Translating Agency Reform: Rhetoric and Culture in Comparative Perspective Book

List of Tables viii

Acknowledgements x

Part I Setting the Scene 1

1 Translating Agency Reform 3

Introduction 3

The purpose of the book and theoretical background 4

Theoretical perspectives 7

The selection of countries and role of comparison 9

Defining agency talk 12

The plan of the book 14

2 Agency Reform: Tracing a Public Management Fashion 16

Introduction 16

The international agency story from solution to problem 16

Agency reform initiatives in The Netherlands, Sweden and Australia 20

The contours of Dutch agency reform 20

The contours of Swedish agency reform 24

The contours of Australian agency reform 30

Conclusion 38

Part II Theory and Trajectories of Talk 41

3 Theoretical Concepts and Tools: Rhetoric and Culture 43

Introduction 43

Agency talk and social construction 44

The study of rhetoric 45

The New Rhetoric 46

Grid Group Cultural Theory: context and talk 55

GGCT and the cultural flavour of public management talk 58

Translating agency reform: putting rhetoric and culture together 62

Conclusion 64

4 The Trajectory of Agency Talk Across The Netherlands, Sweden and Australia 65

Introduction 65

The selection of official documents 66

The trajectory of Dutch agency talk 1991-1998 68

Dutch agency rhetoric: agencies as a unique and accountable alternative 69

The cultural flavour of Dutch agency talk over time 76

The trajectory of Swedish official agency talk 1983-1997 80

Swedish agency rhetoric: agencies for democracy 82

The cultural flavour of Swedish agency talk over time 89

The trajectory of Australian agency talk 1997-2004 94

Australian agency rhetoric: agencies for customer service 95

The cultural flavour of Australian agency talk over time 102

Conclusion 107

Part III Comparing and Explaining Agency Talk 109

5 Comparing Official Agency Talk: National Speaking Styles and the Role of Cultural Context? 111

Introduction 111

Comparing rhetorical situations across high and low group political cultures 112

Comparing rhetorical styles across high and low group political cultures 116

National styles of speaking across high and low group political cultures 126

Similarities in talk: a role for political culture and transnational stories? 128

The correspondence between political culture and national styles of speaking 130

Conclusion 132

6 The Role of Culturally Flavoured Stories and their National Translations 135

Introduction 135

Comparing common cultural flavours and their rhetorical styles 136

Agency talk and an individualist rhetorical style 136

Agency talk and a hierarchical rhetorical style 139

Agency talk and an egalitarian rhetorical style 143

Hood's predictions and the rhetorical elements of cultural world views in agency talk 147

Shifts in the cultural flavour of agency talk: reactions of rhetoric or the rhetorical situation? 150

The national limits of shifts in the cultural flavour of talk 153

Translating fashionable agency stories 155

Conclusion 156

7 Conclusion 159

Introduction 159

National styles of speaking and fashionable management stories 159

Theoretical contributions and evaluation 163

Reflecting on public management knowledge 166

Speaking persuasively in high and low group political cultures 169

Appendix A Analysing the Documents 170

Appendix B Selection of Documents 173

References 176

Index 185