Collaborative Public Management: New Strategies for Local Governments

1. Collaboration at the Core

1 Collaboration at the Core The government of Beloit, Wisconsin, works actively with Beloit 2000, a nonprofit redevelopment association, to transform a blighted area on the Rock River that runs through the heart of town into a combined venue of civic center, industrial site, and moderate- and low-income housing. Among other activities, Beloit 2000 mobilized neighborhood groups, the business community , local elected officials, and the city administration behind its goals. The city was called upon to tackle infrastructure improvements, handle building and other permits, and devote federal Community Development Block Grant money and U.S. Department of Transportation Urban Rivers Program funds to this effort. The Rock County government was asked to contribute tax funds and to either relocate some office space or build a new facility in the redevelopment area. Both the city and county governments used their state-authorized powers to establish tax increment finance districts, grant tax abatements, and reduce or eliminate regulations that thwarted development. Both of these public entities worked with Beloit 2000 in seeking additional project grants and loans from the state and federal governments to finance portions of the project. Finally, numerous interactions took place between nonprofit associations, industries and housing interests, and all levels of government over financing arrangements , regulatory permits, and taxation questions. The Wisconsin Department of Development assisted local interests in working through these interorganizational and intergovernmental questions , not only with regard to programs in their own department but also with other state departments, particularly those dealing with highways and environmental protection programs. T he principle that managers often must operate across organizations as well as within hierarchies is becoming an accepted component of contemporary management theory. 1 2 / COLLABORATIVE PUBLIC MANAGEMENT This includes the work of governments connecting with other governments and with the nongovernmental sector. Through partnerships , networks, contractual relationships, alliances, committees, coalitions, consortia, and councils, managers in public and private agencies jointly develop strategies and produce goods and services on behalf of their organizations. For the greater part of the twentieth century, the processes of hierarchical management occupied practical and academic attention . But such a focus captures too few of the challenges faced by today’s managers. In the twenty-first century, interdependence and the salience of information have resulted in an environment where organizational and sectoral boundaries are more conceptual than actual, and collaborative managerial responses are required to complement, and in some cases even displace, bureaucratic processes . This type of cross-boundary collaborative management is the subject of this book, which is based on an empirical study of 237 cities and their officials as they work with other governments and organizations to develop their city economies. Cities and their public managers operate in a complex intergovernmental and interorganizational environment. The past few decades have brought home the ubiquity of interdependence among jurisdictions, government agencies, nonprofit associations, and for-profit entities at the local level. In many functional areas, cities contract with private-sector agencies to deliver basic services to citizens. Metropolitan areas continue to grow in number, size, and density, making the daily work of each city a direct determinant of work in other nearby cities; managing externalities is synonymous with governing in central cities and their surrounding suburbs. Rural communities as well must seek out governing resources externally due to decades of out-migration and rapid shifts in their economic bases. Functional responsibilities viewed for a half-century as national in scope have become increasingly subnational partnerships (i.e., the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, known as the welfare reform act), whereas responsibilities that have historically been subnational have become more national in scope (i.e., the Individual with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 and the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization of 2002). In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, national defense is being redefined as cities—large Collaboration at the Core / 3 and small—prepare to be on the front lines in the war against terrorism . This war has clearly been defined as one of collaboration between law enforcement agencies at all levels of government and private-sector security firms, business and industry, civic associations , and many others. Even within the global economy where nations and regions ostensibly are the focal points, cities occupy a more and more critical strategic position as the venues for bringing together potential partners. As intergovernmental programs evolve, nongovernmental organizations expand their scope...