Rules and rituals - how agencies can promote good administrative culture

Since 2017, the Agency for Public Management has had the task, in accordance with its instruction, to promote and coordinate efforts to improve administrative culture. Within the framework of this assignment, we have published an extensive body of knowledge in the form of publications, manuals and web material that agencies can use for internal work with the administrative culture.

The Agency for Public Management defines good administrative culture as behaviour and attitudes that are based on the principles which compose the fundamental values of government: democracy, objectivity, rule of law, respect, free formation of opinion, efficacy and service. The fundamental values of government are based on our fundamental laws and other laws, and it is therefore the responsibility of the management of each agency to ensure that its activities are conducted in accordance with these principles and other legislation.

With this publication, we seek to further clarify how an agency's organisational culture affects its activities as well as its conditions for good administration. This publication uses the applicable requirements of good administrative culture to describe the impact of organisational culture on how well agencies fulfil their assignments. We also provide illustrative examples of ways that agencies can develop their organisational culture and achieve good administrative culture. The publication can be used by agency managers wishing to work on organisational culture within their agencies. However, the role of first-line managers and employees in promoting good administrative culture is also addressed.

Good administrative culture facilitates interaction between agency structure and organisational culture

In the publication, we distinguish between the formal structure and the organisational culture. The structure consists of formal governance, in the form of, e.g., statutes, internal regulations and organisation. The organisational culture consists of informal rules, which may include social norms, values, customs and beliefs. Both structure and organisational culture influence how people act in an organisation. Sometimes, informal rules can be strong enough to override formal governance. The interaction between structure and culture is not linear or unidirectional, but dynamic.

The Agency for Public Management finds that good administrative culture, as a concept, combines structure with organisational culture. Good administrative culture facilitates the interaction between formal governance and informal rules and the actual behaviour of employees. Good administrative culture is reflected in how an agency's management organises and carries out its tasks.

Agency management must not only translate laws and regulations into internal policy documents. They must also foster an organisational culture of social norms and behaviours that are in harmony with rules and governing documents. The agency's organisational culture can thus affect the impact of internal governance and, by extension, the impact of the Government's steering of the agency as well.

Responsibility for organisational culture lies at different levels

Everyone working in a government agency must work towards good administrative culture. However, responsibilities for this work vary with rank. In this publication, we pinpoint the responsibilities of the following agency levels for establishing and maintaining good organisational culture:

• Agency managers and their responsibilities for managing and steering the work of the agency
• First-line managers and their role in managing teams
• Individual staff members and their personal professional practice

Tools and working methods can influence organisational culture, so that it reflects to a great extent the legal principles on which the fundamental values of government are based. These tools and working methods can thus contribute to the development of good administrative culture. This can be achieved by, for example:

• present, open and engaging leaders whose behaviour sets an example for others to follow
• training and information to improve awareness and understanding of rules
• dialogue exercises to promote the development of practical know-how
• salary criteria and other incentives to promote desirable behaviour
• an open and safe organisational environment that stimulates reflection and discussion.

In governing the activities of agencies, it is important to strike a balance between different types of measures. The management of each agency must therefore supplement formal governance in the form of rules and supervision with other policy instruments that influence organisational values and practices. Measures must also be adapted to the circumstances surrounding government agencies - in other words, anchored in the democratically established legal order.