Ethical Tensions in Municipality Management

This study investigates ethical tension situations that municipal managers face in their everyday working life by identifying the occurrence and nature of such situations, their contextual and organizational dependence and what resources are available to handle and/or solve them. The study is based...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScandinavian journal of public administration (Print) Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 58 - 75
Main Authors Tengblad, Stefan, Oudhuis, Margareta
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Gothenburg University of Gothenburg School of Public Administration 14.06.2024
Subjects
ethical tensions
Ethics
Industrial democracy
leadership tensions
Managers
municipal management
Municipalities
public administration
Public sector
Sweden
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Summary:This study investigates ethical tension situations that municipal managers face in their everyday working life by identifying the occurrence and nature of such situations, their contextual and organizational dependence and what resources are available to handle and/or solve them. The study is based on in-depth qualitative interviews with 21 municipal managers from various sectors. In total, 222 ethical tension situations were revealed. The main finding of the study is the identification of the importance of contextual and organizational dependencies, regarding not only managers’ experience of ethical tensions but also the resolution of such tensions. In the paper a contextual model of managerial tensions is presented that gives account to the different logics, value systems, norms, regulations, and ethics, that make up the complex world in which municipal managers find themselves and need to handle.
ISSN:2001-7405
2001-7413
2001-7413
DOI:10.58235/sjpa.2023.12805