Translating Agency Reform: Rhetoric and Culture in Comparative Perspective (Public Sector Organizations)

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
List of Tables......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 11
Part I: Setting the Scene......Page 12
Introduction......Page 14
The purpose of the book and theoretical background......Page 15
Theoretical perspectives......Page 18
The selection of countries and role of comparison......Page 20
Defining agency talk......Page 23
The plan of the book......Page 25
The international agency story from solution to problem......Page 27
The contours of Dutch agency reform......Page 31
The contours of Swedish agency reform......Page 35
The contours of Australian agency reform......Page 41
Conclusion......Page 49
Part II: Theory and Trajectories of Talk......Page 52
Introduction......Page 54
Agency talk and social construction......Page 55
The study of rhetoric......Page 56
The New Rhetoric......Page 57
Grid Group Cultural Theory: context and talk......Page 66
GGCT and the cultural flavour of public management talk......Page 69
Translating agency reform: putting rhetoric and culture together......Page 73
Conclusion......Page 75
Introduction......Page 76
The selection of official documents......Page 77
The trajectory of Dutch agency talk 1991–1998......Page 79
Dutch agency rhetoric: agencies as a unique and accountable alternative......Page 80
The cultural flavour of Swedish agency talk over time......Page 87
The trajectory of Swedish official agency talk 1983–1997......Page 91
Swedish agency rhetoric: agencies for democracy......Page 93
The trajectory of Australian agency talk 1997–2004......Page 105
Australian agency rhetoric: agencies for customer service......Page 106
The cultural flavour of Australian agency talk over time......Page 113
Conclusion......Page 118
Part III: Comparing and Explaining Agency Talk......Page 120
Introduction......Page 122
Comparing rhetorical situations across high and low group political cultures......Page 123
Comparing rhetorical styles across high and low group political cultures......Page 127
National styles of speaking across high and low group political cultures......Page 137
Similarities in talk: a role for political culture and transnational stories?......Page 139
The correspondence between political culture and national styles of speaking......Page 141
Conclusion......Page 143
Introduction......Page 146
Agency talk and an individualist rhetorical style......Page 147
Agency talk and a hierarchical rhetorical style......Page 150
Agency talk and an egalitarian rhetorical style......Page 154
Hood’s predictions and the rhetorical elements of cultural world views in agency talk......Page 158
Shifts in the cultural flavour of agency talk: reactions of rhetoric or the rhetorical situation?......Page 161
The national limits of shifts in the cultural flavour of talk......Page 164
Translating fashionable agency stories......Page 166
Conclusion......Page 167
National styles of speaking and fashionable management stories......Page 170
Theoretical contributions and evaluation......Page 174
Reflecting on public management knowledge......Page 177
Speaking persuasively in high and low group political cultures......Page 180
Appendix A – Analysing the Documents......Page 181
Appendix B – Selection of Documents......Page 184
References......Page 187
Index......Page 196