Formal Coordination Mechanisms Research Articles

A qualitative study of Suaahara II influence on nutrition governance in Nepal.

Maternal and child undernutrition remain major public health problems in Nepal. Suaahara is a USAID-funded multi-sectoral nutrition programme aiming to strengthen local nutrition governance to reduce maternal and child undernutrition, among other objectives. The purpose of this study is to present findings from a recent qualitative evaluation of Suaahara II's influence on the decentralised implementation of Nepal's Multi-sectoral Nutrition Plan (MSNP) and identifying gaps and areas for improvement at the federal, provincial, and local levels to strengthen nutrition governance. This study employed multiple qualitative methods, engaging over 100 multi-sectoral nutrition stakeholders across three levels of government and eight districts. Thematic qualitative analysis was employed to identify emergent and salient themes, which were triangulated with other secondary data sources. Suaahara II had a positive influence on strengthening horizontal coordination for implementing the MSNP and effectively leveraged existing networks to strengthen implementation of nutrition-focused activities at the municipal level. Although there was an observable increased demand for nutrition budgets attributable to Suaahara II activities, sufficient allocation and utilisation, particularly in non-health sectors, did not meet these levels. Nepal's shift to federalism hindered vertical coordination of MSNP implementation. Some formal coordination mechanisms were strengthened, but variation in their effectiveness to strengthen horizontal and vertical coordination to implement MSNP activities continues. Finally, limited government ownership over nutrition activities and facilitating multi-sector coordination to implement the MSNP threatened sustainability of Suaahara II's outcomes on nutrition governance. Future programmes should continue to build on the progress made under Suaahara II, and specifically aim to address challenges in vertical coordination to strengthen nutrition governance in Nepal.

Ideational Models of Immigrant Integration in Japan: A Multi-Scalar Approach to the Dynamics of Policy Frames

This article explores migrant integration policy frames in Japan based on a multi-scalar research design. The development of migrant integration frames mirrors a process where the local scale has contributed to the development of a national policy based on the concept of “multicultural coexistence.” Under the impulsion of immigration reforms, the central government has consolidated the national framework and strengthened its involvement in the governance of migrant integration turning to a more economic framing of migrants. While the cases of Aichi prefecture and Nagoya and Toyohashi cities (located in Aichi prefecture) reflect a gradual convergence of frames with the national level, policies in Kyoto prefecture and Kyoto city do not echo such shifts. Surprisingly, Kyotango city located in Kyoto prefecture has drawn on national level policies turning to a more economic framing of migrants. A focus on “relationality” and stakeholders in policy formulation and relationships between different scales of governance suggests that the assemblage of local political actors bringing their priorities to the discussion table are important shaping forces of local policy frame development. At the same time, exchanges in horizontal and vertical networks exhibit the vitality of the circulation of ideas, even in the absence of formal coordination mechanisms.

Do in‐kind donations promote cooperation among non‐governmental organisations? Lessons from the Greek refugee crisis

AbstractSince 2015, Greece has experienced an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers. For several months, most humanitarian assistance provided to them by non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) heavily relied on in‐kind donations. Donations of tangible items frequently pose serious management challenges and may disturb relief distribution. Through empirical research based on a questionnaire survey and interviews, we find that NGOs have increasingly cooperated and coped well with these management issues. Despite the lack of formal coordination mechanisms, it seems that donation of goods acted as an incentive for cooperation. In contrast, in‐kind donations of services (volunteerism) did not seem to have the same effect.

Value chain partnerships and farmer entrepreneurship as balancing ecosystem services: Implications for agri-food systems resilience

Both in the European Union (EU) and worldwide, the resilience of agri-food systems depends on the human ability to balance between socio-economic and ecological trade-offs. Recent ecosystem services literature acknowledges that smallholder farmers’ participation to stakeholder partnerships and continuous learning influences their balancing ability. Yet, little research has so far focused on how smallholders’ participation in partnerships with other value chain actors - such as companies supplying or procuring from them - shape their learning processes and, in turn, how their mindset and behavioral change influences agri-food systems resilience outcomes. To address this gap, this conceptual paper advances a framework suggesting plausible linkages between: the organization of value chain partnerships; smallholder farmer entrepreneurship (meant as the ability to redeploy resources innovatively in and around farms); and agri-food systems resilience outcomes (such as stabilizing rural livelihoods, supporting ecological services and enhancing socio-cultural services). This framework suggests that value chain partnerships are more effective in supporting the smallholder farmers’ entrepreneurial learning: when they pool more resources (both tangible, like financial or physical assets, and intangible as knowledge or market information) among partners; when they distribute decision-making rights over their use more evenly; and when they balance between formal and informal coordination mechanisms. On the basis of empirical examples, these conceptual arguments suggest that policy incentives – such as the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the EU – should be directed towards resource pooling, experimentation and learning to effectively support smallholder farmer entrepreneurship and their contribution to the achievement of agri-food systems resilience outcomes.

