Competing principles of agency organization – the reorganization of a reform

This paper focuses on the following research questions: a) What are the principles of structural organization evident in the welfare administrative reform adopted by Norway in 2005? b) How was this complex mix of organizational principles affected by the reorganization of the reform in 2008? c) How can we explain the rebalancing of the principles in the different phases of the welfare administrative reform? The theoretical point of departure is instrumentally oriented organization theory. Specialization according to geography, clientele, process and purpose as well as vertical and horizontal coordination is addressed. The empirical basis are public documents, internal reports and interviews with key actors in the reform process. A main finding is that the Navreform represents an unstable balance between territorial and sectoral specialization and between coordination by partnership and by hierarchy. The reform is characterized by complexity and hybridization. A main lesson is that the reform changes during the implementation and that different specialization principles at three levels of administration present major challenges to coordination