1. POAD8014: PUBLIC POLICY Bureaucracy & Coordination
Lionel Orchard

2. Main Themes Bureaucracy and its Reform
Coordination – History & Mechanisms
Lindblom, Hood, Colebatch
‘Holistic’ & ‘Joined-up’ government – the debate

3. Lindblom on Coordination
Lindblom: policy coordination can be attained by means of central command or partisan mutual adjustment:
Central Command: single centre of authority directs subordinate units towards a common purpose
Partisan Mutual Adjustment: multi-centred system in which independent actors seek to persuade each other by means of negotiation and the trading of favours

4. Hood on mechanisms of coordination
Four mechanisms:
Authority – hierarchy, centralised oversight
‘Architecture’ – built-form (office & building layout), integration through information systems
Mutual interaction – social integration through networks
Markets & price systems – quasi-markets, entrepreneurs

5. Colebatch’s Vertical & Horizontal Dimensions
Vertical Dimension of policy: relations of authority that stress instrumental action and rational choice
Horizontal Dimension of policy: inter-organisational relationships that involve negotiation, cooperation and bargaining

6. Source: Colebatch, 2002, p24

7. Vertical & Horizontal Tension
Two conflicting tendencies:
One is towards central direction by singular authority
The other is towards devolution of power to actors who independently negotiate outcomes themselves

8. Holistic & Joined-up Government
Attack on silo thinking – eg. Perri 6 & Geoff Mulgan Hood’s critique of ‘joined-up’ –‘each tub on its own bottom’