The concept of hybridity, although well developed in various research areas, is relatively new in the management field, where "organisational hybridity" refers to organisations that combine managerial features, value systems and institutional logics of different sectors (market, state, civil society). Hybrid organisations have traditionally been compared with private, public and non-profit ones, by considering goal ambiguity, governance, organisational structures, personnel and purchasing processes, and work-related attitudes and values. This research has led to substantial evidence on relevant differences between hybrid and other organisations. Hybridisation has also become a permanent feature in today's welfare system. New Public Management and welfare state reforms of the mid 1990s contributed to the emergence of hybrid organisations, with neo-institutional theory also attributed to this phenomenon. Considering the hybrid phenomenon as a whole, little is known about governance and controls, especially with regard to accountability mechanisms and issues such as the prevention of corruption. Even less is known when we consider the main variables of hybridity to be mixed ownership, competing institutional logics, multiplicity of funding arrangements, and public and private forms of financial and social control. This book seeks to answer the unsolved questions related to hybrid organisations. It does so by adopting a multifaceted approach along its ten chapters, which focus on different national contexts, including the UK, Italy, Australia, and Sweden, as well as global organisations. The authors consider policy sectors including humanitarian aid, local transport, healthcare, and welfare services.

The complex and ever-evolving relationship between the public sector and civil society at large is high on the policy and political agenda for the transformation of administrative and socio-economic systems in most developed countries. In this context, citizen associations, private businesses and non-profit organizations play a crucial role as potential actors of collaborative governance arrangements for both the prioritization and direct provision of public interest services. These settings are increasingly seen as powerful policy tools by which States may not only address issues related to the expenditure constraints which, in the current public financial situation, contingently limit and condition the direct delivery of such services by public institutions. They are also viewed as an opportunity for a definitive shift from traditional models of public administration in the sense that policies may be better designed, articulated, and governed through a collaborative approach, while service provision could be enhanced in terms of proximity, representativeness and innovativeness. This book assesses these cross-sectoral relations across the public sector from a variety of contexts. Chapters consider public service design, public governance systems, philanthropy, housing policies, performance management and a number of other issues across national and comparative settings.