Hvordan skabes public value i praksis? Om capacity building som ledelsestilgang i offentlige organisationer

The endeavor to promote and create conditions for social wellbeing, co-production of public services, increased democracy and reducing social inequality represent– among other themes –important areas of inquiry for managers and employees in the public sector, who work to create public value. This article argues that capacity building theory can represent a leadership-oriented foundation for how to create public value in practice. Public value theory is primarily concerned with ‘what’ public value is, and questions of ‘what’ should count as public value. There is scarce scholarly work published concerning how public sector managers can create organizational conditions for the employees so the best way possible can (co-)produce services (together with users/citizens) that achieve public value as an outcome. This article posits that the literature on capacity building can act as a relevant source of inspiration for operationalizing the leadership roles that are required in public organizations when the strategy is public value. For the academic world, the article’s discussion and conclusion demonstrate that there is relevant cross-fertilization in two different but similar literatures. For practice, the article seeks to inspire public managers to interpret and perhaps better understand their leadership roles in practice.