Suchergebnisse

Bakgrunn: Tillit som en del av sosial kapital er et viktig fundament for et helsefremmende og velfungerende samfunn. Til tross for at det i Norge generelt er høye nivåer av tillit og relativt små sosiale ulikheter i befolkningen, er det tidligere funnet forskjeller mellom ulike sosioøkonomiske grupper i grad av tillit. Det er derfor behov for mer kunnskap om nivået av tillit hos befolkningen, og hvordan tilliten fordeler seg. Formål: Å undersøke både grad av tillit til institusjoner (vertikal tillit) og generell tillit (horisontal tillit) i et utvalg av befolkningen i Østfold. Videre var et mål å undersøke om demografiske og sosioøkonomiske faktorer var assosiert med grad av tillit. Metode: Det ble benyttet data fra tverrsnittstudien "Oss i Øsfold 2019" utført av Østfold fylkeskommune, med et representativt utvalg (n=16 558) av befolkningen i Østfold i alderen 18-79 år. Assosiasjonen mellom de sosiodemografiske variablene kjønn, alder, utdanning og opplevd økonomisk situasjon, og grad av tillit, ble undersøkt ved hjelp av logistiske regresjonsanalyser. Institusjonene som ble undersøkt var helsevesenet, skolevesenet, NAV, kommunestyret, politiet, rettsvesenet og massemedia. Forskjeller mellom gruppene ble oppgitt ved odds ratio (OR). Resultater: For utvalget som helhet var helsevesenet den institusjonen flest hadde høy tillit til (83.0 %), mens færrest hadde høy tillit til massemedia (42.9 %). Det var 65.9 % av utvalget som oppga at de generelt hadde høy tillit til andre mennesker. Funnene viste at det var klare sosiodemografiske forskjeller i grad av tillit. Kvinner hadde høyere tillit til institusjoner og høyere generell tillit enn menn. Den generelle tilliten økte med alderen. Funnene viste også at utdanningsnivå og opplevd økonomisk situasjon var positivt assosiert med grad av både institusjonell- og generell tillit. Konklusjon: Det ble funnet en klar sosial gradient i forekomst av både vertikal og horisontal tillit. Dette er viktig å ta på alvor, da økende grad av mistillit kan føre til en utvikling som undergraver demokratiske verdier, og svekker den generelle viljen i samfunnet til å slutte opp om kollektive velferdsordninger. I Østfold kan det være behov for å ha et bevisst forhold til tillitsbyggende arbeid, for å generere sosial kapital som en viktig ressurs i samfunnet. Det bør fokuseres på strategier som sikrer høy sysselsetting, rettferdig inntektsfordeling og gode velferdsordninger. I tillegg, kan det være behov for målrettede tiltak mot grupper med lav sosioøkonomisk posisjon. ; Background: Trust as a part of social capital is an important foundation for a healthpromoting and well-functioning society. Even though there are generally high levels of trust in Norway and relatively small social inequalities in the population, differences between socio-economic groups in levels of trust have been found in previous research. There is therefore a need for more knowledge about the levels of trust among the population, and how trust is distributed. Aim: To study the levels of trust in public institutions (vertical trust) and general trust (horizontal trust) within a representative sample of the population in Østfold aged 18-79 years. Furthermore, examine whether demographic (gender and age) and socioeconomic (education level and economic situation) factors are associated with levels of trust. Method: Data from the cross-sectional study "Oss i Østfold 2019", conducted by the county municipality Østfold was used, with a representative sample (n=16 558) of the population of Østfold. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine whether the sociodemographic variables gender, age, education and perceived economic self-sufficiency were associated with levels of trust. The institutions examined were the healthcare system, the school system, NAV (Social Security office), the municipal council, the police, the legal system and the media. Differences between the groups were measured using odds ratio (OR). Results: Overall, the majority in the sample had high levels of trust in the healthcare system (83.0 %). Fewest in the analysed sample had high levels of trust in the media (42.9 %). 65.9 % of the sample reported high levels of general trust in other people. The findings showed significant sociodemographic factors in terms of trust. The women in the study had higher institutional and general trust, than the male participants. Horizontal trust increased with the age. Education level and perceived economic self-sufficiency were positively associated with the degree of both institutional trust and general trust. Conclusion: A clear social gradient was found in the incidence of both vertical and horizontal trust. It is important to take this seriously, as an increase of distrust can lead to a development that undermines democratic values and reduces the general will in society to support collective welfare schemes. In Østfold there may be a need for a conscious approach to trustbuilding work, in order to generate social capital as an important resource in society. Strategies that focus on high employment, economic equality and good welfare schemes should be in focus. In addition, these findings may imply that targeted measures to build trust in low socio-economic groups are needed. ; M-FOL

This paper examines participation in water management, more specifically in implementing the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) in Norway. Attainment of the goals of the WFD depends on new ways of coordinating the activities, knowledge and resources of many sectors and levels of government, including the private sector. The WFD explicitly emphasizes broad stakeholder involvement and public participation. The new network arena of River Basin District Water Boards at the regional level and Sub-District Boards at the sub-regional level, cut across existing municipal, regional and national borders. In each River Basin District, broad reference groups are established. Through surveys and qualitative case studies, we examine how this norm of participation is operationalized in the River Basin Districts, and how different actors evaluate it. We find that the reference grou ps have mobilized many actors from civil society and the private sector, but they do not report having influe nce. The role of the reference group is unclear. ; Artikkelen er skrevet i forskningsprosjektet «Water Pollution Abatement in a System of Multi-level Governance: A study of Norway's implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WAPABAT), finansiert av MILJØ2015-programmet i Norges forskningsråd.

