Hester Paanakker

They are only happy when you never fall sick, do not think independently but just do as you are told and don’t by any means stand out because you cause trouble (respondent 37, prison officer about their managing directors) . The specifications of the value of efficiency, too, reveal an image of suggestive stereotyping of colleagues higher up the hierarchy. Interestingly, efficiency is considered a concern of higher management only, outside the sphere of influence or sphere of interest of street-level prison officers and middle managers, and in a predominantly negative fashion. To the 16% of respondents that mention efficiency, policy advisors and managing directors use the reform agenda of the Modernization Program as a fig-leaf for the implementation of cutbacks and personnel cuts. It is seen as an instrument of headquarters and managing directors of facilities to push through austerity measures that lower costs ruthlessly – at the expense of other street- level values: “I think they couldn’t care less, really, I think headquarters is like ‘well if we do not get too much shit from the executive people, it is all fine by us’ [..] and then in the cheapest possible way” (respondent 47, prison officer). The fieldwork clearly indicated this negative stereotyping is a function of the difficult circumstances of the sector at large, both financially and in terms of the continuous reforms. In the looming fear of losing their job, of being transferred, or of having to change the nature of work routines, employees, from managing directors to prison officers, tend to project their dissatisfaction on the layer above them. Respondents devote a considerable amount of time to talking about failing management and the perverse effects of the cutbacks and reforms, and it is often the first issue they put forward when discussing the craftsmanship views of their superiors. In addition, the mocking tone when speaking of superiors and their lack of commitment to the penal mission and to the advancement of key prison values in particular, suggests a built-in inclination to shift the blame of failing reform efforts upwards. These attribution effects to higher levels span the entire executive branch, from managing directors toward the ministerial policy advisors above them, but particularly from prison officers toward the middle managers, managing directors and policy advisors above them, and middle managers toward the managing directors and policy advisors above them. Suspicion is high, and the 113 Comparing Perceptions of the Frontline Craft