Introduction
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852307081143 |
| Author | Koen Verhoest,Werner Jann,Per Lægreid |
| Published date | 01 September 2007 |
| Date | 01 September 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Introduction
Werner Jann, Per Lægreid and Koen Verhoest
The New Public Management (NPM) reforms of the 1980s and 1990s focusing on
structural devolution and single-purpose organizations have increased the fragmen-
tation of the public sector. This proliferation of organizational forms is probably one
of the reasons why several OECD countries recently launched initiatives to enhance
coordination and collaboration between organizations, and to tackle the manage-
ment of ‘cross-cutting’ and ‘whole-of-government’ issues. For such initiatives – like
‘Joined-up Government’ in the UK – it seems crucial to strengthen the links between
individual public sector organizations and the larger objectives of government on the
one hand, and with other public sector organizations as well as private and third sec-
tor organizations on the other hand. Thus, public sector organizations are subjected
to increased coordinating initiatives.
The study of these new and emerging forms of coordination between and by
public sector organizations was the central theme of the 2006 meeting of the Study
Group on Governance of Public Sector Organizations, at the conference of the
European Group of Public Administration (EGPA) in Milan, Italy. The following set of
articles is a selection of papers presented in Milan.
Interorganizational coordination can be predominantly vertical or horizontal and
can be achieved by using hierarchical mechanisms, contracts, network-like bargaining
mechanisms and multi-level governance approaches. The central question of the
study group was if we can see ‘beyond NPM trajectories’ towards a second genera-
tion of reforms in which the pendulum is swinging back by rediscovering hierarchy
and bureaucracy and bringing the state back in. Evidently, there is quite a lot of
evidence for this.
The first article by Koen Verhoest, Geert Bouckaert and B. Guy Peters provides a
general overview. It identifies trajectories of specialization and coordination in New
Werner Jann is Professor and Chair of Administration and Organization, Faculty of Economics and
Social Science, Universität Potsdam, Germany. Per Lægreid is Professor, University of Bergen, Norway
and Koen Verhoest is Assistant Professor, Public Management Institute, Catholic University Leuven,
Belgium.
Copyright © 2007 IIAS, SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore)
Vol 73(3):323–324 [DOI:10.1177/0020852307081143]
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
To continue reading
Request your trial