Transitioning toward Sustainable Cities—Challenges of Collaboration and Integration

The transition towards sustainable cities cannot be solved by individual stakeholders and organisations acting alone. Better governance for tackling such complex problems, including policy change and innovation adoption, will require purposeful collaboration. This is particularly evident in projects that involve integration across scales. Our case-study research compared six water-related innovations in large cities in Australia, the Netherlands, and the US. We found that government agencies, water utilities, professional organisations, and industry innovators were all vital actors, along with supportive community education. In the initiation phase of innovation, informal networks were used by sustainable innovation champions to galvanise support. As pilot projects emerged, more formal supportive processes and financial incentives were crucial. For large projects and for the mainstreaming of pilot projects, the role of formal coordination and integration mechanisms became vital for coherent and successful implementation. Various forms of network-based collaborative work were utilised, but the designation of a key coordinating organisation was found to be helpful in maintaining focus and momentum. Coordination activities across organisations, scales, and time were enhanced by the strength of core values and culture, such as valuing stakeholder engagement, innovation, flexibility, and having a focus on outcomes. Overall, this research demonstrated the need to continually evaluate the innovation process to ensure that key ingredients (suitable for each context) are implemented in a timely manner to strengthen the process and enable effective and purposeful collaboration.

Emergent Routines in Peer-Production

Current theories struggle to explain how participants in peer-production self-organize to produce high-quality knowledge in the absence of formal coordination mechanisms. The literature traditionally holds that norms, policies, and roles make coordination possible. However, peer-production is largely free from workflow constraints and most peer-production communities do not allocate or assign tasks. Yet, scholars have suggested that ordered work sequences can emerge in such settings. We refer to sequences of activities that emerge organically as components of “emergent routines.” The volunteer nature of peer-production, coupled with high degrees of turnover, makes learning and coordination difficult, calling into question the extent to which emergent routines could be ingrained in the community. The objective of this article is to characterize the work sequences that organically emerge in peer-production, as well as to understand the temporal dynamics of these emergent routine components. We center our empirical investigation on the peer-production of a set of 1,000 Wikipedia articles. Using a dataset of labeled wiki work, we employ Variable-Length Markov Chains (VLMC) to identify sequences of activities exhibiting structural dependence, cluster the sequences to identify components of emergent routines, and then track their prevalence over time. We find that work is organized according to several routine components, and that the prevalence of these components changes over time.

Exploring how firms’ strategic political actions are organised to capture and share external information – The case of Alpha Plc

Through a case study of the government affairs (GA) activities of a large UK-based manufacturing firm, we explore how the differentiation and integration of boundary-spanning GA units may affect their ability to capture external political information and share it with the rest of the business. Mobilising insights from organisational design theory, we demonstrate that changes in the autonomy, specialisation and formal coordination of the firm's UK-based GA unit have over time positively affected its information processing activities. The unit has been able to source political information more proactively as its specialisation and autonomy have increased. Its ability to share this information inside the firm has improved as it has become more integrated in the business through formal coordination mechanisms. Our study contributes to CPA research by deepening our understandings of the internal management and organisation of firms' political actions, which are overlooked in extant strategy management literature. It provides senior executives with practical guidance on how to configure their political units in ways that add value to firms.

Rebuilding supplier relationships: An action research study of contract complementarity

Despite the body of evidence suggesting that contracts can complement social controls, much remains to be learned about situations where complementarity is not evident. The emerging contingency perspective on complementarity provides insights into the complexity of the contract-trust interplay, but little theoretical guidance exists suggesting how this interplay can be influenced such that dysfunctional relationships lacking trust can be transformed. This longitudinal study of three problematic relationships in a complex engineering projects setting exposes a duality in formal coordination mechanisms that has a polarising effect on trust. For dysfunctional relationships to become collaborative, coordination mechanisms need to address impediments to mutuality, enabling new relational norms to develop, which in turn disrupt negative trust cycles, enabling relationship repair.

