Modes of Interaction and Performance of Human Service Networks

Abstract

Performance in health and human service networks requires mutual adjustment between participating organizations with different competencies. In this article the impact of group modes of interaction concerning administration and steering and direct service delivery upon different dimensions of network performance and client outcomes is tested in a sample of eighty-three local networks of refugee resettlement support in Sweden. The results show that networks with group modes of interaction concerning both issues generally perform best, but the effect varies across performance dimensions, is modified by availability of needed competence in the network and does not easily translate to client outcomes.

Key words:

• Network
• health and human services
• network performance
• client outcomes
• refugee resettlement support

Notes

The concept ‘matrix co-ordination structure’ has been used to stress how whole networks, like an organization that applies a matrix structure, allow co-ordination across both functions and projects/products simultaneously (Axelsson and Bihari-Axelsson 2007). However, matrix co-ordination structures may be considered a special case of a more general phenomenon: multiplex co-ordination in networks. Applied to the network-level multiplexity may characterize the overall relational pattern in the network (Provan et al. 2007).