Trust and control in a post-NPM public sector: Handling complexity

Recognition of the complexity of contemporary public sector management is abundant. Contradictory demands, notions of hybridity from vastly different logics, ever-increasing globalisation and so on is evidently sources of... [ view full abstract ]

Recognition of the complexity of contemporary public sector management is abundant. Contradictory demands, notions of hybridity from vastly different logics, ever-increasing globalisation and so on is evidently sources of influence. Trust and control are concepts inherently connected to the management of the public sector. Predominantly, they have been approached as distinct elements of organisational life, readily reducible and analyzable in a dichotomous fashion. This paper argues that when approaching trust and control a dichotomous and linear view do not suffice in a complex context. Instead, by adopting a complexity view, the coevolving properties come to the fore. Trust and control are shown to be intertwined elements that act as complexity reducing mechanisms. The main finding in this study is that as governments set out to remedy the shortcomings of decades of New Public Management-inspired management, a pivotal criterion can be complexity reduction. One way ahead is to introduce a redefined perception of trust and control, starting at the lower levels of government.