts to gather knowledge on public sector executive management, the

Forum carried out three electronic questionnaire surveys in the period from August

2003 to August 2004.10

The Forum’s surveys had different purposes and utilised various methods of questioning:

- Quantitative surveying of facts (e.g. gender, age, level of education, seniority)

- The prioritisations of chief executives (e.g. their ranking of the importance of the

various challenges, the time they spent on various management tasks, their ranking

of the most important work tasks and their actual and desired use of time).

Note 10. A summary of the Forum’s three e-surveys is attached in the appendix.

- Assessments of a more qualitative character (such as assessments of actual and

desired management style on a scale from 1 to 5).

These methods encountered some difficulties, notably the very large management-

related field and the broad spectrum of terms and concepts relating to the state, county

and municipal administrations. A challenge in the design phase of the surveys was thus

to formulate and prioritise questions that would be comprehensible and meaningful to

the entire target group, for example when formulating a manageable number of possible

responses to questions relating to the prioritisation by chief executives of their various

tasks.

The three e-surveys achieved an average response rate of 40-48 percent, which was

satisfactory and provided a sufficiently solid basis upon which to formulate some

general impressions concerning chief executives and executive management in

Denmark.

The Forum’s first survey was carried out in August 2003 and aimed amongst other things

to chart ”The public sector chief executive– a picture of the profile, career, work-related

areas and management challenges.” The results of e-survey 1 were published at the

Forum’s Opening Conference on 1 September 2003.

The second survey was carried out in February 2004 and aimed to reveal the

”Public sector chief executives’ view of policy advice, leadership and skills”,

including precisely which trends and developments chief executives identified

as having particular influence on changing the framework conditions for their work.

The questionnaire was prepared in co-operation with the international research team.

The results of e-survey 2 were published at the Forum’s Workshop Conference on

24 February 2004.

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139

The third and final survey was carried out during the summer of 2004, and aimed to

discover how public sector managers at the management level immediately beneath

the chief executive assessed the chief executive’s management style, skills and priori-

tisation of tasks.

The study was prepared in co-operation with the international research team, and

was intended to form a mirror image of survey 2. The questionnaire was sent out

to 1,748 persons: deputy chief executives and administrative heads in the munici-

palities, deputy directors and administrative heads in the counties, and depart-

ment heads, deputy directors and deputy chief executives in the state. State agency

directors were also included, in relation to their assessments of the permanent

secretaries. The results of e-survey 3 were published at the Forum’s Midpoint

Conference on 30 August 2004.

Prize competition

In September 2003 the Forum announced a prize competition within each of the three

themes, with a response deadline of 1 August 2004. The prize competition was open to

public sector (executive) managers from state, county and municipal administrations,

as well as to students and researchers at Danish universities and business schools. The

aim was to spread and diversify the debate on public sector executive management. The

Board chose the winning entry in December 2004.11

Process experiencesThe management project in its entirety, and the work in the three theme panels in

particular, illustrated how, through debate and the exchange of experiences, it is

possible to formulate shared norms and move closer to a common language and a

stronger common understanding concerning public sector executive management.

Note 11. The winning entry, “Når faglighed, politik og ledelse skal gå hånd i hånd” (”When professionalism, politics and

management must go hand-in-hand”) by Mads Ole Dall and Klaus Bakdal, may be viewed at: www.publicgovernance.dk

The project showed that there was a great need for a space in which chief executives

could exchange experiences and discuss executive management with each other. The

Forum has given rise to the creation of new networks and relations across the public

sector.

The common debate with chief executive colleagues from other sectors was experi-

enced as highly constructive and rewarding. The dialogue was open and honest, and

demonstrated that it is fruitful to discuss executive management with colleagues across

traditional boundaries. The Forum demonstrated that chief executives have much to

give to and learn from each other.

The experience also showed that there are more similarities than differences between

the municipal, county and state sectors – markedly more than many had believed at the

outset. The differences and nuances that the discussions revealed were as frequently

based on individual attitudes to ”my management of my organisation” as on innate dif-

ferences between the state, county and municipal levels. However, there were naturally

variations and differences across these levels.

The organisation of the Forum project as a dialogue between researchers and chief

executives proved both meaningful and rewarding. Theory and practice challenged and

provoked each other on an on-going basis, which was seen as fruitful and constructive

by both parties.

A unifying thread in the discussions was that it is difficult to understand and speak

about a chief executive’s management space and interplay with the political leader

in isolation from the chief executive’s role as an advisor. These two sides of the chief

executive’s task were seen by many as integrated and inseparable. A highly signifi-

cant feature of the Forum was to reach an understanding and a conceptual framework

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141

for the chief executive’s interplay with the political leader in the management of the

organisation.

Likewise, there was a shared recognition of the challenge of finding the right balance

between serving the political level and practising visible leadership of the organisation.

Board and secretariatThe Board’s role and working methods

From the beginning, the Board defined its role in the common management project as:

- To establish strategy and principal content

- To lay down frameworks and budgets

- To discuss and approve proposals and project descriptions produced by

the secretariat

- To follow up on goals and frameworks on an on-going basis

- To function as the Forum’s outward face

The Board’s role in the project varied during its various phases. The Board natu-

rally played the principal role in the start-up of the management project in defining

ambitions, focus and elements. In the knowledge-gathering and debate phase, the Board

played a simultaneously active and withdrawn role. The Board’s main role during this

phase was partly to secure a basis for the maximal involvement of the community of

chief executives, and partly to maintain the focus of the debate on the Code’s objectives.

