Kerneopgaven: Mellem magt, potentiale og mening

Abstract

The primary task as a phenomenon is not new, but it is still very topical. The primary task is both a phenomenon, a concept and a prism for illuminating and examining key themes in the management of the public sector. This thesis wants to investigate how primary task processes take place in one's own organization. The primary task as an approach is a seemingly uncontroversial field, whose importance and legitimacy seem unchallenged, not on the content, where conflicts of interest, professional struggles, incentive structures and much more can lead to debate about the primary task´s content and wording, but it does not change that the approach is seemingly almost unchallenged as a method, and that primary task as a phenomenon has proven viable and resilient over time in vastly different contexts. The apparent consensus can take the form of common sense - we must, of course, know what our primary mission is, what our DNA, mission and professional raison d'être are. I myself have carried out primary task processes in several organizations, and I have done so as a leader, because I could see a value in it, because I have assessed that with a well-defined core task in hand, I have had strengthened opportunities to create direction for the organization and to be able to prioritize rationally and transparently. The basic thesis of the dissertation is that the core task often emerges as a methodical naturalized notion, a transparent rational optimization strategy that is not or only to a very modest degree challenged in its legitimacy. It discusses when and how the primary task processes should take place, rather than whether and whether primary task processes are justified. The key question asked is, whether and how the primary task in SUF-Copenhagen municipality is articulated and negotiated; and with what effects for the forms of organization and for the room for maneuver of employees and managers? This problem is analyzed through three analysis strategies that are informed by different understandings of management, value creation and practice. The mission is to make 2nd order considerations on own management practice, ie. a kind of meta-reflection that seeks to illuminate the ´blind spots´, the bias overlooked in everyday life. The denaturalization is inspired by Michel Foucault and the second-order consideration in this dissertation is particularly inspired by Niklas Luhmann, who offers concepts for analyzing the world and the organization from a social constructivist and epistemological point of view. Finally, Karl Weick offers tools for Sensemaking as part of an executed leadership. It has been an ambition to confront the natural setting of my own organization and to confront dilemmas inherent in my own leadership. It has been made probable that working with the primary task processes in a Foucaultdian perspective includes social control technology and considerable philosophical implications of science when investigated through the perspective of Niklas Luhmann and his concept of autopoiesis; which