Conflict between Formal and Informal Rules in Policy Coordination: The Case of Child Homelessness in Mexico City

Several studies in Latin America show that the failure of many social policies is related to a lack of policy coordination; this article posits that it is about not only a lack or not of coordination but also how formal and informal coordination mechanisms interact and are in conflict. The article shows that the creation of a new law in Mexico City aimed at organizing existing child homelessness policies not only failed to generate coordination between the three agencies in charge of the problem but also destroyed the informal coordination network that they had managed to build during previous years of shared work. The formal solution conflicted with preexisting practices for improving coordination and has worsened the problem by ignoring preexisting informal networks of agencies already in place. In countries where formal rules are weak, such as most Latin American nations, this aspect is a key factor to consider when designing policy solutions.

Relational coordination in inter-organizational settings. How does lack of proximity affect coordination between hospital-based and community-based healthcare providers?

Introduction : With more care provided outside hospitals, coordination across organizational boundaries is needed. Relational Coordination RC represents a type of informal coordination that has been found to improve quality and efficiency of patient care in intra-organizational networks, but only few studies have examined RC in inter-organizational settings. This paper focuses on how structural challenges affect RC in this setting. Theory/Methods : Studies suggest that the positive outcomes of RC found in intra-organizational settings translate into inter-organizational settings. However, insights from the literature on Inter Organizational Collaboration IOC stress that a lack of technological, geographical and institutional proximity between network participants challenges informal coordination across organizational boundaries. Our pilot study was based on a qualitative case study approach to get an in-depth understanding of these potential challenges. We focused on a collaboration between a hospital-based geriatric team and a community-based acute care team offering home-based care for frail elders aiming to prevent avoidable acute hospital admissions in a major city in Denmark. Data consisted of seven semi-structured interviews plus 16 hours of participant observations. Results : Findings indicated that core tasks were largely coordinated through strong informal relationships. Especially a shared goal of providing high quality home-based care led to effective communication. However, previous differences in guidelines had created barriers for establishing strong relations. Managers overcame this lack of institutional proximity by introducing shared guidelines. Non-core tasks were marginally coordinated through informal relations. Lack of especially technological and geographical proximity challenged defining shared goals and procedures for information sharing. Management did not implement formal coordinating mechanisms to overcome these structural challenges. Discussions : Empirically the study adds to the limited number of studies focusing on inter-organizational network settings and identifies structural challenges to RC in this setting. Theoretically, the study introduces a distinction in the impact of the structural challenges between core and non-core tasks. In core tasks, relationships mostly emerged independently of structural challenges, confirming findings from intra-organizational settings. For non-core tasks structural barriers hindered the forming of strong informal relationships, as the IOC literature suggests. This distinction was further deepened as management tended to implement formal coordination to overcome structural challenges only for core tasks that were important for overall goal achievement and performed at a higher frequency. Conclusions : Core tasks were coordinated through strong relationships in the inter-organizational network; this depended partly on formal coordination mechanisms to overcome structural barriers. These structures largely hinder RC of non-core tasks. Lessons learned : With their lack of proximity, inter-organizational structures challenge RC especially in non-core tasks and partly in core tasks. Formal coordination mechanisms can mitigate, pointing to the importance of an effective interplay with formal coordination mechanisms for RC in inter-organizational settings. Limitations : Findings are highly context specific and require detailed assessment of transferability to other contexts. Further, limited data of the pilot study does not allow drawing robust conclusions. Suggestions for future research : Future qualitative studies should aim to provide a rich description of both context and coordination in addition to gathering more data.

Organization of knowledge ecosystems: Prefigurative and partial forms

This paper provides a unique perspective on knowledge ecosystems by studying their organization. Grounded in empirical evidence, we propose that knowledge ecosystems consist of users and producers of knowledge that are organized around a joint knowledge search. A distinction is drawn between knowledge ecosystems searching for a knowledge domain and those searching within an identified knowledge domain, respectively characterized as prefigurative and partial forms of organizing. In a knowledge ecosystem organized in prefigurative form (to identify a knowledge domain), actors whose participation is affiliated, self-resourced, and unobliged probe that domain to identify and establish shared knowledge as a basis for collective actorhood, with no formal rules or coordination mechanisms. In a knowledge ecosystem organized in partial form (where a knowledge domain has already been identified), actors search and reveal problem- and solution-related knowledge, participating though formal membership and access to resources, and their contributions are monitored. The present study contributes to the literature by 1) specifying the distinct types of joint search performed by knowledge ecosystems; 2) considering how the nature of joint search affects how knowledge ecosystems are organized; and 3) distinguishing two forms of organizing knowledge ecosystems, with a focus on participation and coordination.

