Cross-agency Collaboration Research Articles

Organizational factors and collaboration and integration activities in criminal justice and drug abuse treatment agencies

Despite strong interest in improving collaborations between correctional and substance abuse treatment organizations, there is a lack of empirical data describing the existing practices. The current study used a national survey of correctional administrators to examine organizational factors related to cross-agency collaboration and integration activities between corrections and substance abuse treatment organizations. Using a measure of collaboration that scaled cross-agency activities from less structured, informal networking and coordination to more structured and formalized levels of cooperation and collaboration, we found that different correctional settings (e.g., community corrections, jails, prisons) differed significantly in terms of their collaborative activities with substance abuse treatment agencies. We also found that the organizational characteristics that were associated with different levels of collaboration and integration differed across the correctional settings. Further research is needed to better understand how and why correctional agencies decide to formalize collaborative arrangements with treatment agencies and whether these efforts lead to more favorable outcomes.

A New Order of Things: Managing Novelty and Cooperation in E-Government Projects

In this paper, we explore the challenges of managing e-government projects. In particular, we highlight two extraordinary managerial challenges that e-government poses: novelty and cross-agency cooperation. E-government is novel because it offers some fundamentally new possibilities for how government does business. The management of e-government is, in significant part, the management of ideas, creativity, and knowledge. E-government requires cross-agency cooperation because of functional needs for scale, consistency, and integration. We examine how four governments that have adopted a project-based approach to the introduction of e-government have coped with the challenges of novelty and cross-agency collaboration. Our findings indicate that e-government projects experience different activities and coordination mechanisms according to the stage of completion of the project and the complexity of the task at hand. We discuss the implications of our findings for the management of e-government projects.

Interdisciplinary Problems and Agency Boundaries: Exploring Effective Cross-Agency Collaboration

Interagency collaboration is frequently described as a pivotal element of environmental and public health problem solving; yet, there is little systematic evidence to document the conditions under which interagency collaboration is effective. If, as is widely believed, collaboration can promote comprehensive problem solving, then understanding the determinants of interagency collaboration is fundamental to improving environmental quality and promoting public health. This article examines factors promoting or inhibiting effective working relationships between environmental agencies and state and local public health departments in Wisconsin on a range of environmental and public health policy problems. Data collected using a web-based Internet survey of agency personnel are analysed. The results suggest that previous collaborative experience is important for public health departments at the state and local level, and structural incentives to collaborate are systematically linked to effective interagency collaboration.

Understanding Agency Culture: Findings from the Engaged Government Project, Queensland, Australia

Abstract: Government agencies in Western societies are being required to be more responsive to public demands for enhanced service delivery. Under neo-liberal settings, however, there has been a general contraction of funding to agencies-at the very time their operations are coming under scrutiny in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. This places them under increasing pressure to deliver services in new ways, including 'joined up' and 'whole-of-government' modes. The question being raised is 'how might government agencies work more collaboratively in the delivery of public services'? In 2004 a major, threeyear, interdisciplinary research project commenced in Central Queensland, Australia, to examine how government agencies in the region could enhance public sector outcomes through collaboration. Known as the Engaged Government Project, the research involved the Australian Research Council, the Queensland Government, the Local Government Association of Queensland, and social scientists and postgraduate students from four universities. One of the findings of the study was that the 'cultures' of particular agencies strongly influenced the extent to which their interaction, through collaborative ventures, produced favourable outcomes. The study also suggested ways that their collaborative performance could be enhanced. This paper will present empirical findings from the study, identifying the elements of agency culture that both supported, and hindered, cross-agency collaboration. It will discuss the settings that can promote positive interactions between agencies. Finally, it will briefly describe a decision-making tool that was created as a direct result of the project. This can be used by agencies to help decide, in an objective fashion, if and when inter-agency collaboration should be attempted. This tool-the Issue, Context and Stakeholder Analysis (ICASA) system-has stimulated worldwide interest.

E-Government Business Models for Public Service Networks

Whilst the concept of business model has become popular in the networked economy, unexplored is whether it is equally applicable to e-government, which emphasizes cross-agency collaboration in form of public service networks. Drawing upon the literature on resource-based views, dynamic capability, and coordination theory, we develop a framework comprising of six elements: (1) organizations in the public service network, (2) service offerings, (3) network coordination, (4) business processes, (5) shared resources and (6) network capabilities. We use this framework to analyze three case studies in detail. The model is useful for understanding the relation between service offering and the challenges of coordinating public service networks. Overcoming these challenges results in better leveraging the advantages of business models. Our findings indicate business models that facilitate knowledge transfer and understanding of shared resources and network capabilities can further enhance better resource mix in migrating toward citizen-oriented business models.

Collaborative digital government in Mexico: Some lessons from federal Web-based interorganizational information integration initiatives

Abstract The use of information and communication technologies in government has been characterized as one powerful strategy for administrative reform. From recent experiences around the world, it seems clear that in order to enjoy some of the greatest benefits of digital government, the integration of information across organizational boundaries is necessary. However, these digital government initiatives face additional challenges, since the required level of interorganizational collaboration and trust is often not supported by existing institutional arrangements, organizational structures, and managerial processes. In fact, many institutions and administrative structures found in government contexts offer incentives for single-agency work only, which produces stove-pipe systems. Based on an extensive case study in the Mexican federal government, this paper explores how certain institutional arrangements and organizational structures can enable or hinder cross-agency collaboration and consequently, interorganizational information integration.

The Merging of Best Practices and State Policy in the IFSP Process in California

In this article we describe one state's approach to developing programmatic and administrative models for IFSP implementation and discuss the policy implications of those models. The micromodel provides a description of processes that can be used to develop and implement IFSPs based on best practices at the child-family-professional level. Three macromodels that address changes in state policy and administrative structure to enhance cross-agency collaboration are also described. The article concludes with a description of experts' opinions of the models and a series of policy questions that must be addressed prior to full implementation of P.L. 99--457.