The literature suggests that collaborative governance efforts typically face three types of challenges: substantive problem-solving challenges, collaborative process challenges and multi-relational accountability challenges. In this article, we investigate how these challenges manifest themselves in practice and explore potential ways in which collaborators can deal with them. To do so, we studied eight multi-agency crime-fighting collaborations in the Netherlands using a quasi-experimental action-research approach. We found that the challenges present collaborations with a set of paradoxical demands. Collaborations that were able to make progress transcended the paradoxes by adopting a 'both/and' rather than an 'either/or' mindset. Our findings contribute to knowledge about designing effective multi-agency collaborations.
There has been much debate about the contribution of ‘design thinking’ to the fields of public policy and governance. This article makes an empirical contribution to this debate by examining the Organised Crime Field Lab ‐ an environment for experimenting with, learning
about and innovating in collaborative governance. The study involved working with 18 different multi-agency collaborations involving over 160 professionals as they developed novel approaches to fighting organised crime. Combining quasi-experimental and action research methods, our analysis
offers valuable insights into how an environment can be designed that creates the conditions to support collaborations in overcoming the most common challenges in their design process. In particular, we find that a specially designed environment including a structured but flexible problem-solving
space, an inclusive facilitative process and a custom-made accountability structure can support collaborative design processes.
Networked governance requires public managers to think and act strategically across organizational boundaries. Taking the literature on the transition from government to governance and its implications for Human Resource Management (HRM) as a starting point, we argue that not only top management, but also lower-level employees are likely to be involved in this work. In order to invest effectively in the strategic and collaborative competencies required for networked governance at all levels of the organization, one needs to be able to assess strategic capacity. This article develops an assessment framework based on an in-depth case study conducted in a government department in the Netherlands over a 6-month period. We evaluate an initial framework to assess strategic capacity derived from existing literature and propose an augmented framework that acknowledges the tension between different accountability relationships and the need for continuous, structured, reflective interaction between managers, employees, and key stakeholders.
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