Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T05:42:12.492Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Public management in interdependent settings: networks, managerial networking, and performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Laurence J. O'Toole, Jr
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
Kenneth J. Meier
Affiliation:
Texas A & M University
Get access

Summary

When people think of what public managers do, often the tasks and responsibilities that come most readily to mind are those tied to the internal functioning of a public organization: motivating staff, organizing tasks, structuring work relationships, handling the budget and other resources such as information technology, appraising individuals' performance, and the like. We begin our empirical examination of public management from another angle: the externally oriented actions of managers as they seek to do their jobs and advance their organization's causes. We do so for two reasons. First, this aspect of public management is often given short shrift in standard accounts, and yet – as explained earlier in this volume – contemporary governance arrangements typically enmesh the actions and objectives of specific public organizations in a web of relations with other actors. Second, in the development of our own research program, we began by studying the external efforts of managers and sought to explore their performance-related implications. Accordingly, in this book we proceed in like manner.

Networks and networking

As noted earlier, public programs and public organizations are often situated in networks – arrays through which many aspects of contemporary governance are handled. Networks are structures of interdependence involving multiple organizations or parts thereof, in which one unit is not merely the formal subordinate of the others in some larger hierarchical arrangement. Networks exhibit some structural stability but extend beyond formally established linkages and policy-legitimated ties.

Type
Chapter
Information
Public Management
Organizations, Governance, and Performance
, pp. 55 - 99
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×