In the summation and conclusion phase, the Board once again played a central role in

the formulation of the final Code.

The Board held an average of just under one meeting per month during the lifespan of

the project. The secretariat participated in the meetings of the Board.

The secretariat’s role and working methods

The Danish Ministry of Finance, Danish Regions and Local Government Denmark all

contributed resources to the secretariat of the common management project. The

secretariat was responsible for the planning, co-ordination, execution and summing-up

of Board meetings and all other activities in connection with the Forum project.

Right from the start, the Forum’s secretariat established and developed its own virtual

Forum project organisation, which was supported by regular weekly meetings. Respon-

sibility for the management of meetings and the co-ordination of meeting agendas was

undertaken in rotation, with changes each quarter. Co-ordination between the weekly

secretariat meetings was chiefly undertaken by e-mail, supplemented by bilateral

working meetings and writing sessions. The secretariat secured joint responsibility on

an ongoing basis, and divided up the tasks in such a way that the team responsible for

the current tasks in all the project’s activities was composed of representatives from all

three organisations. The project-based organisation and methods conveyed a number

of advantages: (1) it built bridges between the different cultures, working practices and

norms that the members of the secretariat brought with them from each of the organi-

sations involved, (2) it ensured that the skills of the secretariat were both utilised and

enhanced, and (3) it was a motivating force in the secretariat’s commitment.

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Appendix

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Appendix (outline)Appendix (outline)

1. Summary of the Forum’s three e-surveys

The typical Danish chief executive

Challenges faced by Danish public chief executivesChallenges faced by Danish public chief executivesChallenges faced by Danish public chief executivesChallenges faced by Danish public chief executivesChallenges faced by Danish public chief executives

2. The project’s activities in chronological order 2. The project’s activities in chronological order 2. The project’s activities in chronological order 2. The project’s activities in chronological order 2. The project’s activities in chronological order

3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order) 3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order)

Workshop in Fredensborg

Opening Conference: Executive management makes a differenceOpening Conference: Executive management makes a differenceOpening Conference: Executive management makes a differenceOpening Conference: Executive management makes a differenceOpening Conference: Executive management makes a differenceOpening Conference: Executive management makes a differenceOpening Conference: Executive management makes a differenceOpening Conference: Executive management makes a differenceOpening Conference: Executive management makes a differenceOpening Conference: Executive management makes a differenceOpening Conference: Executive management makes a difference

Workshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challengesWorkshop conference: Debate on chief executive challenges

Regional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge societyRegional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge society

Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas

and conflicts

Midpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellenceMidpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellence

Code Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speakCode Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speak

Camp Code I

Seminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge SocietySeminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge Society

Seminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governanceSeminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governance

Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence Conference: Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence

4. The Forum’s publications

5. Participant lists

Three theme panel

Three research teams

Participants in the Forum Board’s workshops

Forum Board and Secretariat

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1. Summary of the Forum’s three e-surveysDuring the period from August 2003 to August 2004, the Forum for Top Executive Management carried out

three electronic questionnaire surveys (e-surveys). E-surveys 1 and 2 were carried out among the chief

executives themselves, while e-survey 3 was conducted among managers on the level directly beneath the

chief executive. (For the sake of readability, public sector managers who report directly to chief executives

will be referred to in the following as “level 2 managers”.) E-survey 1 describes the general characteristics

of Danish public sector chief executives with respect to their personal profiles, types of tasks and manage-

rial challenges. E-survey 2 reveals the views of the chief executives regarding their own work-related tasks,

management style and skills. E-survey 3 aimed to create a picture of how level 2 managers assessed the

chief executives’ prioritisation of work-related tasks, as well as the management style and skills of the chief

executives. The themes in e-survey 3 are hence to a large extent identical to those of e-survey 2.

The typical Danish chief executive Chief executives in the Danish public sector possess a number of common characteristics which cut across

the national, county and municipality levels, relating to the personal profiles, types of tasks and general

challenges of chief executives (cf. table 1).

TABLE 1 Characteristics of a typical Danish public sector chief executive

Source: E-survey 1, carried out by the Forum for Top Executive Management among 158 chief executives in Denmark.

Personal profile

➤ Male

➤ 51-60 years of age

➤ Social sciences graduate

➤ Recruited internally

➤ No private sector or foreign managerial experience

➤ Employed as civil servant

Types of tasks

➤ Three main types of tasks:

1) providing political advice

2) case processing

3) management of the organisation

➤ 41-60 hour working week

General challenges

➤ Increasing internal efficiency

➤ Greater productivity

➤ Public-private interplay

➤ Implementation of the Task and Structural Reform

➤ Prioritisation of the organisation’s resources

The typical Danish chief executive

Personal profileThe typical public sector chief executive in Denmark is between 51 and 60 years of age and is a graduate

of law, economics or politics (LLB, MA/BA (econ.) MA (political science)). A total of 91% of the Danish chief

executive group were men.

