NAV: Kampen om kompetanseforståelsen - En diskursanalyse av kompetanseforståelsen i NAV

This master thesis explores what discourses that are drawn upon in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Organisations (NAV) understanding of competence. To answer this question, I interviewed seven managers of NAV about what NAV does, how they do it, and why they do it the way they do. I have focused on managers because research shows that it is these that determine the direction of reforms. I have used these interviews as the basis for a discourse analysis. Through my discourse analysis I have identified three discourses which I believe to be central for the understanding of competence in NAV. The industrial discourse has efficiency as a central moment, while The bureaucratic discourse has rules and the case as key moment. The guidance discourse is a representation of the guidance-practice in NAV articulated through The industrial discourse. Through the discussion of the findings I show how the three discourses is an expression of competence management. This is the kind of knowledge management which emphasizes that knowledge is an object and can be controlled. This understanding is problematic if knowledge is personally and socially embedded, and the knowledge is tacit. The user-control that appears in The guidance discourse is in stark contrast to the ideal of the NAV-intention that each user should have a say in shaping the services of NAV. Furthermore, I show that the governmental competence management can be put up against a the profession of social workers. This professions approach provides the NAV-employee with the power to shape NAV. Both of these understandings are contrasts to a competence-leading approach, where the user and the NAV-employee are partners in making the user competent in readjusting to the ideal of a new work future. This project illustrates how those who need the competence must be a partner in the development of this competence. Furthermore, it illustrates how language plays an equally important role in competence development as the unspoken aspects of social relationships