Study of Potential Integrated Management of Water Resources in Las Vegas Valley

Water resource management under short term system perturbations such as storms and longer-term systemic changes caused by climate change such as droughts is a challenge when multiple agencies are involved. To address this challenge this research focuses on water management under changing climate conditions and population growth through understanding the agency water jurisdictions, management strategies, and modes of operation in Las Vegas Valley. A framework for integrated management through sharing data and models is presented that combines drinking water supply, flood control, and waste water treatment. This framework can be adopted to improve coordination among different water management agencies

Opportunities for information sharing: case studies

Personal information provided to government and non-government service providers is highly sensitive. Appropriate collection, management and storage of personal information are critical elements to citizen trust in the public sector. However, misconceptions about the frameworks governing sharing personal information can impact on the coordination of services, case management and policy development.   The NSW Department of Premier & Cabinet engaged the Social Policy Research Centre to develop three case studies that identified the challenges to sharing information appropriately, and the opportunities for better personal information sharing between government agencies and non-government organisations. Improved sharing of personal information in these areas can support more effective policy development, leading to improved service delivery performance and coordination.   The Social Policy Research Centre identified the legislative and policy framework for each case study, conducted qualitative research on the interpretation of this framework, and developed three case study reports

Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate: Developing Technology to Protect America

In response to a congressional mandate and in consultation with Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), the National Academy conducted a review of S&T's effectiveness and efficiency in addressing homeland security needs. This review included a particular focus that identified any unnecessary duplication of effort, and opportunity costs arising from an emphasis on homeland security-related research. Under the direction of the National Academy Panel, the study team reviewed a wide variety of documents related to S&T and homeland security-related research in general. The team also conducted interviews with more than 200 individuals, including S&T officials and staff, officials from other DHS component agencies, other federal agencies engaged in homeland security-related research, and experts from outside government in science policy, homeland security-related research and other scientific fields.Key FindingsThe results of this effort indicated that S&T faces a significant challenge in marshaling the resources of multiple federal agencies to work together to develop a homeland security-related strategic plan for all agencies. Yet the importance of this role should not be underestimated. The very process of working across agencies to develop and align the federal homeland security research enterprise around a forward-focused plan is critical to ensuring that future efforts support a common vision and goals, and that the metrics by which to measure national progress, and make changes as needed, are in place

Understanding interagency relationships in the sharing of government data: a meta-analysis

This paper reports on a research study that aimed to understand and qualify the influences of interagency relationships on interagency government data sharing (IDS). Using a meta-analysis approach, 76 interviews previously collected from three city governments in China were analysed under the theoretical lens of a unified social network theory of inter-organisational relations (IOR).Results. The meta-analysis shows that interagency data sharing is influenced by the constitution and determinants of interagency relationships. A conceptualisation of the findings indicated that tensions between government agencies are the core cause of the lack of interagency data sharing. Therefore, effective management of interagency tensions should become a central strategy for enhancing interagency data sharing. This paper provides a novel perspective on the conceptualisation of interagency data sharing problems and a new approach to strengthen interagency data sharing in practice.Peer Reviewe

Territorial barriers in interagency government data sharing

Interagency government data sharing (IDS) is an indispensable precondition for the development of citizen-centred smart government. Adopting a theory of territoriality, this paper reports on an on-going research investigation, which explores, identifies, and qualifies the barriers to the lack of IDS.Methods. The research adopts an inductive approach, which combines a critical literature review, and three case studies in Central China. 118 articles, and 45 government officials and data managers from three regional government agencies collected as interview data were included and analysed using a thematic approach. Interorganisational dynamism affects the formulation of individual agencies’ psychological ownership on data, which leads to territorial marking and defending behaviours against IDS. Territoriality theory offers a novel and useful perspective to interpret, understand and resolve IDS problems. Albeit this research is situated in China, the research findings offer valuable indications and insights that can be shared across international borders.Peer Reviewe

A systemic integration approach to designing interagency responses to wicked problems

Wicked problems are open-ended, highly interdependent issues that cross agency, stakeholder, jurisdictional, political and geopolitical boundaries. This confounds governments because policies and budgets tend to be aligned within these boundaries and not across them, making it difficult to bring the appropriate talent, knowledge and assets into an interagency approach to tackling whatever wicked problem is at hand.Many governments realize the need for a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to tackling large complex issues, and have employed various methods to achieve interagency and other private/public partnerships. One approach is to employ experts (sometimes called Czars) who are in charge of specific policies and can coordinate input from across government and private entities. Other organizational approaches have focused on forming high-level committees and task forces made up of representation from stakeholder organizations. These approaches are intended to increase cross-government information sharing, identify best-practices, and generate reports that include recommendations to policy makers. However, the formation of these vehicles can be ad hoc and not designed holistically to handle the complexity of wicked problems where interdependencies abound and the perspectives and values of agencies and other stakeholders can often be in conflict. Other complaints about forming these ad hoc groups include the slow, long-term process required to build trust; one agency typically takes the lead, creating problematic power relationships when their own inevitably partial perspective starts to override the perspectives of other agencies; difficulties of reaching agreement on crosscutting agendas; too many meetings; inaction in the face of the above difficulties; and missed opportunities. The research described in this paper was conducted to develop and evaluate a new Systemic Intervention approach to designing interagency meta-organizations. The term meta-organization is used because it is important to note that this does not have to mean a new official bricks-and-mortar organization, but an organization nonetheless. The term “interagency” is sometimes used to mean this meta-organization. It is a multi-method approach that combines the viable system model (VSM) as the organizational design instrument with participatory problem structuring methods and boundary critique

