Hester Paanakker

Do policy makers, higher management, and lower management consider craftsmanship at street level in the same way as their street-level colleagues? What mutual perception do the groups have of each other? What does each think “doing the job of prison officer well,” i.e. craftsmanship, means to the other group? Is there convergence in mutual (stereotype) views or not, and what explains this value (in)congruence? Linking this back to the broader scholarly debate on the role and meaning of values in public governance, what do these insights teach us about value contextuality? In this part, the value convergence between different levels of prison officials is examined. Part 3 scrutinizes the effects of value convergence (or divergence) on policy practice. It discusses the third research question and puts the question of how it benefits or thwarts frontline public service delivery center stage. This is covered by Chapter 6. What potential problems arise if value orientations vary significantly throughout the organization or sector? For operational staff, for value realization at the frontline, and for frontline craftsmanship? As the first two parts clearly demonstrate the existence of different, or even clashing, value approaches between staff levels, be they perceived or real, part 3 focuses on value divergence rather than convergence and explores the types of pathological effects that value divergence may give rise to at the frontline. 1.3 The Case Study of the Dutch Prison Sector The research in this thesis is conducted in the prison sector in the Netherlands. The prison sector is harnessed as a uniquely relevant case study setting for studying the topic at hand for three main reasons: the significance of prison management and performance for broader society, the strong presence of multiple co-existing and potentially conflicting values, and the institutionalized hierarchy and stratification in prison system structure and culture. First, prison management and performance are commonly seen as key indicators of the overall societal performance of governance (Boin, 2001; Molleman, 2014). The way countries treat prisoners, and govern sentencing and imprisonment, play a significant role in their global and societal reputation and status. On the positive side, imprisonment can be a direct tool for combatting crime, in order to protect and advance society. On the negative side, imprisonment can be a deterrent to the preservation of an elite and the oppression of (free) civilians, or a “training school” that produces even smarter and more serious criminals, all to the detriment of society. Coherent and effective realization of incarceration depends heavily on the prison 21 Introduction