Hur välfärd organiseras - Spelar det någon roll?

Abstract

How welfare is organized - does it matter? In this article it is argued that organization matters when the individual's ethics is concerned and that it is important to have a normative approach (our public ethos) in studies of how to organize public adfriinistration/services. Without a normative approach we have no refemces to which we can relate our empirical findings or our assessment of the consequences of different processes of organization. By using an organizing-variables-model (role, procedure, culture, room and how these variables are combined—structuring), it is possible to account for the complexity, ambiguity and contradiction in the organizing process, and it is possible to recognize and ask questions about ethical issues. It is the individual orgnizational member who acts and makes decisions, but members are doing it within the structure of the organization. The organizing process is important because it both restricts and enables the individuals' ethical consciousness, their possibilities of ethical deliberations and their awareness of ethical responsibility and accountability. The article provides a theoretical analysis and gives examples of how each organizing variable has an impact on ethical consciousness in public organizations.