One approach for Management by Objectives and Results in Scandinavia?

Viewed from abroad, Denmark, Norway and Sweden look very similar. In the literature on public management reforms and performance management, these countries are frequently regarded as one, and the literature often refers to a specific Nordic or Scandinavian model. The aim of this paper is to empirically test the argument concerning the existence of one Nordic perspective on performance management. The paper presents a comparative study of Management by Objectives and Results (MBOR) in Prison and Probation
Services, Food Safety, and Meteorology in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The
paper examines differences and similarities in the design and use of MBOR across the countries (within each of the different tasks), and within each of the three countries (across the three tasks). The paper finds that it is difficult to identify one Scandinavian approach to MBOR, as variations in MBOR are observed across countries as well as within countries (across tasks). The paper shows that the performance movement becomes translated when it encounters the national and/or organisational context in which it is implemented. The findings in the paper point to the importance of the national and organisational context in which MBOR is implemented. An important implication therefore is that it is unlikely that there is ‘one best way’ of managing or steering an agency, and MBOR will appear and function differently in different contexts.