Abstract
Co-production is increasingly outlined as an approach for operationalizing the shift from new Public Management to New Public Governance. In particular, the literature discusses the implications of co-production on frontline staff and the change in relations to citizens. This chapter focuses on a less developed area, namely the implications of the co-production turn on management. Specifically, the authors focus on how Karl Weick's notion of sensemaking when operationalized into sensemaking-tools is helpful in facilitating an organizational change towards co-production. The application of sensemaking as a processual approach to co-production leads to a discussion of how management in public organizations seems to be evolving into what can be termed hybrid management.
TopManagement In Co-Production – A Missing Focus
Literature has extensively focused on similarities and differences between co-creation and co-production (Bradsen & Honingh, 2018), and has analyzed and discussed the approach of different paradigms towards co-creation and co-production, for example by examining the role of the citizen and service professional in these paradigms (Mortensen et al., 2021). Still, co-creation and co-production are not unified notions, as different traditions operate with different definitions that emphasize divergent elements and objectives (Bradsen & Honingh, 2018). A public management perspective on co-production focuses “on how to “add-in” service user input into public services planning and delivery, on a voluntary basis” (Osborne et al., 2018, p. 18). This perception of co-production is in line with the basic premises of New Public Management, as co-production can only occur if service professionals accept and control the co-production activity (Brandsen & Pestoff, 2006; Osborne et al., 2018). Within a service management perspective, co-production focuses on how to enable or build in co-production. The approach is
…that co-production is an essential and inalienable core component of service delivery: you cannot have service delivery without co-production. (Osborne et al., 2018, p. 18)
Thus, from a service management perspective, co-production is not something citizens and service professionals can escape; it is an integrated part of interaction and collaboration, and not something, they necessarily need to be aware of. As argued by Osborne et al. (2018, p. 19) “Co-production thus comprises the intrinsic process of interaction between any service organization and the service user at the point of delivery of a service”. Focus is thus placed on the interaction between the citizen and the service professional, and the value experienced by the citizen based on the expectations of the citizen (Bradsen & Honingh, 2018, p. 11). Different perceptions of the link or the interactions between citizens and service professionals have been, and still are, the primary focus.
The changes in perspective on the link between citizen and service professional follow the development in Public Administration Regimes (PAR) that has unfolded since the 1940s (Pestoff, 2018a), from “Traditional Public Administration” via “New Public Management” to “New Public Governance”, the latter being the most influential paradigm at the moment. The shift between paradigms illustrates changes between organizational megatrends that influence processes, work procedures and objectives of organizations (Røvik, 2010). However, what seems to occur is that
Key Terms in this Chapter
Karl Weick: The American social psychologist how introduced the notion of sensemaking organizational studies.
Hybrid Management: Managements way of combining and integrating existing and new paradigms and approaches in management practice.
Organizational Change: Describes the changes in organizational practice based on new ways of action influencing a change in for example culture, structure, technology, and organizational identity.
Ten Shots: Ten suggestions on how managers can implement sensemaking in management practice.
Social Worker as Processor: The social worker as a facilitator of the young person’s recovery process and collaboration with his/her networks.
Close to the Family: Name of the co-production project implemented in Social Services Administration.