Low mobility A majority (69.5%) of the chief executives – with the exception of the chief executives of the municipali-

ties – were recruited internally. The vast majority of permanent secretaries were recruited from the same

ministry (81.8%). Two-thirds of the directors of agencies were recruited from the same agency (68%) and

six out of ten clerks to the county councils were recruited from the same county council (40%). A majority

of Danish chief executives of municipalities were recruited externally, but the vast majority of municipal

chief executives came from positions in the municipal sector (78.7%). Mobility between the state on the one

hand and the counties and municipalities on the other is low. No permanent secretaries and only 14% of the

agency directors possessed management experience from a county or a municipality. None of the clerks to

the county councils and only 11% of the municipal chief executives had management experience from the

state. A total of 15% of the chief executives had management experience from the private sector, and 10%

had experience with management from abroad.

Types of tasksThe typical chief executive spends most of his or her working hours on tasks related to: 1) assisting the

political leader, 2) management of the organisation and 3) case processing and professional management

(overall average 43%). The chief executives spend least time on tasks relating to: 1) enhancement of their

own skills, 2) external communications and press relations and 3) networks and external relations. Where

public sector chief executives participated in professional networks, the network usually consisted of

players from other parts of the public sector. A total of 90% of Danish public sector chief executives

expressed satisfaction with their jobs. However, chief executives in general would like to have more time to

devote to their strategic management tasks, develop their own skills and participate in networks and other

external relations.

General challengesFor a typical chief executive in Denmark, the most significant general challenges consist of: 1) increasing

internal efficiency, 2) greater productivity, 3) the public-private interplay, 4) implementation of the

Structural Commission’s decisions and 5) the continual prioritisation of the resources of the organisation.

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Challenges faced by Danish public chief executivesTask prioritisationThe chief executives were asked to assess how they prioritised their various work-related tasks, while the

level 2 managers were requested to give an assessment of how they felt the chief executives prioritised

the same tasks. By comparing the assessments of task prioritisation by the chief executives and the level 2

managers, respectively, it is possible to identify areas in which there is general agreement (cf. table 2).

TABLE 2 Assessments by chief executives of their own prioritisation of work-related tasks, and assessments by level 2

managers of the chief executives’ prioritisation of work-related tasks. The six most highly prioritised tasks.

Source: E-surveys 2 and 3, carried out by the Forum for Top Executive Management among 191 chief executives and 714 level 2 managers in Denmark.

Comparison of the assessments of the chief executives and the level 2 managers of the prioritisation of

tasks revealed that there is broad agreement between the tasks to which the chief executives themselves

believe that they assign a high priority, and the tasks which they prioritise highly in the view of level 2

managers. The chief executives and the level 2 managers agreed that concept development and the formu-

lation of visions, ensuring the efficient use of resources and influencing the decision-making processes are

among the five most highly-prioritised work-related tasks of chief executives. The level 2 managers differed

from the chief executives in assessing that advice provided to the political leadership was among the chief

executive’s most highly prioritised tasks. The chief executives assessed staff recruitment and inter-depart-

mental co-operation to have a higher priority than advising the political leadership. The level 2 managers

are thus more of the opinion than the chief executives that the chief executives are more oriented towards

advising the political leadership than managing the organisation.

Chief executives’ assessments Level 2 managers’ assessments

1. Concept development and formulation of visions Advising the political leadership

2. Ensuring the efficient use of resources Influencing decision-making processes to attain rational and efficient solutions

3. Influencing decision-making processes to Legal, financial policy/budget-related and other attain rational and efficient solutions professional and technical advice to the political leadership

4. Recruiting the right staff members Ensuring the efficient use of resources

5. Encouraging co-operation between departments Concept development and formulation of visions

6. Advising the political leadership Administration of financial policy matters, budgets and maintenance of budgetary controls

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Management styleThe level 2 managers were also requested to assess the actual management styles of the chief executives

in relation to how they felt these management styles ought to be. In general, the level 2 managers assessed

that the chief executives were oriented towards the various management areas that are dealt with in the

survey questions. However, the level 2 managers felt that there was room for improvement in the chief

executives’ handling of the following management areas: 1) encouraging feedback on his/her management,

2) acting as a driving force to create clear ground rules for the organisation’s management group, 3) support-

ing the skills enhancement of the senior management/management group and preparing them for future

management positions, and 4) providing constructive feedback to persons who report to him/her (cf. table

3). Specifically, the level 2 managers desired improvements in relation to obtaining constructive feedback

on their own management.

TABLE 3 Wishes of level 2 managers in relation to the management style of the chief executives

Source: E-surveys 2 and 3 performed by the Forum for Top Executive Management among 191 chief executives and 714 level 2 managers in Denmark.

Chief executive skills In general, the level 2 managers regarded the management-related skills of the chief executives as being

well-developed and adequate. In particular, the public sector chief executives distinguished themselves by

having: 1) extensive knowledge of public sector administration, 2) negotiating experience, 3) experience

in establishing strategies, 4) experience in the analysis of policy programmes and political proposals, and

5) experience with leadership and the monitoring of projects. In addition, level 2 managers highlighted a

number of organisational management skills that they felt to be the most important for a chief executive

in the Danish public sector. These included: 1) experience in the management of management groups/

Assessment of chief executives Assessment of level 2 managers

Management style

➤ Increased emphasis on:

1) encouraging feedback on their own executive management,

2) acting as a driving force to create clear ground rules for the organisation’s management group,

3) supporting the skills enhancement of the senior management/management group and

preparing them for future management positions and

4) providing constructive feedback to those who report to them.

