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Björn Rombach

Professor Emeritus

School of Public Administration
Telephone
+46 709-52 27 99
Mail
bjorn.rombach@spa.gu.se
Visiting address
Sprängkullsgatan 19
41123 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 712
40530 Göteborg

About Björn Rombach

Background He has worked at the Stockholm School of Economics (1978-1986 and 1990-1995), the Centre for Working Life (1986-1990), Åbo Akademi University (six months, 1991) and the University of Gothenburg (since 1996).

1980: Civil Economics degree at the Stockholm School of Economics. 1986: Economics PhD at the Stockholm School of Economics. 1992: Unpaid lecturer in business economics at the Stockholm School of Economics. 1995: Professor in Public Sector Economics, specialising in municipal economics and organisation with placement at the School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg. 2006: Head of Department at the School of Public Administration. Research interests On an overall level, my interest is research into public administration in general. This has not changed over the years.

Until the middle of the 1990s, the focus of my research interest lay within the area of financial management in its broadest sense. From that period, there are a number of publications building upon comprehensive studies of budgetary control, management by objectives, quality management and management tools similar to those used by markets, all within the areas of municipal and county council administration. Since that time, I have worked on organisational and structure issues, with focus on the public sector. In recent years, this work has been complemented with a great deal of research into management. Several studies and publications in recent years have also touched upon the question, what is our subject area and what does it have for boundaries?

I feel that it is now possibly time to move on to a different direction of research. I am particularly attracted by empirical studies of financial management, perhaps primarily within healthcare. Much has happened in the financial management field since the mid 1990s. Current research I am currently working on a project about organisation and management. The project will conclude with an anthology, which will be published in spring 2012 in Swedish and later in English. I am also working on publishing internationally the results from a project on the question; what is our subject area and what does it have for boundaries? An anthology was published in English in 2010, and an article is planned for publication in 2012.

I am planning to carry out empirical studies of financial management within healthcare. The aim is to understand the effect of the overgrown mix of management tools in use today. If this project takes place, it will be a collaborative project with partners including the Stockholm School of Economics.

A study in the field of leadership is also in the planning stage. The starting point is that we have come to the end of road with interviews, observations and personal stories. Researchers using qualitative techniques often see structured approaches as mere surveys. I am interested in testing the palette of techniques over and above questionnaires, which make it possible to carry out larger structured studies. Teaching I have held courses at foundation and advanced level including the following subject areas: administration, political organisation and finance, business environment, organisational cultures, organisational theory, business administration and various types of essay courses.

I have also held the following courses at research level: introductory course for doctoral students in public sector economics, advanced level seminars, feminist organisational theory, sociological institutional theory, modern public sector economic theory, the research role in practice and thesis planning. I have also examined a large number of so-called literature courses in which one or sometimes two doctoral students have participated. In addition, I am very often called upon for different types of teaching outside the university.