The real work of many governments is done not in stately domed capitols but by a network of federal and state officials working with local governments and nongovernmental organizations to address issues that cross governmental boundaries. Managing within Networks analyzes the structure, operations, and achievements of these public management networks that are trying to solve intractable problems at the field level.
It examines such areas as transportation, economic and rural development, communications systems and data management, water conservation, wastewater management, watershed conservation, and services for persons with developmental disabilities. Robert Agranoff draws a number of innovative conclusions about what these networks do and how they do it from data compiled on fourteen public management networks in Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Ohio.
Agranoff identifies four different types of networks based on their purposes and observes the differences between network management and traditional management structures and leadership. He notes how knowledge is managed and value added within intergovernmental networks. This volume is useful for students, scholars, and practitioners of public management.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. Public Networks
2. Networks in Public Management
3. Toward a Network Typology: Methodology of the Study
4. Informational and Developmental Networks
5. Outreach and Action Networks
6. Collaborachy: A Different Kind of Management?
7. Networks as Knowledge Managers
8. Do Networks Perform? Adding Value and Accounting for Costs
9. Networks at the Boundaries of the State
10. Managing in Public Networks
Appendix A: A Detailed Look at the Fourteen PMNs
Appendix B: The Sequence of Coding for the Typology
References
Index
Reviews
"Agranoff's book is first class. . . . His case studies exhibit depth and provide deep analysis and great explanatory power. His work ably revisits the literature on networks. In addition, the empirical chapters and the lessons he draws for public management add knowledge and cover new ground."—Public Management Review
"Agranoff’s book offers a rich understanding of the internal management of public networks. It is essential reading not only for network scholars, but also for public and nonprofit administrators, who must be able to manage comfortably both within and across organizations."—Keith G. Provan, McClelland Professor, School of Public Administration and Policy, Eller College of Management, University of Arizona
Awards
Winner of the 2008 Public and Nonprofit Division Best Book Award of the Academy of Management, the 2008 Best Book Award of the American Society for Public Administration
About the Author
Robert Agranoff is professor emeritus in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University-Bloomington, and since 1990, he has been affiliated with the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset in Madrid. He is the coauthor of Collaborative Public Management: New Strategies for Local Governments, which received the 2003 Louis Brownlow Book Award from the National Academy of Public Administration.
