Coordination
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Definition:
Coordination is an ambiguous and contested concept. Coordination in the public sector can be seen as the purposeful alignment of tasks and efforts of units in order to achieve a defined goal.
Current reforms and reform movements within the public sector increasingly focus on the importance of coordination. In a public sector inter-organizational context, coordination represents a purposeful alignment of tasks and efforts of public sector units, generally to create greater coherence in policy and to reduce redundancy, lacunae, and contradictions within and between policies. The intention is to make better use of scarce resources, create synergies by bringing together different stakeholders in a particular policy area, and to offer citizens seamless rather than fragmented access to services.
Coordination efforts are increasingly introduced to counter fragmentation in the public sector and in public services, allegedly brought about by New Public Management. This results from an increasing awareness that existing specialization in the public sector apparatus is not always fit to handle complex challenges. This includes particular ‘wicked problems’ for which there are no obvious, easily defined or found solutions, and includes challenges such as climate change, unemployment, internal security and safety, crime, homelessness, sustainable healthcare, immigration, drugs and general social cohesion. These issues challenge existing patterns of organization and management; they do not fit easily into the established organizational context, and are constantly framed and reframed. They are unlikely to belong to any one organization, typically overlap organizational borders, and can only be solved by working across them.
The intention behind new coordination mechanisms or practices is generally to integrate different public sectors and policy areas to create
Definition:
Coordination is an ambiguous and contested concept. Coordination in the public sector can be seen as the purposeful alignment of tasks and efforts of units in order to achieve a defined goal.
Current reforms and reform movements within the public sector increasingly focus on the importance of coordination. In a public sector inter-organizational context, coordination represents a purposeful alignment of tasks and efforts of public sector units, generally to create greater coherence in policy and to reduce redundancy, lacunae, and contradictions within and between policies. The intention is to make better use of scarce resources, create synergies by bringing together different stakeholders in a particular policy area, and to offer citizens seamless rather than fragmented access to services.
Coordination efforts are increasingly introduced to counter fragmentation in the public sector and in public services, allegedly brought about by New Public Management. This results from an increasing awareness that existing specialization in the public sector apparatus is not always fit to handle complex challenges. This includes particular ‘wicked problems’ for which there are no obvious, easily defined or found solutions, and includes challenges such as climate change, unemployment, internal security and safety, crime, homelessness, sustainable healthcare, immigration, drugs and general social cohesion. These issues challenge existing patterns of organization and management; they do not fit easily into the established organizational context, and are constantly framed and reframed. They are unlikely to belong to any one organization, typically overlap organizational borders, and can only be solved by working across them.
The intention behind new coordination mechanisms or practices is generally to integrate different public sectors and policy areas to create