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Cash, codes and complexity: New adventures in the public management of pay scales

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  • Wolfgang Rennison, Betina

Abstract

Communication makes a difference. The manner in which we communicate creates the phenomena we communicate about. It can seem obvious, but we are nevertheless seldom aware of the complexity that this constructivist assumption implies. Through an analysis of a new pay reform in the Danish public sector, this article theorizes the complexity in terms of Niklas Luhmann's systems theory. In an attempt to understand the ambiguities of today's management of pay, it identifies four wholly different 'codes' of communication; law, money, learning and love. Each of them struggles for the position to construct 'pay', 'personnel' and 'management' differently. Ambiguity is construed in terms of the complex interference that arises between the systems of communication that are coded in these ways. Through this codified complexity, the new pay reform does not merely represent an innocent 'management technology', but a productive 'management policy' drawing on conflicting codes setting specific distinctions for rewarding, distinct boundaries for managing work life.

Suggested Citation

  • Wolfgang Rennison, Betina, 2007. "Cash, codes and complexity: New adventures in the public management of pay scales," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 146-167, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:scaman:v:23:y:2007:i:2:p:146-167
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    Cited by:

    1. Paul Stenner & Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen, 2020. "The emotional organization and the problem of authenticity: The romantic, the pedagogic, the therapeutic and the ludic as liminal media of transition," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3), pages 450-466, May.
    2. Steffen Roth & Augusto Sales & Jari Kaivo-oja, 2017. "Multiplying the Division of Labour: Functional Differentiation of the Next Key Variables in Management Research," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 195-207, March.
    3. Steffen Roth, 2017. "From Added Values to Augmented Realities. Introducing the Special Issue of Management and Functional Differentiation," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 131-138, March.
    4. Rasche, Andreas & Seidl, David, 2020. "A Luhmannian perspective on strategy: Strategy as paradox and meta-communication," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

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