Values of Public Craftsmanship: The Mismatch Between Street-Level Ideals and Institutional Facilitation in the Prison Sector

• Author: Hester L. Paanakker
• DOI: 10.1177/0275074019859944
• Published date: 01 November 2019
• Date: 01 November 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074019859944

American Review of Public Administration

2019, Vol. 49(8) 884 –896

© The Author(s) 2019

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074019859944

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Article

Recent debates have reinvigorated discussion on “the art of

the public profession” as a craft, and normative prescriptions

of a myriad of public values that relate to general public sec-

tor work and behavior have been put forward (Kunneman,

2012; Rhodes, 2015; ‘t Hart, 2014). Yet it remains unclear

how such abstract principles relate to good working practice

within specific professional settings and how much leeway

they are institutionally afforded in concrete street-level prac-

tice. Through empirical assessment, we seek to explore and

further develop the meaning and potential of public crafts-

manship in public administration theory and practice and to

gain more insight in the street-level application of public val-

ues to real-life practices. We understand public craftsmanship

to encompass the skills and values that represent an internal-

ized motivation and competence for quality-driven work: the

desire, skill, and commitment “to do a job well for its own

sake” (Sennett, 2008, p. 9) that serves particularly well to

reflect street-level professionals and the tangible nature of the

tasks they perform, but also their experiential knowledge, and

the malleable nature of their service delivery.

Empirical research on how public craftsmanship can be

understood, in particular from a values perspective, is lag-

ging behind. But street-level professionals absorb and trans-

mit values on a daily basis. They do so in a continuous

interplay with the organizational system they are embedded

in and influenced by (Noordegraaf, 2007), also proactively

influencing it themselves: the way values manifest them-

selves in street-level craftsmanship and how these profes-

sionals handle their work shapes the bureaucratic reality of

policy implementation (cf. Caswell, Kupka, Larsen, & Van

Berkel, 2017; Hupe, Hill, & Buffat, 2016; Lipsky, 2010;

Stewart, 2006; Tummers, Bekkers, Vink, & Musheno, 2015).

Through their management of values, we claim that, in

street-level contexts, public professionals are craftsmen who

make, repair, and actively craft policy.

Studying the decisive influence of the institutional envi-

ronment as well as the importance of values, that, in this

context, may or may not be at stake in professional conduct

or craftsmanship is of particular importance. The public pro-

fession is becoming increasingly complex in an era of glo-

balization, digitalization, changing work standards, and

technologies, fragmented division of professional labor,

managerialism-induced regulations and reforms, distrust

and polarization, and an ever more demanding and assertive

859944ARPXXX10.1177/0275074019859944The American Review of Public AdministrationPaanakker

research-article2019

1Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Corresponding Author:

Hester L. Paanakker, Assistant Professor of Public Administration,

Department of Public Administration, Nijmegen School of Management,

Radboud University, P.O. Box 9108, 6500 HK Nijmegen, The

Netherlands.

Email: h.paanakker@fm.ru.nl

Values of Public Craftsmanship: The Mismatch

Between Street-Level Ideals and Institutional

Facilitation in the Prison Sector

Hester L. Paanakker1

Abstract

Public craftsmanship, as the normative prescription of a myriad of public values, is receiving renewed attention. This study

aims at empirical insight into how such abstract principles acquire practical meaning in specific professional settings, and how

they are practically facilitated on the shop floor. We use an explorative case study among Dutch prison professionals (N =

32) to contrast perceptions of ideal values and practices with perceptions of institutional facilitation at street level. In the case

of prison officers, the institutional context of the prison was found to substantially restrain rather than support the ideals

that professionals attach to good street-level craftsmanship. The study’s theoretical contribution is to show craftsmanship as

uniquely localizing the normative underpinnings of good work. Empirically, the findings show how an unyielding neoliberalist

administrative practice can hamper the potential of public craftsmanship and is likely to have negative impact on staff

commitment and successful public service delivery. We end with implications for the further examination and development

of public craftsmanship in public administration theory and practice.

Keywords

public values, craftsmanship, street-level performance, professionalism, value management