The Quality Municipality Program
The quality municipality program developed as an agreement between the Norwegian State (Ministry of Local Governments and Regional Development, Ministry of Education and Research and Ministry of Health and Care Services), the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) and four labour unions. The program has two goals. One is to improve service quality for elderly and disabled people and services in education and kindergartens. The other goal is to reduce absenteeism from work among municipality employees. The program should also achieve more general goals regarding organisational learning and improving the reputation of Norwegian municipalities.
An evaluation of the quality municipality program, was carried out in 2008 and 2009 by the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR) in cooperation with Norwegian Social Research (NOVA) and the International Research Institute of Stavanger (IRIS). Methods include survey data from various actors in selected participating municipalities, interviews and documents from four municipalities, register data on sickness absence from 137 participating municipalities (plus 292 other municipalities), program documents and various reports from participating municipalities.
Results at national level
The quality municipality program has gained considerable political attention. At national level the program is governed by an administrative steering group and run by a secretariat. At an even higher level, a body of politically elected leaders also meets now and then, including the Minister of Local governments and regional development, state secretaries representing the other two ministerial departments, the leader of the Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS), and elected labour union representatives. The administrative steering group also includes highly ranked administrative leaders representing the state, KS, and labour unions.
The program secretariat has organized seminars and conferences for participating municipalities. The strategy has changed over the program period toward locally organized assemblies as arenas for learning and dialog between the municipalities in place of larger assemblies teaching specific methodologies. The new strategy accords with the preferences expressed by a majority of the participating municipalities. The program has also developed a database over program activity and proposed methods for measuring service quality, not widely used though. Participating municipalities carry all expenses beyond participating in assemblies or conferences which is largely paid for by the state.
Municipalities were expected to reduce sickness absence and to improve service quality but could otherwise outline their own projects and goals. In order to attract a large number of municipalities into the program, the municipalities were allowed to include a range of program activities targeting various local interests or challenges. Clarifying the appropriate understanding of various program elements, also took time, most specifically regarding the issue of how to organize assemblies.
Results - local level activities
The municipalities did take up an invitation of local collaboration between politicians, administrative leaders and employees including union representatives. All three actors typically participated in local steering groups. A majority of local steering group members judge local collaboration and program development successfully.
The municipalities included a wide range of projects into the program. Still, many projects emphasise the delivery of service quality to the users, and more so in later stages of the program, which likely reflects a strong emphasis on service quality by the program secretariat. As such, the program has affected local activity. Many projects are still locally initiated, seemingly parts of local developments that would have occurred more or less independently of program participation.
A majority of local actors are pleased with the program. Those participating over a longer period are generally more pleased than those attending the program later.
Results service quality – some improvements
There are reasons to believe that the program has improved service quality. Several local actors, participating in survey questionnaires, believe they have achieved some quality improvements. Overall effects appear moderate, though. Those attending the program early typically provide more positive assessments than later participants. Municipalities who have successfully managed to engage various types of local actors, including front line service providers, have seemingly achieved better in terms of service quality.
Results sickness absence – beneficial development
Participating municipalities have lowered their sickness absence compared to other municipalities, largely because other municipalities increased their absence over the study period. Also other Norwegian sectors increased their sickness absence simultaneously. Participating municipalities had more absence, however, when attending the program. Hence, the difference was reduced but not completely levelled out compared to other Norwegian municipalities.
Service providers for elderly and disabled people were more successful in lowering their absence than kindergartens and schools, also when comparing with the development in other municipalities. Care services had much higher levels of absence than other municipality services at any stage of the program.
An extensive analysis of changes and levels of absence at various levels (i.e. whole municipalities, services, units) indicates that various factors may be beneficial when trying to reduce sickness absence. One such lesson to be learned is that central administrative leaders should signalize clearly that reducing sickness absence is important for the municipality. Another lesson is that good relations between various actors, including front line service providers, can help reduce absence from work. A third lesson is that physical measures do work in reducing absence.
Results learning and reputation
Internal learning means the ability to learn from various experiences within a municipality. A majority of participating municipalities claim having some procedures for learning from the experiences made in other part of their municipality. Collaboration between various local actors has also improved. Extending such experiences across municipalities is hampered, however, by wanting documentation and comparability.
Some municipalities claim they have improved their reputation in public opinion, more specifically among those attending the program early. Our respondents believe the most important factors for improving reputation includes better service quality and establishing good working conditions for municipality employees.
An overall view on the program
The quality municipality program brings in a number of actors working together to achieve some public goods, in Oslo and locally. Many ordinary employees have participated in such a program for the first time. One group is largely absent though: service users. The sequence of attracting various groups into such collaboration could still be appropriate. It is probably sensible to establish good relationships between various actors internally before also including further actors.
The program exemplifies the principle that new ideas and measures have to adapt to local conditions in order to be useful and efficient, a strategy typically referred to as pragmatic institutionalism in the political science literature. These ideas challenge modernist ideas that it is possible to develop methods for service provision which are transferable across municipalities. The two set of ideas/principles were also subject of some controversy within the quality municipality program.
The program invites various local actors for collaboration and reflection. The strategy has a drawback in that it could be difficult to document beneficial effects, to say what actually works. It is hypothesized though, that genuine involvement from various local actors could create more beneficial outcomes for the municipalities than the implementation of more specific measures to improve service quality and reduce sickness absence.
Project manager:
Ståle Harald Opedal