Hester Paanakker

output, something that has little to do with honoring key public service values and delivering good work. It also supports emerging literature that indicates that intense reform sequences (Wynen et al., 2019) and regulatory policy changes “constraining the work conditions of frontline public service providers can indeed produce lasting negative motivational effects” (Jensen, Kjeldsen, & Vestergaard, 2019, p. 1). Value divergence is not perceived to constitute inevitable and instrumental role differences that benefit organizational structure and productivity: it is perceived as an undesirable reality that functions to undermine rather than support good frontline work. Perceived differences impact mutual understanding, cooperation and partnership much more negatively than the actual differences. The conclusion that the executive worker , as well as executive work itself, suffers from experienced value divergence suggests value convergence is an asset to harmonious and productive organizations. Based on our case study, we expect higher convergence on frontline values of good work, especially with respect to value attainment, to better facilitate cooperation on public service value realization on the ground, to promote job satisfaction and reduce work stress, to mitigate street-level alienation from policy, and to encourage the quality of public service delivery. Further examination is needed of these expected effects on public service delivery, and of the role that (different types of) public managers play in reducing or sustaining value misperceptions and successful or failed value attainment in public organizations. And, even if misperceptions are partially imaginary, what coping strategies for different types of value divergence do professionals develop? To learn whether other public domains suffer similar dynamics from value divergence, and under what conditions, future qualitative studies into other professional occupations and policy fields are encouraged. 4.9 Conclusion Throughout the prison hierarchy, the context of austerity and performance-induced reform was found to accentuate role and value differences between different groups in the organizational hierarchy, and to exacerbate transpositional stereotyping into a deeply rooted toxic organizational dynamic. These perceived differences overshadow the actual convergence in 116 Chapter 4