ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how discourse operates as a means of normative governance in the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (SIA) and the Public Employment Service (PES). It explores how managerial narratives – crafted to convey organizational ideals and guide staff behaviour – function to align employee and caseworker identities with organizational goals. The research reveals that narratives are powerful tools that mobilize support for current management by distancing oneself from previous leadership and management ideals. It shows how managerial narratives shift in response to political priorities and create alignment and misalignment patterns as filtered down inside organizations. Identified management-promoted narratives of ‘insurance-likeness’ and ‘self-leadership’ encountered support and resistance depending on how well they resonated with patterns of self-identification embedded in caseworkers’ occupational identities and cultures. SIA narratives of insurance-likeness aligned closely with SIA caseworkers’ self-identification, whereas PES narratives of self-leadership were met with sarcasm among PES caseworkers as expressions of empty talk. Across agencies, newer employees more often adapted readily to these management discourses, while experienced caseworkers distanced themselves to a greater extent.