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department head groups/senior management, 2) experience in establishing strategies, 3) the ability to

communicate externally with various players, 4) negotiating experience and 5) experience with the analysis

of policy programmes and political proposals.

However, it turns out that there are relatively large differences between the assessments of level 2 manag-

ers of the chief executives’ actual skills and their assessment of the importance of these skills in relation

to the optimal execution of tasks (cf. table 4). Level 2 managers feel that chief executives ought to enhance

their management skills and gain more experience in the following four areas: 1) team building and team

leadership, 2) methods of ensuring good internal communications, 3) conflict management and 4) manage-

ment of management groups/department head groups/senior management.

TABLE 4 Wishes of level 2 managers in relation to the management skills of the chief executives

Source: E-surveys 2 and 3 carried out by the Forum for Top Executive Management among 191 chief executives and 714 level 2 managers in Denmark.

Conversely, the level 2 managers felt that the management skills of chief executives in relation to: 1) ne-

gotiating experience, 2) experience in the management of IT projects/systems, 3) knowledge of relevant

methods and analytical instruments and 4) experience of co-operation with international organisations is

in complete accord with the importance of these tasks.

The chief executives generally assessed their skills levels to be more than satisfactory. The skills that chief

executives stated that they possessed only to a limited degree were also those they regarded as being of

lesser importance to their work. However, external and internal communications skills stand out in this

regard; in these areas, the chief executives rated their own levels of competence as being significantly lower

than the importance of these skills. More than two-thirds of the chief executives wished to spend more time

on skills enhancement; pressure of time was stated to be the most significant barrier in this regard.

Desires of the level 2 managers in relation to the management style of the chief executives

Management skills

➤ Increased need for skills enhancement, including:

1) experience with team building and team leadership,

2) experience with methods to ensure good internal communications,

3) experience with conflict management and

4) experience with the management of management groups/department head groups/senior,

management.

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2. The project’s activities in chronological order March 2003 Workshop in Fredensborg. August 2003 E-survey 1. September 2003 Opening Conference ”Executive management makes a difference”.

Executive management workshop with Robert D. Behn, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

November 2003 The three theme panels commence work.

December 2003 Establishment of the three research teams.

February 2004 E-survey 2.

Workshop conference ”Debate on chief executive challenges”.

Meeting between the Forum Board and the three research teams.

The international research teams carry out focus group interviews among chief executives from state, county and municipal administrations.

April 2004 Regional meetings on ”Executive management and communication in the knowledge society” (organised by theme panel 3).

National research team carries out interviews with public sector chief executives.

E-survey 3 of a representative selection of managers at the level immediately beneath that of the chief executive (deputy directors, department heads, heads of administration).

May/June 2004 The international research team carries out interviews with top politicians from the state, counties and the municipalities.

June 2004 Dialogue session on the theme ”Executive management in occupational professional environments” (organised by theme panel 2).

The three theme panels submit their contributions to the three research teams.

150

August 2004 Midpoint Conference ”On the trail of chief executive excellence”.

September 2004 The secretariat and the Forum Board prepare a comprehensive list of Code recommendations and questions, on the basis of input from the three research teams and the three theme panels.

October 2004 Code Seminar I ”Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speak” (Aarhus and Copenhagen).

November 2004 Code Seminar II ”Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speak” (Copenhagen)

December 2004 Camp Code I.

Jan. – Feb. 2005 The Forum Board draws up the final Code for Chief Executive Excellence.

February 2005 International development seminar for the target group. Management Excellence in the Knowledge Society, North Carolina State University, with James Svara and Donald Kettl.

March 2005 International development seminar for the target group. An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governance, Erasmus University Rotterdam, with Christopher Pollitt.

March 2005 Camp Code II.

May 2005 Conference ”Public Governance – a Code for Chief Executive Excellence in Denmark”.

151

Workshop in Fredensborg (Marts 2003, Fredensborg)

13.15 Welcoming speech Board Chairperson Karsten Dybvad

13.30 Executive management when professionalism, politics and management must go hand in hand Introduction: Erik Jylling. Chairperson: Otto Larsen

14.45 Executive management in a political organisation Introduction: Kurt Klaudi Klausen. Chairperson: Peter Gorm Hansen

16.00 Coffee break

16.15 The chief executive and the surrounding world Introduction: Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen. Chairperson: Jørgen Rosted

17.30 Towards a definition of Public Governance Introduction: Ove Kaj Pedersen. Chairperson: Henrik Hassenkam

18.15 Coffee break

18.30 Discussion and ”What now...?” Summary: Henrik Hassenkam

19.30 Dinner

Opening Conference: Executive management makes a difference(1 September 2004, Axelborg)

13.00 Welcome to the conference Conference chairperson: Connie Hedegaard, journalist and host of the TV programme DR Deadline

