The expansion of organizational professionals in the public sector is often interpreted as a manifestation of increased managerial control and bureaucratisation, raising questions about shifting professional identities in public administration. This study contributes to research on hybrid professionalism and identity work by examining how organizational professionals themselves perceive this trend and how they justify their roles within public organizations. Based on a narrative analysis of interviews with 24 organizational professionals in Sweden, we examine how they construct their professional identity in relation to competing institutional logics. We expand the concept of hybrid professionalism by incorporating a public service logic alongside managerial and professional logics. We find that respondents frame their identity around the notion of performing a support function for frontline services. This positioning enables them to rearticulate managerial activities as supportive rather than controlling, thereby presenting their work as a response to bureaucratisation rather than a source of it.

En välfungerande byråkrati är mycket viktigt, men i Sverige finns tydliga tecken på att det sker en byråkratisering – att det är för mycket personal som styr, administrerar och kontrollerar verksamhet snarare än att operativt utföra verksamheten. Hur kommer det sig? I denna bok undersöks orsaker till att offentlig byråkrati i Sverige ökar. En grundläggande orsak är att status för avancerade administrativapositioner i offentliga organisationer har blivit högre än arbetet inom kärnverksamheten. Dessa administrativa positioner är heller inte utsatta för samma tvingande ekonomistyrning som den operativa verksamheten. Allt fler politiskt beslutade regler bidrar också till byråkratisering. Slutligen finns en drivkraft att skapa den ”moderna organisationen” vilket leder till interna oklarheter kring vad kärnuppdraget egentligen är och hur det ska utföras. En särskild personalkategori som studeras i boken är organisationsprofessionella – välutbildade administratörer med organisationen som profession. Dessa arbetar med vad Hall kallar ”organisatoriska ansvar” såväl utåt – mot politik och andra kravställare – som inåt, mot den egna organisationen. Förstärkningen av organisatoriska ansvar beror på en alltmerfragmenterad offentlig sektor. Boken avslutas med en diskussion om vad som kan göras för att minska byråkratiseringen.

Recent research shows that new types of high-skilled administrators, what we in this article label organisational professionals, have amplified their presence in public sector organisations in relation to other types of public sector employees. Our purpose is to analyse how organisational accountability can be seen as a driver behind the expansion of organisational professionals. Intensified political and administrative pressures seem to be driving this process, but there also seems to be internal turfs in which the different parts of the government administration seek to hold each other accountable, a process possibly amplified by professionalising ambitions of the organisational professionals. The article concludes that the bureaucratising effect of accountability demands ought to be highlighted more in critical research of accountability. The study is based on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with public sector professionals in Sweden from different policy sectors and government levels.

Public sector organisations in Western industrialised democracies have in recent years witnessed a growth in organisational professionals. The expansion of organisational professionals can be viewed as a consequence of accountability becoming a dominant value in public sector organisations. We will in this chapter present the argument that although the new layers of organisational professionals have been introduced to improve the accountability of unwieldy public bureaucracies, they paradoxically contribute to increasing bureaucratisation that makes holding public actors accountable more difficult. We trace this problem to managerialism, professionalisation and politicisation as three broader reform trajectories characterising public services. Our conclusion is that accountability is not just creating a more audited public sector but is generating a new type of public sector bureaucracy with the creation of an entourage of professional roles at the top echelon of the organisation.

Purpose The purpose of this article is to ascertain empirically to what extent we can quantify an occupational shift, where a new type of bureaucracy of organisational professionals is on the rise in tertiary educational institutions in New Zealand. Furthermore, the objective is also to present accountability as the prime factor behind the changes. Design/methodology/approach The analytical strategy of the study takes a point of departure in the distinction between occupational and organisational professionals in the public sector in general, and more specifically in tertiary education (TE). Based on these new categorisations, the authors have used various descriptive historical statistics (both national and institutional) to estimate changes over time. Findings The article finds, in line with some international research, that there has been a comparatively higher growth of organisational professionals in TE in New Zealand, and a significantly higher growth than in the private sector and in the overall public services. The authors hypothesise that this growth can be associated with accountability (both vertical and horizontal) as the dominant notion in TE. Originality/value This article takes a different approach than the existing literature on administrative intensity in TE by looking at occupational changes rather than changes in institutions budgets. This article also confirms some of the findings in the growing international literature on changes in professional roles.

One recurrent narrative in the discussion about managerial public sector reforms is the growth in organizational professionals as a response to new accountability regimes. New Zealand has experienced modest growth rates in the general public sector workforce. Less studied, though, is whether the composition of the public sector workforce has changed, with an increase in organizational functions supportive to management. Based on descriptive workforce data, followed by follow-up interviews, this article presents a multifaceted and complex picture of a growing new public bureaucracy with the main task of managing chains of accountability.