Public Management Reform. A Comparative Analysis

Abstract Information is a source of power in the planning process. This article begins by assessing five perspectives of the planner's use of information: those of the technician, the incremental pragmatist, the liberal advocate, the structuralist, and the “progressive.” Then several types of misinformation (inevitable or unnecessary, ad hoc or systematic) are distinguished in a reformulation of bounded rationality in planning, and practical responses by planning staff are identified. The role and ethics of planners acting as sources of misinformation are considered. In practice planners work in the face of power manifest as the social and political (mis)-man-agement of citizens' knowledge, consent, trust, and attention. Seeking to enable planners to anticipate and counteract sources of misinformation threatening public serving, democratic planning processes, the article clarifies a practical and politically sensitive form of “progressive” planning practice.

Planning in the Face of Power.

People who want to tackle tough social problems and achieve beneficial community outcomes are beginning to understand that multiple sectors of a democratic society—business, nonprofits and philanthropies, the media, the community, and government—must collaborate to deal effectively and humanely with the challenges. This article focuses on cross-sector collaboration that is required to remedy complex public problems. Based on an extensive review of the literature on collaboration, the article presents a propositional inventory organized around the initial conditions affecting collaboration formation, process, structural and governance components, constraints and contingencies, outcomes, and accountability issues.

The design and implementation of cross-sector collaborations: Propositions from the literature

Focusing on labour relations and unions, this title is part of a series that considers the theoretical, methodological and research issues relevant to organizational sociology. It emphasizes on both micro and macro sociological approaches.

Research in the Sociology of Organizations

Although cooperative, interorganizational networks have become a common mechanism for delivery of public services, evaluating their effectiveness is extremely complex and has generally been neglected. To help resolve this problem, we discuss the evaluation of networks of community-based, mostly publicly funded health, human service, and public welfare organizations. Consistent with pressures to perform effectively from a broad range of key stakeholders, we argue that networks must be evaluated at three levels of analysis: community, network, and organization/participant levels. While the three levels are related, each has its own set of effectiveness criteria that must be considered. The article offers a general discussion of network effectiveness, followed by arguments explaining effectiveness criteria and stakeholders at each level of analysis. Finally, the article examines how effectiveness at one level of network analysis may or may not match effectiveness criteria at another level and the extent to which integration across levels may be possible.

Do Networks Really Work? A Framework for Evaluating Public-Sector Organizational Networks

Network structures: working diffe rently and changing expectations

There is a growing need for innovative methods of dealing with complex, social problems. New types of collaborative efforts have emerged as a result of the inability of more traditional bureaucratic hierarchical arrangements such as departmental programs to resolve these problems. Network structures are one such arrangement that is at the forefront of this movement. Although collaboration through network structures establishes an innovative response to dealing with social issues, there remains an expectation that outcomes and processes are based on traditional ways of working. It is necessary for practitioners and policy makers alike to begin to understand the realities of what can be expected from network structures in order to maximize the benefits of these unique mechanisms.

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Network structures: Working differently and changing expectations

Getting The Right Mix: Unpacking Integration Meanings and Strategies

Preface Overview by Myrna P. Mandell Models and Typologies for Understanding the Nature and Management of Networks After the Network is Formed: Process, Power and Performance by Robert Agranoff and Michael McGuire From Subnet to Supranet: A Proposal for a Comparative Network Framework to Examine Network Interactions Across Borders by Matthew Mingus Assessing and Modeling Determinants of Capacity for Action in Networked Public Programs by Glenn W. Rainey Jr. and Terry Busson Multiorganizational, Multisector, and Multicommunity Organizations: Setting the Research Agenda by Beverly A. Cigler Behavioral Implications of Networks Environmental Networks: Relying on Process or Outcome for Motivation by Lisa S. Nelson Bringing About Change in a Public School System: An Interorganizational Network Approach by Rupert Chisholm Lessons from the Field: Extending Analytical Findings--Experiences from the United States The Impact of Network Structures on Community Building Efforts: The Los Angeles Roundtable for Children Community Studies by Myrna P. Mandell Creating Networks for Inter-Organizational Settings: A Two Year Follow-up Study on Determinants by Renu Khator and Nicole Ayers Brunson Experiences from the International Arena Cross-Sectoral Policy Networks: Lessons from Developing and Transitioning Countries by . Derick W. Brinkerhoff and Jennifer M. Brinkerhoff Will the People Really Speak? A Networking Perspective on Hong Kong as It Attempts to Build a Democratic Political Infrastructure by Robert W. Gage The New South Wales Demonstration Projects in Integrated Community Care by Michael Fine Lessons from the Field: Views of Practitioners--Views From the U.S. Neighborhood Networks in Worcester: Partnerships that Work by Richard Ford, Laurie Ross and Mardia Coleman Reaching Consensus on the Tampa Bay Estuary Program Interlocal Agreement: A Perspective by Richard Eckenrod Thoughts on Motivational Problems in Networks by Nina Burkardt Views from the International Arena Empowering Communities Through the Use of Place Management by Illana Halliday Getting Things Done Through Networks by Shayne Walker and Catherine Goodyear ISKM (Intergrated Systems for Knowledge Management): A Participatory Framework to Help Communities Identify and Adopt More Sustainable Resource Management Practices by Will Allen, Ockie Bosch, and Margaret Kilvington Index

Getting Results Through Collaboration: Networks and Network Structures for Public Policy and Management

Integration has emerged as having an increasingly significant role in public policy discourse and practice in many jurisdictions across the globe. In providing a different framework for establishing relationships between service providers and citizens and government, horizontal integration arrangements offer the prospect of delivering new ways of working and providing solutions to seemingly insolvable social problems. Ways of achieving horizontal integration have been variously described by linkage terms such as cooperation, coordination, and collaboration. These terms have been typically used interchangeably to describe the coming together of individuals to work in concerted effort to achieve common goals. We argue that each of these terms, expressed as the "3Cs," are different and consequently achieve different objectives. This paper explores the use of the "3Cs" and examines the differences highlighted by practitioners in the human services arena to extend the understanding of constructs relating to integration mechanisms. It is contended that in focusing on the experiences of integration and unpacking the use and expectations of the related "3Cs", public administrators and practitioners will gain an enhanced understanding of each of the processes of integration as a coherent framework. As a consequence, there will be improved ability to match appropriate integration mechanisms with contexts and strategies.

Myrna Mandell

Papers

Network structures: working diffe rently and changing expectations

Network structures: Working differently and changing expectations

Getting The Right Mix: Unpacking Integration Meanings and Strategies

Getting Results Through Collaboration: Networks and Network Structures for Public Policy and Management

Getting the right mix : unpacking integration meanings and strategies