PURPOSE & AIMS

Kristina Tamm Hallström, Maria Mårtensson and Mikael Holmgren Caicedo formed the original research team, which during a few months in 2013 was extended, in agreement with RJ, to include Renita Thedvall (Social Anthropology department, Stockholm University/Score) and Fredrik Svärdsten (SBS Stockholm University).

In order to develop knowledge about hidden power in categorization work, studies have been made from a process perspective using an interpretive approach at the micro-level of organizations, taking into consideration the social, political and temporal context. Given the predominance of categorization studies of corporations and markets, which became increasingly apparent during our review of relevant literature, the decision was made to focus specifically on public sector settings. The Social Insurance Agency (SIA) [Försäkringskassan], which in 2012 launched a major management control change program and offered the research team extensive access over a 3-year period, was chosen as a main case. The dynamics characterizing the SIA at the time offered ample opportunities to examine categorization in the making. In addition, studies have been made of a number of Swedish state agencies and of municipal pre-schools and urban development.

Internal categories for employees in the SIA have been studied: changes to established categories such as "management accountants" and "managers" (Holmgren et al. 2015a, 2015d, 2017a), and implications of newly created categories such as "teams", "lean coaches" and "team coordinators" (Holmgren et al. 2013a, 2013b, 2014, 2015b, 2015c, 2015e, 2017b; Tamm Hallström & Thedvall 2015). In studies of standardization (Boström et al. 2016) and urban planning (Tamm Hallström 2015b), the decisions on, and consequences of, categories for "experts" have been analyzed. In other studies of urban planning, external categories of "citizens" have been investigated (Tamm Hallström 2015a; Metzger et al. 2016, 2017), as well as the category "customers" in the SIA (Holmgren et al. 2014; Andersson, 2017a). A few studies have focused on other categories used for management control, based on the theoretical argument to develop knowledge about the role of category boundaries. Accounting categories for “output” characterized by sharp boundaries (Svärdsten 2015; Svärdsten & Höglund 2017), and vague categories used by municipalities to articulate their “vision” (Grafström & Tamm Hallström 2016a, 2016b, 2017) were studied, as well as categories that define the “objectives” of museum activities which make management control a complex concept (Thomson et al. 2014) and categories as metaphors which may complicate and delimit their understanding (Holmgren Caicedo 2014).

FINDINGS, CONTRIBUTIONS & NEW RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Contextual conditions of categorization work

A central finding from the SIA concerns the role of the organizational context and previous management control models for the consequences of new categories that are established to change management control structures. Such contextual factors may both hinder and contribute to the intended purpose of new categories (Holmgren Caicedo et al. 2013, 2014, 2015a, 2015b, 2017a, 2017b). A key article here is about the changed role of "management accountants" as the management model Lean is introduced with the new category "team" (Holmgren Caicedo et al. 2017a). Another finding, directed towards organization studies, regards the interlinkages between categories. One of our studies of categorizing urban development work shows how the way of categorizing such work as “projects”, combined with efforts to create interlinkages between several categories and make them appear as part of a larger “category system”, may impact on the progress of the urban development work (Grafström & Tamm Hallström 2016a, 2016b, 2017). Yet another contribution made to the planning field concerns the role of political and historical factors when categories are created for citizens in dialogue activities (Metzger et al. 2016, 2017). Our studies also show that existing trust relationships, and efforts to create new ones, condition categorization work, as discussed in a publication aimed at the political science field (Andersson 2017b). Finally, contributions on the importance of language and labeling in categorization work have been made to organization studies of reforms (Holmgren Caicedo et al. 2014; Tamm Hallström & Thedvall 2015).

2. Category boundaries

The importance of category boundaries is a topic that has emerged as theoretically relevant during the work with the project. One study of government agencies undertaking a management accounting reform on changed categories for performance measurement and reporting shows that measurable categories require sharp boundaries in order to serve as a measurement tool (Svärdsten 2013, 2016; Svärdsten & Höglund 2017). Extensive and challenging discussions are often required to make activities measurable, and such categories become difficult to change. The study also shows that measurable categories make membership of a category clear, and categorization criteria that are perceived as undesirable become vulnerable to criticism, which in turn may lead to the category being removed, rather than adapted to the criticism. Another study of categories with vague boundaries shows that such categories may be perceived as inclusive and attractive (Grafström & Tamm Hallström 2016, 2017). The study illustrates that the decision making process behind vague categories may be surprisingly quick and without critical voices. Another finding concerns interlinkages between the vague category and activities that can be classified within sub-categories to the vague, overall category. Through such interlinkages, some activities may gain legitimacy and attract more organizational resources than activities that cannot be linked to the vague category. The study concludes that the vagueness, combined with efforts to create interlinkages to other categories, opens up for a hierarchization among activities, proposals and decisions.

As the theme of category boundaries has evolved during the course of the project, the studies have been exploratory and the findings therefore tentative. Thus, more systematic studies and comparisons between categories with both vague and sharp boundaries are needed to further develop knowledge about the importance of category boundaries.

3. The use and consequences of categories

New categories may change power balances since new categories, when introduced in an organizational setting, challenge and compete with existing formal structures and will, in part, become an informal power in a formal organization. In the analysis of the category "team" in the SIA, we call this process "downsourcing", implying accountability without the accompanying powers being ensured (Holmgren Caicedo et al. 2017b). The article, which is the project's second most central and targets the field of management control, shows how new categories are used to organize and create borders, partly to make borders and differences vague, allowing for collaboration between different actors who might otherwise come into conflict.

In another study of urban development work, other types of implied categories are analyzed. The analysis that contributes to organization studies shows that the sub-projects that could be linked clearly to the way the studied organization categorized its vision were given high priority, while the ideas, proposals and decisions that were difficult to connect to the vision, received less attention and were sometimes excluded from democratic debates and, therefore, also from values concerning transparency and participation (Grafström & Tamm Hallström 2016a, 2016b, 2017). Contributions have also been made to the planning field regarding citizen dialogues, and, thus, democratic work that falls outside the institutions of representative democracy. One study shows that the work of categorizing citizens may be highly influenced by previous political conditions and political power games. In the studied case , the mobilization for a referendum led to a polarized debate and a narrowing down of citizen categories despite the municipality’s efforts to improve inclusiveness (Metzger et al. 2016, 2017).

The theme of democratic implications of categorization work has emerged during the project, partly following the decision to focus on public sector settings. However, the findings are tentative and more research is needed to further develop such knowledge.

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE, PUBLICATION STRATEGY & COMMUNICATION

The publication strategy has been to publish in international scientific journals and participate in international research conferences. Collaborations with other research groups with an interest in categorization has also been initiated, for example with Jonathan Metzger, associate professor at the Urban and Regional Studies at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Linda Soneryd, associate professor of sociology at the University of Gothenburg, both internationally anchored in the planning field, as well as with Sara Brorström, researcher at GRI Gothenburg, and Björn Hellström, professor at KTH. These collaborations have led to fruitful research exchanges and joint publications. Popular science research has been published in Swedish in order to disseminate knowledge outside the academic community, and presentations have been made at the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (ISF), the SIA, the Academy for Financial Management in State (AES) and the Swedish School Inspectorate.

The project has resulted in: 5 scientific articles (4 of which are open access); 2 in the review process (March 2017); 4 article manuscripts to be submitted to journals in the spring of 2017; 10 conference papers; 7 freely downloadable popular scientific research reports (1 forthcoming); and one chapter in an edited volume in Swedish.