Revisiting old friends: networks, implementation structures and the management of inter-organizational relations (original) (raw)
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Public Administration, 1995
Public policy usually develops in complex networks of public, quasi-public and private organizations. It is now generally accepted that these networks set l i m i t s to the governance capability of the administration. A good deal less is known about the opportunities which policy networks offer for tackling social and administrative problems. This article deals with the way network management enables government organizations to benefit from networks. Building on the theoretical concepts of 'networks' and 'games', two forms of network management are identified: game management and network structuring. Four key aspects can be identified for both of these management fonns: actors and their relations, resources, rules and perceptions. At thesame time, criteria for the assessment and improvement of network management are examined. The article concludes with a consideration of the limits of network management.
2018
Government intervention in the public sphere has undergone a great transformation throughout its history. The concept of " governance networks " encompasses one of the latest efforts from political sciences to understand the process of creating and implementing public policies. This document aims to clarify the theoretical and practical implications of the concept of " governance networks " in regards to future research agendas around it. The conceptual debate suggests the need to analyze its democratic implications.
The paper analyses the initiation and management of inter-organisational networks, spanning both the public and private domain. Specifically, bracketing the institutional level and combining literature on communities-of-practice and network management, we turn our attention to managerial activities which are no longer de-contextualized but understood as highly situated activities. By doing so, the paper elucidates the crucial role boundary spanners have in alleviating discontinuities across institutional boundaries. Furthermore, we untangle the temporal process which led to the successful formation of an innovative network, namely stabilising the network, initiating a cognitive shift towards a network strategy, and developing a supportive culture and practices. These ideas are developed by presenting a processual account of an interpretive case study on inter-organisational network formation which was part of a research programme for designing and studying the feasibility and implications of electronic government/industry interaction.
Analyzing Social Policy from a Network Perspective
Advances in Social Work, 2020
Governance models influence the approach that public service organizations take when implementing programs, policies, and practices. The networked model of governance supports the involvement of multiple actors who span organizational boundaries and roles to implement solutions to address complex social problems. This paper presents the utility of network analysis for the study of policy implementation from a network perspective. The paper describes networks within the context of social work policy implementation, basic network components, common structural variables, and sources of data for the study of policy implementation. A study of a statewide policy implementation is partially presented as an illustration of the use of network analysis in social policy research. The illustration uses primary and secondary data with network analysis techniques to identify and describe the patterns of interactions that comprise the structure of the implementation network. The illustration will ...
Policy Networks: Empirical Evidence and Theoretical Considerations
The American Political Science Review, 1993
Although network thinking will have considerable impact on future social theory building in general, this chapter is certainly not the place for a general "philosophical" discussion. Based on the assumption that the network perspective will be, indeed, also fruitful for political analysis, we will focus our discussion on the specific use of network concepts in policy analysis. We will try to show that an important advantage of the network concept in this discipline is that it helps us to understand not only formal institutional arrangements but also highly complex informal relationships in the policy process. From a network point of view. modern political decision making cannot adequately be understood by the exclusive focus on formal politico-institutional anangements. Policies are formulated to an increasing degree in informal political infrastructures outside conventional channels such as legislative, executive and administrative organizations. Contemporary policy processes emerge from complex actor constellations and resource interdependencies, and decisions are often made in a highly decentralized and informal manner. example, the policy sector (Benson 1982), the policy domain (Laumann/ Knoke 1987), the policy topic's organization set (see for this concept Olsen 1982), the policy (actor) system (see, for instance, Sabatier 1987), the policy community (Jordan/ Richardson 1983, Mdny 1989), the policy game, the policy arena and also the policy regime. The network concept and all these other policy concepts are variations of a basic theme: the idea of public policies which are not explained by the intentions of one or two central actors, but which are generated within multiple actor-sets in which the individual actors are interrelated in a more or less systematic way. However, each of the different policy concepts emphasizes a special aspect: for example, the institutional structures in decision making processes are highlighted by the arena and regime perspective; the conflictual nature of policy processes, again, is emphasized by the game perspective. The arena concept, in contrast, concentrates on conflict and institutional integration, and the community, system and sector perspec-9 For a more detailed overview of British works with the network concept see also the recent article of Rhodes (1990). l0 Other examples in the application of the network concept in policy making are Zijlstra (1918179:359-389); Rainey/ Milward (1983: 133-146); Trasher/ Dunkerley (1982: 349' 382); Trasher (1983: 375-391). For an overview see also Windhoff-Hdritier (1985: 85-2t2). Cltapter 2 Butt, R. S./ M. J. Minor, 1982: Applied Nenuork Analysis-A Methodological Introduction Beverly Hills/ London: Sage. Callon, Michel, 1986: The Sociology of an Actor-Network: The Case of the Electric Vehicle. In: M. Callon/ H. Law/ A. Rip, Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology. Sociology of Science in the Real World. Houndmills: Macmillan, 19-34.
Taking Network Analysis Seriously: Methodological Improvements for Governance Network Scholarship
Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 2018
Networks are recognized as an important lens for studying governance. However, in the public policy and management literature, networks are both a theoretical concept and methodological approach-making it difficult to figure out where theory ends and methodology begins. This article first addresses why network analysis-as both concept and method-is important for the study of governance systems, as the epistemology of a network-analytic approach mirrors prominent theories of complex institutional systems. Second, it seeks to clarify the roles of network analysis in governance research. Distinguishing between different modes of analysis serves to highlight different types of network research designs and explains why network analysis is not just reflexively defined by its focus on networks. Third, it argues that researchers should strive for a more holistic conception of network analysis. Actors, relationships, rules, and resources interact in complex ways to determine outcomes in complex institutional systems. By focusing on more than just actors and their interactions, public policy and management scholars can use network analysis more effectively.
2009
In recent decades, theorists and researchers have begun to shift emphasis away from the analysis and descriptions of government roles and responsibilities to processes of governance unfolding amidst complex networks of individuals, organizations and institutions. Observing this trend, George Frederickson observes that the current status of theory development of network governance is "neither theoretically tidy nor parsimonious," and "at this point there isn't a single theory that puts its arms around third party governance" (Frederickson, 2007, p. 11). Despite efforts to define critical characteristics of "policy subsystems," "policy networks," "public management networks," and "governance networks," we are left to conclude that the development of a theoretical framework through which to describe, evaluate and analyze governance networks is a particularly ambitious undertaking, possessing several kinds of "Gordian knot" dilemmas. In this chapter, the authors frame these challenges in terms of questions concerning the differentiation of macro-level forms (markets, hierarchies and networks), accounting for the possibilities of mixed administrative authorities (combinations of vertical and horizontal relations), multi-sector relationships, and multiple policy functions, and challenges associated with mixed social scales. The current ambiguities around these questions are explored and related propositions for addressing each is offered.