The Blind Spots of Public Bureaucracy and the Politics of Non Coordination

How to better coordinate policies and public services across public sector organizations has been a major topic of public administration research for decades. However, few attempts have been made to connect these concerns with the growing body of research on biases and blind spots in decision-making. This book attempts to make that connection. It explores how day-to-day decision-making in public sector organizations is subject to different types of organizational attention biases that may lead to a variety of coordination problems in and between organizations, and sometimes also to major blunders and disasters. The contributions address those biases and their effects for various types of public organizations in different policy sectors and national contexts. In particular, it elaborates on blind spots, or 'not seeing the not seeing', and different forms of bureaucratic politics as theoretical explanations for seemingly irrational organizational behaviour. The book's theoretical tools and empirical insights address conditions for effective coordination and problem-solving by public bureaucracies using an organizational perspective.

Provides important theoretical insights into the organizational underpinnings of successful coordination Identifies causes of supposedly irrational or dysfunctional behaviour of public organizations Discusses implications for institutional design, indiciating how to deal with inherent biases in organizational decision making

Autorentext
Tobias Bach is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Norway.
Kai Wegrich is Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany.

Inhalt

1. Blind spots, biased attention, and the politics of non-coordinationTobias Bach and Kai Wegrich.- 2. Accounting for blind spotsMartin Lodge.- 3. Blind spots: organizational and institutional biases in intra- and inter organizational contextsTom Christensen.- 4. Professional integrity and leadership in public administrationWolfgang Seibel.- 5. The alarms that were sent, but never received: attention bias in a novel settingHelge Renå.- 6. Why cooperation between agencies is (sometimes) possible: turf protection as enabler of regulatory cooperation in the European UnionEva Heims.- 7. Blame, reputation, and organizational responses to a politicized climateMarkus Hinterleitner and Fritz Sager.- 8. Passing the buck? how risk attitudes shape collaborative innovation in public organizationsKrista Timeus.- 9. Media and bureaucratic reputation: exploring media biases in the coverage of public agenciesJan Boon, Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen, Koen Verhoest, and Mette Østergaard Pedersen.- 10. Central banks and banking regulation: historical legacies and institutional challengesJacint Jordana and Guillermo Rosas.- 11. Why do bureaucrats consider public consultation statements (or not)? information processing in public administrationSimon Fink and Eva Ruffing.- 12. How to deal with the blind spots of public bureaucraciesTobias Bach and Kai Wegrich.