CAPAM Symposium on Networked Government: ‘Freedom to manage’, task networks and institutional environment of decentralized service organizations in developing countries

Abstract

This article examines the introduction of decentralized management structures in public health and water services in two developing countries — Ghana and Zimbabwe. It explores how task networks, organizational interdependence and institutional environment factors may enable or disable organizational autonomy and influence performance. It argues that decentralized organizations work within a task network of other public sector organizations and in institutional and governance environments that are highly political. The degree of operational autonomy that decentralized organizations have in practice will depend on the task network and power relationships, particularly the behaviour of central principals and other actors within the network. It suggests that decentralized management has been introduced in varying degrees in the health and water sectors of both Ghana and Zimbabwe but is constrained by task network difficulties.