13.05 Executive management in public sector organisations Karsten Dybvad, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance

3. Conference, workshop and seminar programmes (in chronological order)

152

13.25 Great Challenges for Public Leaders Robert D. Behn PhD, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

14.25 Break

14.40 Corporate Governance – what is its relevance for Public Governance? Lars Nørby Johansen, Chairperson of the Nørby Committee

15.05 Panel: reflection and debate - Bo Johansen, Chief Executive, Aarhus County Council - Jens Christian Birch, Chief Executive, Greve Municipality - Jørgen Rosted, Development Manager, National Business and Housing Agency - Dorthe Pedersen PhD, Senior Lecturer, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School

15.50 Managing Strategic Change Demands on Leadership in Public Organisations Prof. David Wilson, Marketing and Strategic Management Group, Warwick Business School

16.35 Panel comments and questions from the participants

17.00 What now? – The Forum for Top Executive Management after the Opening Conference Peter Gorm Hansen, CEO, Local Government Denmark

Workshop conference: Debate on chief executive challenges(24 February 2004, Danish Architecture Centre, Copenhagen)

13.00 Welcoming speech and presentation of the day’s programme Jens Kristian Gøtrik, Chief Medical Officer

13.15 Workshops 1. The chief executive’s advice in the political process – a case study on the political need for durable strategies, and on the unpredictability of the players.

Debate paper: Jens Christian Birch, Chief Executive, and Niels Højberg, Chief Executive 2. Leadership and conflict management when professional groups collide – a case study on managerial posts, areas of responsibility and external mobilisation.

153

Debate paper: Bo Smith, Permanent Secretary, and Peter Orebo Hansen, Director of Health Services. 3. Executive management, personnel and the media – a case study of what happens when a personnel matter is used in a media campaign.

Debate paper: Niels Aalund, Chief Executive

15.00 Coffee break

15.15 Public sector chief executives’ roles and challenges – seen from the outside Prof. Donald Kettl, Prof. James Svara and Prof. Christopher Pollitt. Chairperson: Henrik Kassenkam, Senior Advisor

17.15 Summary and thanks to participants: Henrik Kassenkam, Senior Advisor

Regional meetings: Executive management and communication in the knowledge society(April 2004, Copenhagen and Roskilde)

Questions for debate:

- What new challenges does the knowledge society pose to the organisation of executive management tasks? Executive management – as team, person or function?

- How can the chief executive make strategic use of communication in relation to the daily management tasks, and in interaction with citizens, users and other stakeholders? Meeting chairpersons and presenters:

Lisbeth Lollike, Director, State Employers’ Authority Professor Niels Åkerstrøm, Copenhagen Business School

Mogens Hegnsvad, Chief Executive, Græsted-Gilleleje Municipality Erik Lohmann-Davidsen, Chief Executive, Roskilde County Council

Agenda:

15.00 Welcoming speech and introduction

Debate and workshops

Common summary

17.00 Conclusion

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Dialogue session: Managing occupational professionals – challenges, dilemmas and conflicts (9 June 2004, KL Building)

10.00 Welcoming speech Suzanne Aaholm, Chief Executive, chairperson of theme panel two, welcomes participants and introduces the work of the theme panel.

10.20 A researcher’s perspective on the management of occupational professional environments Theoretical introduction to the issues by Dorthe Pedersen, Senior Lecturer, Copenhagen Business School.

10.40 Another world? – Executive management in occupational professional environments Experiences from interviews with chief executives and occupational professionals, Eva Zeuthen Bentsen, Department Head, Danish Regions.

11.00 Break

11.15 Why is it so difficult? – Seen from an occupational professional’s perspective Three occupational professional managers are interviewed on their view of management and chief executives in specialised environments. The panel includes Erik Skoubo Kristensen, Surgeon, Peter Bach-Mogensen, Department Head, and Lisbeth Lentz, Area Manager.

12.30 Lunch

13.30 Why is it so difficult? – Seen from a chief executive’s perspective Three chief executives from the state and local authorities are interviewed on their view of management in specialised environments. The panel includes Mogens Hegnsvad, Chief Executive, Per Okkels, Chief Executive, and Jens Andersen, Agency Director.

14.30 Break

14.45 Summary of open interviews

15.00 What are the ”ten commandments” for good management in occupational professional environments? Henrik Kassenkam, Senior Advisor, presents ten challenging proposals for good management in occupational professional environments. 15.15 Parallel workshops – on the solutions to the morning’s challenges, problems and dilemmas

16.30 Summary

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Midpoint Conference: On the trail of chief executive excellence (30 August 2004, Øksnehallen)

12.30 Welcoming speech and opening of the conference Conference chairperson Mikael Kamber, Journalist, TV-212.40 On the trail of chief executive excellence Peter Gorm Hansen, CEO, Local Government Denmark, and member of the Forum Board

12.55 Public Governance in Denmark – when a Code for chief executive excellence is the answer Presentation by Prof. Kurt Klaudi Klausen and Prof. Ove Kaj Pedersen. The debate will be introduced by a review team: - Niels Preisler, Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Refugees, Immigrants and Integration - Erik Lohmann-Davidsen, Chief Executive, Roskilde County Council - Per Mathiasen, Chief Executive, Skive Municipality

