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From the early years of the twenty-first century, many public organization managers, and administrators have had to address management problems and crises that go far beyond the capability of many state and local government organizations to overcome alone. For example, rebuilding after the increasing number and severity of natural and man-made disasters has exacerbated the need to replace transportation networks, utility infrastructure, and the provision of housing and medical services for needy families. Early in 2020, dealing with a deadly pandemic added the responsibilities associated with responding to a public health crisis to the pressures of state and local government management. Organizations must often replace damaged or failing critical infrastructure while continuing to provide their traditional public services. These events catapulted and accelerated the ongoing trend toward more collaborative approaches to address the complex challenges governments, at all levels, face. This book is about the extent and variety of collaborative arrangements taking place by governments, as this emerging trend becomes a common operating principle across government.
The challenges, problems, and crises the administrators face require funding and physical efforts that in many cases exceed the capacity of local governments to provide if they were to attempt to address them alone. This compounds the difficulties of government management for continuing delivery of government goods and services during and after a disaster (Kalesnikaite 2019). To meet these expanding requirements of their public service missions, elected leaders and appointed managers are increasingly relying on the cooperation and collaboration of federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in new and innovative ways. These government administrators, program managers, and elected policy makers are forming networks and partnerships with their counterparts in other jurisdictions, local businesses and industries, nonprofit organizations, and colleges and universities in service delivery structures and crisis recovery strategies and systems that are collaborative by design. This collaboration also includes expanded participation of private citizens in the planning and decision making for promoting economic and social development of their communities and the provision of desired services.
The continuing move away from the traditional command and control model of governance toward a more participative and collaborative approach has influenced the way government managers and elected leaders address the problems they face. In addition to the traditional bureaucratic top-down management model, we trace what we see as the major types of management models that public sector organizations have employed in the governance of their organizations that have the common purpose of creating these collaborative relationships.
At the outset, it’s useful and important to discuss what we mean by “collaboration.” Collaboration is, at once, both a governing philosophy and a broad category of behaviors meant to be inclusive and synergistic between an array of actors sharing mutual interests. Foundationally, collaboration at both these levels is a significant departure from traditional top-down bureaucratic decision-making and hierarchical organizational behavior. Collaboration as a governing philosophy acknowledges at its core that the governmental leaders will share decision-making and resources to forge relationships with other entities that share mutual interests. These entities can be other units of government, private firms, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, and individual citizens. It is an acknowledgment that no one government has the resources or capacity to “go it alone” and that by creating these relationships the public benefits.
Much of our attention focuses on the second aspect of collaboration; those activities that government leaders undertake in order to collaborate. We examine in detail the various methods of collaboration, analyzing the structure of those relationships, and how and why they are formed. As a part of these analyses we examine historical and contemporary collaborations and discuss their application and effectiveness. This takes us through the breadth of governance from international relationships, through the state and local government level, down to the most discrete local special purpose district.
Collaboration Trends
The increasing movement away from the traditional bureaucratic model of governance to multi-agency and multi-sector models is influenced by four long-continuing trends. The first is the increase in the use of private firms and civil society organizations as opposed to government employees to deliver government goods and services. Examples include contract agreements, public–private partnerships, outsourcing, concession agreements, and privatization of services.
The second is the collaboration between government agencies and branches of agencies at several government levels to perform regulatory activities and deliver goods and services. Goldsmith and Eggers (2004, 10) refer to this as “joined-up government.” Increasingly, the complexity of society’s problems requires cooperation between government agencies. The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) describes the need thus:
The third trend is a product of the digital revolution. Organizations are now able to communicate with one another in real time regardless of location. This has not only made collaboration more available; it has resulted in congressional mandates for collaboration among federal government agencies. One of the problems associated with this trend in network communication has been the adoption of different communication technology platforms. Often such barriers contribute to what is referred to as “stovepipe,” “silo,” or “legacy” systems and approaches, characterized by an inability to share information broadly. These single-purpose communication systems limit cross-functional sharing of ideas and lower the effectiveness of cross-agency networks (Bardach 1996).
The fourth trend contributing to the growth in popularity of government by networks is a transformational shift in private citizens’ demands for more control over their own destiny and greater choices in government services. In a study for the McKinsey Center for Government, Emma Dudley et al. (2015) found that citizens in many countries are demanding more transparent, accessible, and responsive services from the public sector.
Their efforts have shown that the management concept of collaborative governance is as relevant to state and local government agencies as it is for the many departments and agencies of the national government. The point was stressed in the 2000 annual progress report on United Nation’s Human Development Report:
Based on earlier research by Wood and Gray (1991), Thomson, Perry, and Mille (2006, 25) defined the collaboration movement as:
They added the following caveat:
Collaborative Governance Objectives
The collaborative systems now functioning are those based on either personal, organizational, or strategic objectives. Personal collaborations function through personal networking with friends and associates outside of the organization. The influence they expend helps shape convictions, attitudes, and personal goals. Governance in personal systems is facilitated by these relationships and the common interests that underlie the sharing of ideas and processes.
Organization-based collaborations occur most often with members of the same organization but with varying levels of the power to influence in achieving the organization’s operational goals and objectives. Governance of organizational collaborations is structured and usually horizontal. It is typically somewhat inflexible but not necessarily rule-guided. Leadership is shaped by partners’ willingness to share power and is often exhibited through the effectiveness of contribution during contact in meetings, on the job conferences, and in work teams. Implementation of strategic governance occurs through larger networks that often include organizations outside of the leading government, but are important to the ability of the organization to achieve its objectives. In addition to being cross-level, they are most often cross-sector arrangements.
The federal government requires collaboration among agencies wherever possible. However, agencies often do not have the resources needed to achieve the goals alone. Leaders in state and local governments must increasingly collaborate with federal agencies to achieve mandated outcomes. As they do this, the self-organized networks they create enable information sharing on job creation opportunities, the cost effectiveness of programs, implementation strategies, and the application of new technology. In this system they depend on knowledgeable members in their networks to share their experiences, success, and failures in solving problems, and to augment their own knowledge.
Leaders in state and local governments find that today they must rely on coordination, collaboration, and information sharing with others to achieve mandated outcomes. Formal and informal or self-organized networks enable information sharing on the cost effectiveness of programs, implementation strategies, and the application of new technology. Even the largest agencies depend on knowledgeable members in other organizations to share their experiences, success, and failures in solving problems and other members and policy makers to augment their own knowledge (Hackman 2011).
The all-public sector collaboration of government is a voluntary arrangement between government organizations at the same or different levels that includes the sharing of knowledge, resources, and capabilities with the intent of expanding and improving delivery of government services. The governing agency’s collaboration can be with one or a group of organizations outside of government such as civil society or business organizations. One or more than one small, special district agency may participate in a collaboration to take advantage of the knowledge and experience of a larger agency, thereby improving or expanding the mission effectiveness of all participants. Individual organizations retain independence along some dimension but gain professional-level operational skills from the collaboration (Jarillo 1988).
Collaborative Governance Models
Collaboration and cooperation have meanings that are so similar that they are often used as synonyms. However, collaboration occurs when two or more individuals, departments, organizations, governments, or nations share technologies and resources in working together to achieve a common goal. When two or more countries work together to achieve a shared goal, such as fighting terrorism, they are forming a collaboration. Collaboration among many nations’ health authorities is what happened when scientists of many countries came together to find the cure for the Ebola epidemic. Cooperation occurs when two or more individuals or organizations work together to achieve an objective rather than work...