Master's thesis Innovative governance and public management ME523 - University of Agder 2019 ; Developing schoolsexualityeducation policies is a complex matterdue to the controversial and politicized nature of sexuality. This thesisaims at understanding the development of institutional change in the presence of complex policy systems that involvemultiple actors in the policy process. To achieve this aim, itanalyses the actionsof an advocacy coalition that works to change sexuality education policies in Norway.The study adopts the Advocacy CoalitionFramework (ACF)for understanding the interconnections among the macro-level of the political and historicalcontext, the micro-level of the actor's motivationsand the meso-level ofcoalition's goals and strategies. Moreover, it supports the ACF with the Historical Institutionalism (HI) approach toexplain the struggle between the actors' effortsto achieve policy change and the persistence of cultural and political institutions.Through the conduction of interviews and the analysis of relevant policy documents, this study identified aclose interaction and co-dependence among differentelements of the political system. In implementing its strategy, the coalition encountered facilitating and hindering factors that determined the achievement of aslow incremental change. The advocacy coalition started and continuouslyinfluenced the change process through a strategy of knowledge production and sharingthat contributed inchangingattitudes and perception of policy participantson sexuality education.The active agency of the coalition's actors in creating arenas and channels of sharing and coordination facilitated the learning process. Nonetheless, fixed institutions and conflictsof interests hindered the achievement of a major policy change.Therefore, this thesis identifiesthe policy process as a complex interaction among different factors and elements that generate reciprocal influence and jointly determine the process' outcomes. Hence, the study concluded that the institutional setting is essential in determining rules and constraints for the actors.However,the active agency of policy participantscan strategically exploit the historicaland institutional setting for achieving the actors' goals.Keywords: Sexuality education, Norway, advocacy coalitions, institutional change, policy-learning, historical institutionalism

This master's thesis seeks to map the discourse on trust-based management and leadership (TBML) in some of the largest Norwegian newspapers. Namely to assess 1) the Norwegian discourse compared to tendencies otherwise in Scandinavia, 2) which actors are most active within the discourse, 3) the terminology used to frame TBML, as well as aspects of the newspapers, 4) attitudes towards TBML and their development, and 5) the development in the spread (mention) of TBML over time. Over 180 newspaper articles have been selected, covering a period of eleven years (2010-2020). They are registered and analyzed by utilizing a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Concepts from discourse analysis are drawn upon throughout. The results are viewed and discussed within the frame of the initial five-part division of focal areas and discussed in light of relevant theory on the fields of trust, discourse, and the spread of management and leadership ideas. The findings indicate that the Norwegian discourse gains momentum simultaneously as the rest of Scandinavia, though with a few more odd peaks in mention, related to specific, highly politicized and debated topics. By sector, political representation and attitudes, the actors that are most active within the discourse are political, social-democratic and positive towards TBML. The most positive actors towards TBML, by level of position, are political and public leaders. I tie these individual groupings of actors to different theoretical contributions on the spread of management ideas, hereunder diffusion theory, the translation of ideas, the life-cycle perspective, and the analogy of resistance. Pronounced negative mention of TBML does not occur, however, TBML is often problematized by individual actors through a line of thought that sees "trust" as a phenomenon that cannot be united with a professional reality that calls for control. The problematization of TBML is also more frequent in regional newspapers and by actors on employee level. The findings also indicate that the shift in conceptual focus from "leadership" exclusively, to "management (steering) and leadership" over the last three years, results from a process of learning. "Steering" as a counter-concept, paradoxically becomes more common at the same time. This is tied to the leader-employee division and its impact on the spread, reception and implementation of ideas. To the degree the spread of TBML can be mapped by article frequency over time, it seems to follow an S-shaped diffusion line. However, other important aspects than the visual development in article frequency are in line with different approaches to the spread of management ideas, as highlighted throughout the analysis. ; publishedVersion

Centre of Excellence (CoE) is a politically initiated financing scheme from the Research Council in Norway aiming for long term, high quality and innovative research, contributing towards solving the big challenges of our society. Two evaluations conclude that this scheme is a success. These evaluations does not however pay much attention to the role of the administration in that regard. This master-thesis investigate how administrative leaders in the CoE contribute towards goal achievement. This has not previously been studied. For the data collection individual interviews was chosen, because they provide an open and investigative approach, well suited to gather relevant information. The analysis are based on organizational theory for public organizations, theories about organization types and previous research regarding the role of administrative personnel in research and higher education. The administrative leaders in CoE work in the interface between academic work and administration. My research shows that most of them have an academic background. They are highly educated, on master or PhD level, and some have research experience beyond that. Most of them have relevant work experience with a good overview of how the research and university systems work. The administrative leaders can further be recognised by their ability to create a good work environment and their social integration skills. This is very important in CoE, not the least because the centres depends heavily on recruitment of international research staff. In this regard good language skills and intercultural competence are also important. These leaders contribute to goal achievement through relieving the researchers and facilitating research related tasks, like conferences and meeting places, and haveing a good overview and ensure internal and external information flow. They also organize social activities and function as a central hub or connector. The administrative leader role demands a mix of knowledge and competencies, resembling the role of the classic middle range leader in the professional bureaucracy of today. With a great variety of different assignments coupled with being a connector for tasks and functions, both vertical and horizontal in the organization. In addition the administrative leader in a CoE also works close with the research leaders and the research activities at the centre. CoE are organized as time-limited projects with high demands and expectations. My study shows that the administration apparatus in CoE is important for goal achievement, but also that it is necessary with one 100% administrative leader or coordinator in a CoE, in order to take care of and coordinate the interests of the centre, both internally and in relation to the host institution. These CoE administrative leaders are a highly selected group regarding qualifications and background, which is something to be aware of when planning these kinds of research units, but also concerning the status- and role of administrative research personnel in general. ; publishedVersion