13.40 Coffee break

13.50 Values and management between hierarchy, market, network and clan – challenges, dilemmas and strategies for modern chief executives Presentation by Karsten Vrangbæk, External Lecturer, and Prof. Torben Beck Jørgensen. The debate is introduced by a review team: - Peter Loft, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Taxation - Palle Lund, Chief Executive, Vejle County Council - Søren Thorup, Chief Executive, Hillerød Municipality

14.35 Break and refreshments

14.55 A Code for Senior Government Executives: Leading for the Future Presentation by Prof. Christopher Pollitt, Donald Kettl and James Svara. The debate is introduced by the panel: - Michael Dithmer, Permanent Secretary, Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs - Jesper Jarmbæk, Agency Director, National Survey and Cadastre - Per Okkels, Chief Executive, North Jutland County Council - Søren Lund Hansen, Chief Executive, Varde Municipality

16.05 Evaluation of chief executives Otto Larsen, CEO, Danish Regions, and member of the Forum Board, and Kurt Brusgaard, Director, Ray & Berndtson

17.00 Public Governance – from research contributions to executive management in the daily routine Karsten Dybvad, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, and chairperson of the Forum Board

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Code Seminars I and II: Chief executive excellence in daily life – your turn to speak(October and November 2004, Copenhagen and Aarhus)

Aim:

I. Preliminary discussion and prioritisation of the recommendations in the general list

II. Second discussion, prioritisation and formulation of the recommendations in the revised general list

Agenda – Code Seminars I and II:

12.00 Arrival and lunch

13.00 Welcoming speech and commencement

13.30 Code workshops

15.00 Presentation and discussion of the groups’ choices

15.45 Summary and contextualisation

16.00 Wine reception

Camp Code I(December 2004, Kullen)

Friday13.00 Lunch

13.45 Welcoming speech and introduction

14.10 Executive management in our time – reflections on the Code Reflections on our own leadership models. What did this executive stand for?

14.40 The chief executive and relations with the surrounding world Joint discussion of the general list’s recommendations.

15.40 Break

15.50 The chief executive’s management of the organisation Discussion of the recommendations on the basis of the calendar exercise: What have you spent your time on during the last one to two weeks? Prioritisation.

17.30 Break

157

18.00 The chief executive’s interplay with the political leadership Joint discussion and qualification of the recommendations.

20.00 Dinner

Saturday09.00 The Code in practice Discussion of the launch and implementation. What can promote or inhibit the impact of the Code?

10.45 The Code – overall prioritisation Group prioritisation of the ten most important recommendations.

12.15 The final litmus test Summary of the prioritisation. What picture is emerging?

12.45 Conclusion

Seminar: Management Excellence in the Knowledge Society (Uge 8, North Carolina State University, USA)

Tuesday 09.30 Introduction and opening remarks

09.45 The Code for Danish Top Executives: Assessing Challenges and Capabilities in Your Organisation Professor James Svara, North Carolina State University

11.15 Assessing Organisational Climate Director James Horner, Administrative Officers Management Program, North Carolina State University

12.00 Lunch

13.30 Small group exercise: Identifying your preferred organisational characteristics

14.45 The Code for Danish Top Executives Professor Donald Kettl, Fels Institute of Government, University of Pennsylvania

17.30 Reception with local academics and government officials

158

Wednesday 09.00 The Code for Competencies for Top Executives: Meeting the Challenges Professor Donald Kettl og Professor James Svara

10.00 Expanding Competencies by Building Balanced Teams City Manager Pamela A. Syfert, Charlotte, North Carolina

12.00 Lunch 13.30 Result-based Management President C. Morgan Kinghorn, National Academy of Public Administration Small group exercise: Assessing the performance management systems in your organisation. Kinghorn will be available as a “consultant” to permanent secretaries and directors general; Syfert will be available as a ”consultant” to regional and municipal CEOs

16.00 Comparative Perspectives on Leadership: The responsibilities of Canadian Deputy Ministers Vice-President Ralph Heintzman, The Public Service Human Ressources Management Agency of Canada

18.30: Dinner

Conversation on leadership challenges Ralph Heintzman

Thursday 09.00 Introduction to Special Topic for Workshop: Management in the knowledge society President Emeritis Costis Toregas, Public Technology Inc

Small group exercise: Assessing the use and new potential for ICT in your organisation

12.00 Lunch

14.00 Integration of ICT into organisational management and relations with the public Professor David Garson, North Carolina State University

Small group exercise: Incorporating new technologies in the management of your organisation. Toregas and Garson will be available as “consultants”

159

19.00 Dinner

Friday 09.00 Using assessments for professional and organisational development Assistant Professor of Psychology Bart Craig, North Carolina State University

11.00 Summing up and moving forward James Svara

12.00 Lunch and presentation of certificates to participants

Seminar: An International Perspective on Networks, Complexity and E-governance(Uge 9, 2005, Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Tuesday 10.00 Introduction

10.15 Getting to grips with the code Professor Christopher Pollitt

12.30 Lunch at Faculty Club

14.00 Government Reforms: lessons from the past Professor Walter Kickert

15.30 Top executives and ministers: the Dutch experience Professor Paul t’Hart Evening Dinner and presentation: Media Pressures Politicle journalist Ton Planken Wednesday09.00 E-governance skills for top executives Professor Victor Bekkers

