Management by objectives: the Swedish experience in upper secondary schools
| Published date | 01 February 2011 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09578231111102063 |
| Date | 01 February 2011 |
| Pages | 62-75 |
| Author | Erik Lindberg,Timothy L. Wilson |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Management by objectives: the
Swedish experience in upper
secondary schools
Erik Lindberg and Timothy L. Wilson
Umea
˚School of Business, Umea
˚, Sweden
Abstract
Purpose – This paper seeks to explore how managing by objectives (MBO) has been adopted in
Swedish schools and to reflect on some of the consequences in a longitudinal study. Results relate to
whether introduction has increased student performance and whether it works as a tool for the
principals to create more effective schools.
Design/methodology/approach – A comparative cross-sectional study was made on the adoption
of MBO as perceived by principals in upper secondary schools in Sweden. Initially, a mail
questionnaire was distributed to every principal in Swedish upper secondary schools, which
determined the extent to which mandated MBO practices were being implemented. Ten years later, the
study was replicated, which made initial and subsequent practices comparable.
Findings – Principals’ perceptions suggest that the effects of MBO have diminished over the ten-year
period. Ancillary measures of student performance correlated to MBO practices appeared statistically
insignificant, or perhaps even negative. Thus, the change appears to have produced unimproved
student performance, frustrated principals and perhaps somewhat less stressed teachers.
Practical implications – These findings have implications on the direction the management of
upper secondary schools subject to central direction may take. Although MBO may improve efficiency
in staff performance, it appears to have little effect on effectiveness, if student performance is used as a
criterion.
Originality/value – Adoption measures of MBO have been obtained and associated with student
performance for the first time.
Keywords Education, Educational policy, Secondaryschools, Management by objectives, Sweden
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In 1994 it was decided to implement management by objectives (MBO) in the Swedish
education system. This move was part of a global movement that began earlier, which
produced a debate in the 1980s about what could be done to make the public sector
more efficient. A statement such as the public sector was lacking in efficiency, or how
more value could be obtained for tax money, focused attention on how the private
sector was organized. This debate produced a change that became known as new
public management (NPM (see Hood, 1991)). This development has been seen as a
market-based ideology, which focused on financial control with the intention to make
the public sector more business-like. Inherent in the approach was that efficiency
should be stimulated. Pollitt (1990, pp. 10-11) argued that that progress would be
characterized by importation from the private section.
The conviction that development of human capital created a competitive advantage
grew (Bell and Stevenson, 2006), and the educational system was one of the sectors
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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JEA
49,1
62
Received January 2010
Revised March 2010
Accepted April 2010
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 49 No. 1, 2011
pp. 62-75
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/09578231111102063
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