Septembre 2004

The era of hierarchical government bureaucracy, the predominant organizational model used to deliver public services and fulfill public policy goals for a century now, is coming to an end, according to this joint study, conducted by Deloitte Research and the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University. Emerging in its place is a fundamentally different model, "governing by network", in which government executives redefine their core responsibilities from managing people and programs to coordinating resources for producing public value.

Government agencies, bureaus, divisions, units, and offices are becoming less important as direct service providers, and more important as levers of public value.

This new model is characterized by the web of multi-organizational, multi-governmental, and multi-sectoral relationships that increasingly constitute modern governance. The rise of networked government represents the convergence of two major trends that are altering the shape of the public sector.

• The growth of outsourcing;
• Movement towards joined-up government service delivery to provide a more integrated offering to citizens.

Managing a government increasingly made up of provider networks is very different to managing divisions of employees. Like any change of such magnitude, it poses some major challenges for those in charge. Tackling them requires a new form of public management, based on the following building blocks:

• Strategy What is the public value the organization is really trying to create?Answering this question forces government officials to figure out their policy goals and exactly what role their agency should play in fulfilling those goals.
• Network design Like a good roadmap, a sound design helps government reach its ultimate policy and operational destination.
• Connecting the network Technology is the glue that can hold networked government together, allowing network partners to share knowledge,business processes, decision making, client information,workflow, and other data.
• Ensuring accountability Ensuring accountability in a networked arrangement is a matter of getting the following four things right: incentives, measurement, trust, and risk.
• Human capital transformation In addition to knowing about planning, budgeting, staffing, and other traditional government duties, networked management requires becoming proficient in a host of other tasks, such as negotiation and mediation.

As the networked government trend continues, those governments that are able to master these five components of managing in a networked setting will thrive; those that don’t will increasingly experience service delivery and organizational problems.

Anglais uniquement