Craig R. Smith

TL;DR: In this paper, three common strategies or tactics that organizations use to obtain critical resources from the environment: merging, forming alliances, and co-opting are described, along with a set of practical lessons for busy public and nonprofit managers.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors connect relational contracts with the management of policy networks, and present a set of testable propositions that suggest a rationale for the creation and expansion of public-sector policy networks through relational contracting and its management.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors put forward a theory of representative bureaucracy as a way to reconcile democracy with the reality of the contemporary policy process in which unelected officials are the principal decision makers.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors find empirical support for the proposition that county form of government, along with rules governing debt accumulation and administrative commitment, increases the breadth of county collaboration in open-space protection and suggest that stable institutions and local government structure facilitate collaboration by allowing public managers to more credibly commit in a policy arena.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors see three future challenges for public administration: (1) supporting the application of diverse and rigorous methodological approaches, (2) continuing to encourage theoretical diversity and theoretical depth, and (3) promoting relevance without compromising methodological rigor.