000 01654pab a2200181 454500
008 180718b2011 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100 _aAlexander, Damon, Lewis, Jenny M. and Considine, Mark
245 _aHow politicians and bureaucrats network: A comparison across governments.
260 _c2011
300 _ap.1274-1292.
520 _aEffective public administration relies on the passage of information through interpersonal communication networks. While we have a vast research literature concerning formal structures and roles in organizations, including public agencies and government institutions, we know far less about the flow of information through semiformal, voluntary interactions. In this paper we use a large survey to explore the networking patterns of politicians and bureaucrats and to compare these with the more formal structural attributes of hierarchy and functional specialization. Social network analysis and standard quantitative measures are used to examine which actors are most central in advice and strategic information networks and how this varies across governments. The results suggest that the communication networks of politicians and bureaucrats differ substantially, with politicians being surprisingly peripheral in their patterns of interaction. Differences across governments are also observed with some municipalities being markedly more hierarchical, cross-organizational, and externally focused in their networking behaviour. - Reproduced.
650 _aPublic administration
650 _aPoliticians
650 _aCivil service
773 _aPublic Administration
908 _aN
909 _a94923
999 _c94923
_d94923