Tillidsreform i Københavns Kommune - Den svære balancegang mellem kontrol og tillid på beskæftigelsesområdet

This master thesis is a contribution to the research within the field of trust-based management reform in public sector organizations. Trust-based management is currently on the agenda in the public sector in Denmark as a result of the need for general efficiency improvements. Key stakeholders in and around the public sector argue for a more trust-based management agenda and a number of municipalities have introduced trust-based management as a central man-agement tool. Most recently the Municipality of Copenhagen has decided to implement a trust-based management reform in the administration due to the economical, theoretical, structural and political pressure on the municipality. The reform has already been implement-ed in the Department of Culture and Leisure and the next step will be the implementation in the other six departments of the municipality. The thesis treats the barriers and possibilities to efficiency improve the governing of the Employment and Integration Department in the municipality of Copenhagen by implement-ing a trust-based management reform and is structured in three analyses treating respectively the preliminary steps and forward-looking visions, barriers and possibilities. The theoretical basis of the thesis is the trust-based management theory, which is used as theoretical founda-tion for the analysis. The empirical basis of the thesis is primarily ten qualitative research interviews that have been conducted with a number of key managers and front line employ-ees in the Employment and Integration Department in the Municipality of Copenhagen. The results from the three analysis shows that trust-based management still is in a very preliminary state and that it will take strong political and administrative will to implement a trust-based management reform in the Employment and Integration Department due to the current control-based management culture. Furthermore the second analysis concludes that there are a number of concrete barriers to efficiency improve by implementing a trust-based management reform, which are the institutional path-dependency, the risk of economic un-governability, the unclear operationalization strategy of trust-based management, the interest conflicts in and around the Department of Employment and Integration and the current pro-cess-based legislation. The third analysis concludes that there are a number of possibilities to efficiency improve by implementing a trust-based management reform, which are the possi-ble improvements of the control-based management-system, the zero-error culture, the high transaction costs, the employee-motivation, hierarchical micromanagement and core values. On the basis of the key findings of the master thesis I conclude that the Department of Employment and Integration in the Municipality of Copenhagen can efficiency improve the governing of the department by implementing a trust-based management reform.