Aesthetics of the Police Station in Three Countries: An Exercise in Using Fictive Material in Creating Aesthetic Profiles

Abstract

The Finnish administrative sciences have little experience in using fictive material from literature for empirical research. In organisation culture research, this possibility can be useful for seeking out a more analytical interpretation of the reasons for and impacts of organisational cultural phenomena. Aesthetic aspects enter the picture when the focus is on the impressions and illusions of the outsiders, especially those of the citizens who are served by the administration. This article is based on
two recent articles that analysed the organisational culture of the police stations in Nordic countries and in Russia using as research material observations from the detective novels of these countries. This same material is used here to determine the aesthetic differences and profiles among the Finnish, Swedish and Russian police forces as well as the usefulness of aesthetic analysis in completing and deepening organisation cultural study.