Organizational Change in Local Governments: The Impact of the Danish Local Government Reform

Abstract

The article explores organizational structures in public organizations that are the results of amalgamations of two or more public organizations. Focusing on the Danish Local Government Reform implemented in 2007, the main questions are whether the new municipalities have decided to organize themselves differently than their predecessors, and whether the interests of centrally placed actors affect such a decision. Data on the political and administrative organization of all Danish municipalities in 2005 and 2007 show that the number of organizational units grew considerably more in the 66 new municipalities than it did in the 32 municipalities whose territory was not changed because of the reform. The analyses show that the increased number of organizational units can in part be explained by new municipal tasks and increased workload due to the new structural conditions. An important part of the increase, however, was caused neither by task related, nor by structural changes. Alternatively, the increase may be explained by political norms stating that all relevant interests should be given a top post in the new organizations.