How deregulation can become overregulation: An empirical study into the growth of internal bureaucracy when governments take a step back

Størkersen, Kristine; Thorvaldsen, Trine; Kongsvik, Trond; Dekker, S.W.A.

doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104772

How deregulation can become overregulation

Title

How deregulation can become overregulation: An empirical study into the growth of internal bureaucracy when governments take a step back

Author

Størkersen, Kristine (Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU))
Thorvaldsen, Trine (SINTEF Ocean)
Kongsvik, Trond (Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU))
Dekker, S.W.A. (TU Delft Control & Simulation; Griffith University)

Date

2020

Abstract

Over the past decades, government safety management regulation has been driven by deregulation, simplification and organization-level regimes of inspection. So-called functional rule-making requires organizations to implement safety management systems appropriate for their operations. The paradox that seems to have arisen is that overregulation is common in many organizations. Research has found over-proceduralization, safety clutter, bureaucratic overload, and procedures not at the service of safety. To explore the paradoxical relationship between governmental deregulatory measures and organizational overregulation, we analyze empirical data from Norwegian fish farming and coastal transport. The data confirms that practitioners experience a rapidly grown abundance of internal rules and protocols, ill-fitting procedures, and pervasive, exaggerated safety management. We trace three mechanisms that have driven internal overregulation: work auditability; managerial insecurity and liability; and audit practices. These mechanisms show how functional regulation can have unintended consequences when it meets other accountability expectations. Expectations of market doctrine, bureaucratic entrepreneurism and control can lead a company transforming simple governmental regulations into vastly overcomplicated safety management systems. We conclude our study with prescriptions of how this aspect of safety could be done differently.

Subject

Bureaucracy
Deregulation
Fish farms
Maritime
Regulation
Safety management

To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:bd69c4ad-db17-4c80-85cd-5960372bfd02

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104772

ISSN

0925-7535

Source

Safety Science, 128

Part of collection

Institutional Repository