The organizational history of American government during the past
100 years has been written principally in terms of the creation of
larger and larger public organizations. Beginning with the
Progressive movement, no matter the goal, the reflexive response
has been to consolidate and centralize into formal hierarchies.
That efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability, and the
coordination necessary to achieve them, are promoted by such
reorganizations has become widely accepted.
Borrowing from social psychology, sociology, political science, and
public administration, and using the public transit system of the
San Francisco Bay area for illustrative purposes, Donald Chisholm
directly challenges this received wisdom. He argues that, contrary
to contemporary canons of public administration, we should actively
resist the temptation to consolidate and centralize our public
organizations. Rather, we should carefully match organizational
design with observed types and levels of interdependence, since
organizational systems that on the surface appear to be tightly
linked webs of interdependence on closer examination often prove
decomposable into relatively simpler subsystems that may be
coordinated through decentralized, informal organizational
arrangements.
Chisholm finds that informal channels between actors at different
organizations prove remarkably effective and durable as instruments
of coordination. Developed and maintained as needed rather than
according to a single preconceived design, informal channels, along
with informal conventions and contracts, tend to match
interorganization interdependence closely and to facilitate
coordination. Relying on such measures reduces thecognitive demands
and obviates the necessity for broadscale political agreement
typical of coordination by centralized, formal organizations. They
also advance other important values that are frequently absent in
formally consolidated organizations, such as reliability,
flexibility, and the representation of varied interests.
"Coordination Without Hierarchy" is an incisive, penetrating work
whose conclusions apply to a wide range of public organizations at
all levels of government. It will be of interest to a broad array
of social scientists and policymakers.
In an earlier version, "Coordination Without Hierarchy" received
the American Political Science Association 1985 Leonard D. White
Award for the best doctoral dissertation in the field of public
administration, including broadly related problems of policy
formation and administrative theory.
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