Co-management in public service networks

Abstract

The third sector increasingly produces public services in collaboration with the state. This has not left the organizations in question unaffected. Recent research suggests that organizations involved in public service delivery are evolving towards forms of network production, in which the production process takes shape across a number of different organizations. As we will argue, organizations are faced with simultaneous pressures for differentiation and integration, which are alleviated (though not resolved) by internal changes in staffing, skills, structure and management style. Some of the problems of integrating public service networks are essentially resolved within organizations.

Key words:

• Differentiation
• network integration
• non-profit
• public services
• third sector

Notes

1 Hybridity, in our definition, refers to a mix of co-ordinating mechanisms. ‘Pure’ state, market and third-sector organizations rarely exist, so this must be regarded as a movement along a continuum away from idealtypical representations. Hybridity represents the stage where elements from different idealtypes become entangled to the point where there is no longer a clear match with any single type.