Seven We are all boundary spanners now?
Paul Williams · Policy Press eBooks · 2012
The interrelated, multilevel and interdependent nature of the policy environment, the characteristics of many societal problems and the spread of new types of governance have stimulated new forms of public management. In particular, the discernible shift towards network governance has embraced managerialism but in a way that has superseded the efficiency and customer orientation principles implicit in new public management: ‘to take on the challenge of working across boundaries and to take up the goal of holistic working’ (Stoker, 2004, p 14). Network governance is multilayered, characterised by a diverse range of horizontal relations, and consists of a complex architecture of institutions drawn from across all areas of civil society – public, private and third sectors. The consequence of this trend for public management is that many public managers have now begun to develop dual, but highly connected, roles. The first relates to their traditional role of intraorganisational management, and the second concerns their involvement in forms of collaborative management with a variety of other actors from different sectors, professions and organisations. This is driven, not just by external forces that seek to deliver greater efficiency, effectiveness and synergy across public services, but also by an acceptance that single organisational objectives cannot be achieved without the cooperation of other agents. For example, the manager of a mental health rehabilitation service appreciates that meeting the multiple and complex needs of many clients is dependent on coordinated interventions from a number of professionals and carers – occupational therapists, nursing staff, psychiatrists, support staff and voluntary sector groups.