12.30 Lunch at Faculty Club 14.00 Competencies: Designing a system for implementation Professor Christopher Pollitt

160

Thursday 09.00 Steering networks Dr. Erik-Hans Klijn

12.30 Lunch at Faculty Club 14.00 Managing with complexity Professor Geert Teisman Evening Dinner Speaker: Arthur van Leeuwen – CEO, Financial Market Authority Friday 09.00 – 12.00 International links for top executives Michael Duggett, Director General, IIAS

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch at Faculty Club

13.00 – 14.00 Summing up and presentation of certificates to participants Professor Christopher Pollitt

Conference: Public Governance – a Code for chief executive excellence (10 May 2005, Børsen)

12.00 Light lunch

12.30 Welcoming speech and opening of the conference Thomas Larsen, Political Commentator, Berlingske Tidende, conference chairperson

12.45 Common norms for executive management in the public sector Karsten Dybvad, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, chairperson of the Forum for Top Executive Management

13.10 Reflections on the Code Jørgen Rosted, Development Manager, National Agency for Enterprise and Construction

13.25 The Code seen from the mayor’s chair Carl Holst, Chief Executive, Southern Jutland County Council, and Nick Hækkerup, Mayor, Hillerød Municipality

14.00 The Code in the daily routine – three personal stories Niels Bernstein, Permanent Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office Niels Højberg, Chief Executive, Funen County Council Suzanne Aaholm, Chief Executive, Køge Municipality 14.45 Break

15.15 The Code seen from outside Lars Rebien Sørensen, Managing Director, Novo Nordisk Lars Nørby Johansen, Managing Director, Group 4 Securicor, chairperson of the Committee on Corporate Governance

15.45 The Code – future perspectives Peter Gorm Hansen, CEO, Local Government Denmark, member of the Forum Board

16.00 Public Governance as an International Trend towards Excellence – the Danish Contribution professor James Svara, North Carolina State University 16.30 Excellence in top executive management – a prerequisite for an innovative Denmark Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen

16.50 Conclusion Thor Pedersen, Minister of Finance

17.00 Reception

161

162

4. The Forum’s publicationsDiscussion papers

- Executive management makes a difference – discussion paper for Opening Conference, 1 September 2003

- On the trail of chief executive excellence – discussion paper for conference on 30 August 2004

- From research to practice – impressions and inspiration from the conference on 30 August 2004

Case Studies (Workshop conference, February 2004)

- The Battle of Midtown – a case study on executive management in the cross-fire between politicians, the organisation and the surrounding world (February 2004)

- The Battle for Hearts at Ledreborg – a case study on managerial posts, areas of responsibility and external mobilisation (February 2004)

- Louisehøj – county psychiatric management under pressure. A case study of what can happen when a staff matter is used in a media campaign (February 2004)

From the theme panels

- Ten statements on new challenges for chief executive excellence (June 2004)

- Another world? Executive management in occupational professional environments (June 2004)

- In dialogue with chief executives – dialogue from the seminar on executive management in professional environments (August 2004)

- Executive management and communication in the knowledge society (August 2004)

E-surveys

- The Public Sector Chief Executive – a portrait of the profile, career, tasks and managerial challenges (August 2003)

- The public sector chief executive’s view of advice-giving, management and skills (February 2004)

- Chief executive excellence – a survey undertaken among public sector managers who report to chief executives (August 2004)

5. Participant lists

163

Research contributions

- An investigation of chief executive excellence (Kurt Klaudi Klausen & Ove Kaj Pedersen, Aug. 2004)

- A value-based contribution to the Code for chief executive excellence (Torben Beck Jørgensen & Karsten Vrangbæk, Aug. 2004)

- Towards a Danish Concept of Public Governance: An International Perspective (Donald F. Kettl, Christopher Pollitt & James H. Svara, Aug. 2004)

Three Theme Panel

Theme Panel 1: The interplay between the political leader and the chief executive concerning goals and strategies for the organisation

Niels Højberg, Chief Executive, Funen County Council (spokesperson for the panel) Jens Christian Birch, Chief Executive, Greve Municipality Lisbeth Finderup, Chief Executive, Nordborg Mu-nicipality (until March 2004) Jesper Holm, Chief Executive, Helle Municipality Niels Vad Sørensen, Chief Executive, Aarhus Municipality Karoline Prien Kjeldsen, Permanent Secretary, Danish Ministry of Culture Torsten Hesselbjerg, National Commissioner of Police Anne Lind Madsen, Director, National Board of Industrial Injuries Claes Nilas, Managing Director, Greater Copenhagen AuthorityProfessor Ove Kaj Pedersen, University of Copenhagen & Copenhagen Business School Professor Kurt Klaudi Klausen, University of Southern Denmark Carsten Greve, Senior Lecturer, University of Copenhagen Henrik Kassenkam, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Finance Secretariat: Local Government Denmark, with: Solvejg Schulz Jakobsen, Assistant Director Lise Balslev, Consultant

Theme Panel 2: When professionalism, politics and management must go hand in hand