Whole-Of-Government Approaches to NCDs: The Case of the Philippines Interagency Committee—Tobacco

To address the rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs), governments are now being urged to ‘put forward a multisectoral approach for health at all government levels, to address NCD risk factors and underlying determinants of health comprehensively and decisively’ [UN, 2011. Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (No. A/66/L.1). New York, NY: United Nations]. There is a global consensus that whole-of-government approaches (WG) can be particularly effective in regulating products such as tobacco, pre-packaged foods and alcohol, which are or can be major risk factors for NCDs. Despite the overwhelming push towards interagency arrangements for health policymaking and implementation, including in contemporary efforts to prevent and control NCDs, there has been minimal investigation into how countries have pursued WG and which types of institutional designs and arrangements offer particular utility to achieve health objectives. This article examines these issues through a case study concerning the interagency mechanism that the Philippine government currently utilizes to govern tobacco control, the Interagency Committee—Tobacco (IAC-T). We conducted key informant interviews (n = 33) with government officials, and representatives from civil society organizations, health professional associations and intergovernmental organizations. We targeted informants who have been involved in the work of the IAC-T and/or tobacco control policy more broadly. We also analysed public documents to contribute to our analysis of the structure, functioning and legal status of the IAC-T. Our findings highlight two salient challenges that arose in the Philippines case: (1) the inclusion of industry representation on the IAC-T and (2) the attempt to consolidate the responsibilities of the different departments through a policy of ‘balance’ between health and commercial interests. We analyse how health proponents navigated this challenging institutional arrangement and the various barriers they faced in achieving the intended health objectives. We draw from this case to discuss the lessons that can inform broad calls for WG to NCDs

Trauma and violence informed care through decolonising interagency partnerships: A complexity case study of waminda’s model of systemic decolonisation

Through the lens of complexity, we present a nested case study describing a decolonisation approach developed and implemented by Waminda South Coast Women\u27s Health and Welfare Aboriginal Corporation. Using Indigenous research methods, this case study has unfolded across three phases: 1) Yarning interviews with the workforce from four partner health services (n = 24); 2) Yarning circle bringing together key informants from yarning interviews to verify and refine emerging themes (n = 14); 3) Semi-structured interviews with a facilitator of Waminda\u27s Decolonisation Workshop (n = 1) and participants (n = 10). Synthesis of data has been undertaken in stages through collaborative framework and thematic analysis. Three overarching themes and eight sub-themes emerged that centred on enhancing the capabilities of the workforce and strengthening interagency partnerships through a more meaningful connection and shared decolonisation agenda that centres Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities. Health and social services are complex systems that function within the context of colonisation. Waminda’s innovative, model of interagency collaboration enhanced workforce capability through shared language and collective learning around colonisation, racism and Whiteness. This process generated individual, organisational and systemic decolonisation to disable power structures through trauma and violence informed approach to practice

Incident Traffic Management Respone

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) are often called upon to assist in traffic incidents. Yet little systematic research has examined the extent to which these two agencies collaborate. This gap in understanding is problematic, as a lack of collaboration may result in significant delays in the clearing of traffic incidents. The purpose of this correlational study was to investigate circumstances when the two agencies collaborated in clearing major traffic incidents, and the efficiency of the clearance of the incidents, through the measurement of normal traffic flow. The theory of the convergence of resources from divergent organizations framed the study. The research questions addressed the extent of collaboration between the NCSHP and the NCDOT, the conditions under which this collaboration took place, and the efficiency of the clearance of these incidents. Data were obtained from the NCSHP and the NCDOT on characteristics of 1,580 traffic incidents that occurred on the North Carolina portion of Interstate 95 during the year 2014. The data were analyzed using chi-square tests, analyses of variance, and Z-tests for proportions. Collaboration between the two agencies occurred in 7.2% of all of the incidents and in 21.6% of incidents of major severity (p \u3c .001), which indicated a low level of interagency collaboration. The mean clearance time for incidents in which collaboration took place was 115.92 minutes compared to a national goal of 90 minutes. It is hoped that these results can contribute to policy dialogue relevant to the state\u27s Strategic Plan, leading to safer highways and less financial loss due to congestion caused by traffic incidents

A diagnostic approach to building collaborative capacity in an interagency context

Federal Acquisition Reform has consistently called for more and better collaboration among participating organizations. Experience shows, however, that inter-organizational collaboration can be difficult at best. Our research focuses on imperatives of successful collaboration and aims to assist organizations in diagnosing their collaborative capacity. Based on prior research with homeland security organizations, we offer a model of inter-organizational collaborative capacity grounded in a systems perspective. We then identify enablers and barriers that contribute to collaborative capacity. A diagnostic process based on the established practices of organization development is offered to guide the design of tailored assessments of collaborative capacity. We present a comprehensive set of both interview and survey questions, based on our model, which can be used in creating a collaborative capacity audit. The ability to diagnose collaborative capacity encourages literacy around collaboration and assists leaders in determining mechanisms for developing their organization's collaborative capacity. Finally, we describe the future plans for validating these assessment tools.-- p. iv.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited