Interorganizational Policy Studies: Lessons Drawn from Implementation Research

Contingency approaches to organizing suggest that policy objectives are more likely to be achieved if the structures employed for implementation mesh with the policy objectives being sought. Interorganizational arrangements are used increasingly in carrying out public programs, and contingency logic can be used to assess the degree of match between policy objective and interunit structure. Such a perspective would seem to offer an approach of practical significance. Here the contingency logic as applied to interorganizational implementation is reviewed and its assumptions identified. To probe these assumptions, empirical evidence is analyzed from one policy sector which would seem especially promising. The findings suggest that even under highly favorable conditions, a contingency perspective provides only limited help. The research demonstrates the need for additional conceptual clarification and theoretical care in reaching conclusions about the impact of interorganizational structures on policy settings

Implications for democracy of a networked bureaucratic world

Dwight Waldo wrote nearly fifty years ago that democracy is very much more than the political context in which public administration is carried out. Public administration is now less hierarchical and insular and is increasingly networked. This has important implications for democracy, including changing responsibilities for the public interest, for meeting public preferences, and for the enhancement of political deliberation, civility, and trust. Networked public administration can pose a threat to democratic governance and it can open possibilities for strengthening governance, depending on the values and actions of public administrators

Desperately Seeking Selznick: Cooptation and the Dark Side of Public Management in Networks

Most literature on public-sector networks focuses on how to build and manage systems and ignores the political problems that networks can create for organizations. This article argues that individual network nodes can work to bias the organization's actions in ways that benefit the organization's more advantaged clientele. The argument is supported by an analysis of performance data from 500 organizations over a five-year period. A classic theoretical point is supported in a systematic empirical investigation. While networks can greatly benefit the organization, they have a dark side that managers and scholars need to consider more seriously

Networks and Networking: The Public Administrative Agendas

Published in 1997, the article “Treating Networks Seriously: Practical and Research-Based Agendas in Public Administration” outlined the importance of networks for the field of public administration and suggested a series of research agendas that should be pursued. That argument has received substantial attention in the years since. Research on networks and networking has made substantial progress, particularly on some questions—the descriptive agenda, for instance, and some aspects of the practical agenda. However, considerable work remains to be done. More needs to be known about the ways in which networks and networking behavior can shape performance and affect the most salient values in our governance systems; better empirical theory is also needed in this regard. Such further developments would be of immense value to the practice of public administration. The world of public administration has for some time been treating networks seriously, but the work is far from complet

Isopraxis leadership: leader confidence, managerial strategy and organizational performance

Attention has been given to the notion that organizational leaders’ expressed confidence and optimism regarding their organizations’ performance can affect that performance by increasing the motivation and/or selfefficacy of subordinates. This idea, a part of various leadership theories, we call “isopraxis leadership.” This paper examines the logic of the claim, reviews and critiques extant evidence, develops a measure of leader confidence (the starting point for isopraxis leadership), undertakes initial validation of the measure, and then tests for the link between leader confidence and performance among several hundred public organizations. Leader confidence is found to be largely unrelated to performance; some evidence indicates that it can help only for those organizations that are already doing well or have more resources than average – that is, where it is least needed

Organizational Performance: Measurement Theory and an Application:Or, Common Source Bias, the Achilles Heel of Public Management Research

The measurement of public organizations’ performance is a central issue in public administration both in the U.S. (Moynihan 2008) and numerous other countries (Pollitt and Bourckaert 2000). Missing in the rush to performance appraisal and performance management is any effort to tie empirical efforts to the extensive literature on measurement theory (Ghiselli et al. 1981; Shultz 2005; Hand 2004). This paper uses measurement theory to assess the potential problems in measuring organizational performance. It deals with both subjective and data-based measures as well as measures internal to the organization and those imposed by external stakeholders. Because organizations can be evaluated on multiple dimensions of performance (Boyne 2002), the paper also illustrates how adding dimensions multiplies the number of technical issues that need to be resolved. The paper also provides an illustration of the insights of measurement theory by an analysis of performance indicators for several hundred public organizations based on an original survey conducted in 2009. The empirical illustration shows three internal perceptive measures relate to three external data-based measures of performance and the factors that lead to greater divergence of the measures from each other. These empirical results along with the theoretical discussion will then be used to provide guidelines for the assessment of organizational performance for both scholars and practitioners

State Primary Stroke Center Policies in the US: Rural Health Issues.

Objective: To explore the relationship between state primary stroke center (PSC) designation policy implementation and access to optimal stroke care for residents of rural areas. Materials and Methods: Primary data were collected during the period September 2008–August 2009. Following content analysis of state PSC policies, four case study states were selected for fieldwork, in part for state rural healthcare access challenges. Variables included the barriers and facilitators to PSC designation policy implementation. More than 100 semistructured stakeholder interviews were conducted by teams of researchers. Large-group meetings were also observed. Interview summaries were reviewed by stakeholders for accuracy and completeness. Results: The consistent finding in all study states was that PSC designation and state policy implementation in rural areas are unlikely for a variety of reasons, including lack of financial resources for telemedicine, difficulty maintaining neurology coverage, and emergency departments unable to administer thrombolytics. Findings indicate recognition by states about the need for stroke-care public policy specific to telemedicine in rural areas. Conclusions: Although state PSC designation policies raise awareness of rural issues, designation policy alone cannot overcome the obstacle of rural access to optimal stroke care. States must be technology-ready, and providers need to embrace e-health and telemedicine to ensure coordination of care for stroke victims in rural areas. More important is that state policy makers should provide rules and regulations to encourage PSC hospitals to use telemedicine and “proxy credentialing” to support their affiliated rural facilitie

Managing in the regulatory thicket: regulation legitimacy and expertise

While the influence of government regulation on organizations is undeniable, empirical research in this field is scarce. This study investigates how the understanding of and attitudes towards government regulation among public, nonprofit, and for-profit managers affect organizational performance, using U.S. nursing homes as the empirical setting. Our findings suggest that managers’ perceptions of regulation legitimacy – views of regulation fairness, inspectors’ effectiveness, and internal utility of the mandates – positively affect service quality. Sub-group analysis suggests that the managers’ views of regulation matter in nonprofit and for-profit, but not public organizations. In nonprofit homes, performance declines when managers report higher regulatory expertise – better knowledge of the regulatory standards. In for-profit facilities, frequent communication with regulators lowers quality. These findings suggest that the regulated entities’ views of government regulation are central to their success, which necessitates improvements in the regulatory process

Isopraxis leadership: leader confidence, managerial strategy and organizational performance

Attention has been given to the notion that organizational leaders’ expressed confidence and optimism regarding their organizations’ performance can affect that performance by increasing the motivation and/or selfefficacy of subordinates. This idea, a part of various leadership theories, we call “isopraxis leadership.” This paper examines the logic of the claim, reviews and critiques extant evidence, develops a measure of leader confidence (the starting point for isopraxis leadership), undertakes initial validation of the measure, and then tests for the link between leader confidence and performance among several hundred public organizations. Leader confidence is found to be largely unrelated to performance; some evidence indicates that it can help only for those organizations that are already doing well or have more resources than average – that is, where it is least needed