Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti
Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti
Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti
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Results<br />
made the change extremely challenging <strong>and</strong> even threatening towards the<br />
existing order. A program as an organizing <strong>for</strong>m also seemed to meet visible<br />
resistance. The other program established at the same time had quickly<br />
been absorbed into the daily routines of Center. Some interviewees<br />
described this as a failed attempt of adopting the program management<br />
approach in Center.<br />
Fairly soon after the second round of interviews <strong>and</strong> the third workshop,<br />
governmental authorities launched an initiative that aimed at renewing the<br />
service system from a national perspective. This new initiative <strong>for</strong>ced<br />
Center to react immediately as it evidently overlapped with Center’s<br />
program. Due to the slow progress <strong>and</strong> other severe problems, it was clear<br />
that Center’s program was not a strong enough endeavor to compete with<br />
the new initiative. Thus, a decision was made to terminate the Center-led<br />
program <strong>and</strong> to assign the resources to the government initiative. The<br />
<strong>for</strong>mal decision to terminate the program was made by the board of Center,<br />
which was followed up by rapid ramp-down <strong>activities</strong>.<br />
In the analysis, program initiation in case Center is seen to start when the<br />
management group made the decision to <strong>for</strong>m a change program of the<br />
proposed initiative. The analysis covers the program initiation <strong>and</strong> planning<br />
<strong>activities</strong> until the program’s termination. Be<strong>for</strong>e the termination decision,<br />
initiation <strong>and</strong> planning <strong>activities</strong> had taken almost two years.<br />
4.1.2 Case Bureau<br />
The second case represents a change program implemented by a large<br />
public sector organization. The case organization, here called “Bureau”, is a<br />
government institution organized into three main branches <strong>and</strong> supportive<br />
functions, <strong>and</strong> into tens of local units decentralized across Finl<strong>and</strong>. Bureau<br />
works in close cooperation with a government ministry, <strong>and</strong> political<br />
decision making affects Bureau’s operations. There is a clear division of<br />
hierarchy, <strong>and</strong> there are <strong>for</strong>mal rules <strong>and</strong> procedures guiding the <strong>activities</strong>.<br />
Bureau has a long history of projects <strong>and</strong> project management, but there<br />
are no st<strong>and</strong>ard procedures specifically designed <strong>for</strong> program management.<br />
The case study concentrates on a program that was an essential part of a<br />
larger structural re<strong>for</strong>m in Bureau. The aim of the re<strong>for</strong>m is to rationalize<br />
national public sector <strong>activities</strong> by restructuring <strong>activities</strong>, merging<br />
Bureau’s units into broader entities, <strong>and</strong> closing down some of its local<br />
units. The changes aim at personnel cuts of about one third of the<br />
employees. Cost cuts of tens of millions of euros per year have been<br />
predicted <strong>for</strong> several <strong>for</strong>thcoming years.<br />
The case program was among the earliest endeavors related to this larger<br />
re<strong>for</strong>m. The program aimed at renewing Bureau’s In<strong>for</strong>mation Technology<br />
(IT) management, including the system architecture, the network<br />
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