7. Relevance of Management Instruments

Public organizations use different management instruments to fulfill their mission, to perform better, or as a means to achieve administrative reform. The “Tools of Government” approach argues that instruments are an important and independent part of public sector reform, and should be analyzed as such. We ask two research questions: Do the Nordic countries constitute a specific model regarding use of management instruments? Is there variation between them in this respect, and how can these differences be explained? The analysis shows that the Nordic countries as a group are different from other groups when it comes to use of management instruments. The analysis of the variation between the Nordic countries revealed similarities but also differences making it difficult to talk about a common Nordic model.