Suzanne Aaholm, Chief Executive, Køge Municipality (spokesperson for the panel) Bjarne Pedersen, Chief Executive, Søllerød Municipality Jørgen Schmidt, Chief Executive, Ikast Municipality

164

Per Okkels, Chief Executive, North Jutland County Council Bo Smith, Permanent Secretary, Danish Ministry for Employment Annemette Digmann, Head of Education Department, Aarhus County Council Jens Chr. Gøtrik, Director, National Board of Health Jens Andersen, Director, National Rail Authority Claus Juhl, Director, Danish Agency for Governmental Management Dorthe Pedersen, Senior Lecturer, Copenhagen Business School Professor Finn Borum, Copenhagen Business SchoolHenrik Kassenkam, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Finance Secretariat: Danish Regions, with: Eva Zeuthen Bentsen, Assistant Director Merete Pagter Møller, Administrative Officer Line Nørbæk, Administrative Officer

Theme Panel 3: Executive management and communication in the knowledge society

Leo Bjørnskov, Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Science, Technology and Development (spokesperson for the panel) Allan Vendelbo, Chief Executive, Ballerup Municipality Mogens Hegnsvad, Chief Executive, Græsted-Gilleleje Municipality Niels Aalund, Chief Executive, Viborg County Council Peter Loft, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Taxation Lisbeth Lollike, Director, State Employers’ Authority Professor Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen, Copenhagen Business School Professor Steen Hildebrandt, Aarhus School of BusinessHenrik Kassenkam, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Finance Secretariat: Ministry of Finance, with: Elisabeth Hvas, Assistant Director Tine Vedel Kruse, Chief Consultant Barbara Taudorf, Administrative Officer

Three research teams

Professor Torben Beck Jørgensen, University of Copenhagen Karsten Vrangbæk, Senior Lecturer, University of Copenhagen

Professor Ove Kaj Pedersen, University of Copenhagen/Copenhagen Business School Professor Kurt Klaudi Klausen, University of Southern Denmark

165

Professor Donald F. Kettl, University of WisconsinProfessor James H. Svara, North Carolina State UniversityProfessor Christopher Pollitt, Erasmus University RotterdamSparring partner: Carsten Greve, Senior Lecturer, University of Copenhagen/Copenhagen Business School

Camp Code

Claes Nilas, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Family and Consumer Affairs Leo Bjørnskov, Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Science, Technology and Development Kim Høgh, Chief Executive, Birkerød Municipality Lisbeth Lollike, Director, State Employers’ Authority Niels Højberg, Chief Executive, Funen County Council Per Mathiasen, Chief Executive, Skive Municipality Per Okkels, Chief Executive, North Jutland County Council Peter Loft, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Taxation Suzanne Aaholm, Chief Executive, Køge Municipality

Fredensborg Workshop

Anders Kretzschmar, Director, National Business and Housing Agency Bo Johansen, Chief Executive, Aarhus County Council Per Okkels, Chief Executive, North Jutland County Council Jes Lunde, Technical Director, North Jutland County Council Lisbeth Finderup, Chief Executive, Nordborg Municipality Anders Vestenholtz, Chief Executive, Stenløse Municipality Jens Christian Birch, Chief Executive, Greve Municipality Torsten Hesselbjerg, National Commissioner of PoliceJytte Lyngvig, Chief Executive Officer, Danish Medicines Agency Mogens Bundgaard-Nielsen, Managing Director, Sund&Bælt Professor Ove Kaj Pedersen, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen Professor Kurt Klaudi Klausen, University of Southern Denmark, Odense Professor Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen, Copenhagen Business School Erik Jylling, Chairman, Danish Association of Junior Doctors

Participants in the Forum Board’s workshops

166

Forum Board

Christian Kettel Thomsen, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance (chairperson, appointed September 2005)Karsten Dybvad, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance (chairperson, resigned September 2005)Otto Larsen, CEO, Danish Regions Peter Gorm Hansen, CEO, Local Government Denmark Jens Christian Birch, Chief Executive, Greve Municipality (appointed December 2003) Erik Lohmann-Davidsen, Chief Executive, Roskilde County Council (appointed November 2004) Jørgen Rosted, Development Manager, National Business and Housing Agency (resigned January 2005) Henrik Kassenkam, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Finance

Secretariat

Ministry of FinanceElisabeth Hvas, Assistant Director Camille Hersom, Administrative Officer (until April 2003) Jens Qvesel, Administrative Officer (until December 2003) Barbara Taudorf, Administrative Officer (until December 2004) Tine Vedel Kruse, Chief Consultant (from March 2004)Berit Didriksen, Administrative Officer (from March 2005)

Danish Regions Eva Zeuthen Bentsen, Assistant Director (until March 2005)Sisse Vase Fallinge, Administrative Officer (until March 2004) Merete Pagter Møller, Administrative Officer (Oct. 2003 – Feb. 2005)Line Nørbæk, Administrative Officer (Feb. 2004 – March 2005) Marie Louise Bloch Poulsen-Hansen, Administrative Officer (from January 2005)

Local Government Denmark Solvejg Schulz Jakobsen, Assistant Director Lise Balslev, Consultant Birgit Øbakke, Consultant, (July 04 – Dec. 04)

Forum Board and Secretariat

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