Financing and budgeting practices for health in Peru

Peru has made substantial progress towards achieving UHC. Increases in access to healthcare and financial protection had a positive impact in health outcomes. Despite this progress, major efforts are needed to reduce fragmentation and increase efficiency in the health system as a whole. Creating formal coordination mechanisms and improving capacity at the subnational level are key elements to ensure that any additional resource spent has a great positive impact in Peru’s health care system. The well-developed and highly institutionalised PPR methodology in Peru can inspire other countries in the LAC region. However, other budgetary practices could be better aligned with OECD recommendations of good budgetary governance. In particular, making the approved budget closer to what is expected to be executed would greatly increase the usefulness of the budget, showing how resources are prioritised and how annual policy objectives are to be achieved. JEL codes: H5, H60, I11, I18 Keywords: Universal health coverage UHC, Peru, health expenditures, budget formulation, budget execution, budget monitoring, fiscal sustainability of health systems

Formal and informal inter-organizational coordination: How nurses adapt in complex pathways.

With the coordination of health care services becoming increasingly complex, the challenges of fragmentation cannot be solved by administrative restructuring alone. Attention must also be given to the coordination practices of professional groups, and, in this respect, the nursing profession is a particularly interesting case. Based on a qualitative case study of Danish nurses in hospital, municipality, and general practice, this article addresses the following question: How does the nursing profession practice formal and informal inter-organisational coordination in complex pathways, and what is the interplay between the 2 types of coordination? The findings contribute to our knowledge of coordination at the operative level of health care by identifying specific informal practices in inter-organisational coordination and by showing how informal coordination is activated to support formal coordination in a concurrent organisational and professional ambition of integration. The nurses studied here proved very loyal to formal inter-organisational coordination mechanisms, prioritising them as first choices of action. When formal procedures were found insufficient, however, the nurses temporarily switched to informal coordination. This was triggered by random encounters with fragmentation, a strong professional engagement in making things work in the interest of the patient, and a constant striving to be on top of things. Informal inter-organisational coordination is broken down into supplementary and by-passing practices, and 4 specific by-passing practices are identified. The discussion offers insight into how a lack of agency related to formal inter-organisational coordination can be related to negotiated settlements, and informal coordination is considered in terms of "rule bending" within complex systems.

Exploration outcomes of M&A: the interplay between coordination mechanisms and acquisition experience

Post‐acquisition exploration aims at triggering innovation outcomes through newly acquired resources and capabilities. To this end, formal and informal mechanisms contribute to coordinating such exploration goals. As the usefulness of such coordination mechanisms in merger and acquisition (M&A) depends upon transaction experience, we investigate how tacit and explicit acquisition experience influences the outcomes of formal and informal coordination mechanisms on post‐merger exploration. Based on a sample of 115 transactions of German, Austrian, and Swiss acquirers, our results demonstrate that exploration outcomes are fostered through informal coordination mechanisms. Yet the effect is dampened when previous M&A experiences are held tacit. Formal coordination mechanisms show positive influences on post‐acquisition exploration only when acquisition experience is made explicit. In combination with tacit M&A experience, formal coordination has a negative influence. Thus, we contribute to the extant literature by showing which coordination mechanisms can be utilized to foster post‐acquisition exploration and how explicit and tacit M&A experience can be deployed effectively.

Coordination of Winegrape Supply Chains in Emerging Markets

ABSTRACTThis study investigates factors influencing coordination of winegrape procurement in emerging wine regions in Michigan, Missouri, and New York. Wineries in these emerging regions face different vertical coordination challenges than in well‐established regions, which may affect procurement choices. Results corroborate prior findings that quality considerations and the need to safeguard investments in specialized assets, respectively, increase usage of more formal coordination mechanisms like written contracts and vertical integration or ownership. Consistent with prior findings of studies of wineries in established wine regions, we find that perceived difficulty in measuring grape quality attributes leads to tighter coordination; a point previously undocumented for emerging regions. [EconLit citation: Q130]

Turbulent Stability of Emergent Roles: The Dualistic Nature of Self-Organizing Knowledge Coproduction

