Can Public Managers Make Their Welfare Organizations Adapt to the New Performance Landscape Shaped by the Current Austerity?

Abstract

How has the current austerity changed the public welfare organizations’ performance landscape in modern welfare states? Can public managers make their organizations adapt to the new performance landscape shaped by the austerity? These questions are answered on the basis of the Danish case of the provision of the services to the citizens with disabilities and/or social disadvantages. The result has implications, especially for public management in praxis. The case study shows that the managers’ most important managerial tool to make their organizations adapt to the new landscape is the challenging and decision-oriented dialogue.

Keywords:

• austerity
• institutional logics
• public management
• welfare services
• organizational adaptation