Increasingly, new forms of organizing for knowledge production are built around self-organizing coproduction community models with ambiguous role definitions. Current theories struggle to explain how high-quality knowledge is developed in these settings and how participants self-organize in the absence of role definitions, traditional organizational controls, or formal coordination mechanisms. In this article, we engage the puzzle by investigating the temporal dynamics underlying emergent roles on individual and organizational levels. Comprised of a multilevel large-scale empirical study of Wikipedia stretching over a decade, our study investigates emergent roles in terms of prototypical activity patterns that organically emerge from individuals’ knowledge production actions. Employing a stratified sample of 1,000 Wikipedia articles, we tracked 200,000 distinct participants and 700,000 coproduction activities, and recorded each activity’s type. We found that participants’ role-taking behavior is turbulent across roles, with substantial flow in and out of coproduction work. Our findings at the organizational level, however, show that work is organized around a highly stable set of emergent roles, despite the absence of traditional stabilizing mechanisms such as predefined work procedures or role expectations. This dualism in emergent work is conceptualized as “turbulent stability.” We attribute the stabilizing factor to the artifact-centric production process and present evidence to illustrate the mutual adjustment of role taking according to the artifact’s needs and stage. We discuss the importance of the affordances of Wikipedia in enabling such tacit coordination. This study advances our theoretical understanding of the nature of emergent roles and self-organizing knowledge coproduction. We discuss the implications for custodians of online communities as well as for managers of firms engaging in self-organized knowledge collaboration.

How Industry Lifecycle Sets Boundary Conditions for M&A Integration

Value creation in acquisitions is tightly connected with actions taken during integration. However, research on integration mainly concentrates on integration typologies or on the autonomy vs. absorption debate, each stream with empirical evidence for respective benefits. We argue and give empirical evidence that there is no “one size fits all” approach for integration but rather an interdependency of the suitability of integration related decisions with the industry lifecycle. We demonstrate that beneficial or detrimental effects of degree of integration, formal, and informal coordination mechanisms are context-specific and differ significantly in growing, mature, and declining industries. We show that the degree of integration only has a significant beneficial effect in mature industries, while no effect in cases of declining and fast growing industries is observable. Here we indicate that in acquisitions with buyers in declining industries, formal coordination mechanisms are most beneficial, while in growing industries only informal coordination mechanisms are valuable.

Unpacking transnational corporate responsibility: coordination mechanisms and orientations

This article aims to advance the discussion of how multinational companies manage the tension between global integration and local responsiveness in their corporate social responsibility (CSR). In particular, it studies the relationships between headquarters and subsidiaries in a transnational CSR strategy and the types of coordination mechanisms used. Building on a qualitative study of a multinational bank, we find that in addition to formal and informal coordination mechanisms, a transnational CSR strategy cannot be fully understood without considering lateral learning and participatory decision making. Further, we suggest that discussions about the transnational approach to CSR should not be disentangled from the question about a company's CSR orientation. Finally, we propose some characteristics of transnational CSR and discuss its theoretical and practical implications.

Performance Effects of the Interplay between Formal and Emergent Coordination Mechanisms

This paper investigates the individual and joint effects of formal and emergent coordination mechanisms on organizational performance. We use primary and secondary data on 192 European industrial m...

Coordinating Knowledge Creation in Multidisciplinary Teams: Evidence from Early-Stage Drug Discovery

Based on a multi-year field study of early-stage drug discovery project teams at a global pharmaceutical company, this paper examines how multidisciplinary teams engaged in knowledge creation combine formal and informal coordination mechanisms when faced with unpredictable interdependencies among specialists’ knowledge domains. While multidisciplinary teams are critical for knowledge creation in increasingly specialized work environments, the coordination literature has been divided with respect to the extent to which such teams rely on formal coordination structures and informal coordination practices. Our findings show that when interdependencies among knowledge domains are dynamic and unpredictable, specialists design self-managed (sub-)teams around collectively held assumptions about interdependencies based on incomplete information (conjectural interdependencies). These team structures establish the grounds for informal coordination practices that enable specialists to both manage known interdependencies and reveal new interdependencies. Newly revealed interdependencies among knowledge domains, in turn, promote structural adaptation. Drawing on these findings, we advance an integrative model explaining how team-based knowledge creation relies on the mutual constitution of formal coordination structures and informal coordination practices. The model contributes to theory on organizational design and practice-based research on coordination in cross-disciplinary knowledge creation.