Policy Studies Review, Spring 1999 16:1 MANAGING IN NETWORK SETTINGS L8 Robert Agranoff Michael McGuire School of Pablic and Environmental Affairs Department of Public Administration Indiana University University af North TexasAgranof/McGuire: Managing in Network Settings The focus of this article ts on managing networks, A network knowledge pase is developed fram the authors” studies of ity government involvement in economic development, management within rural enterprises and the evaluation of a rural strexegic planning project. Other public management nepvork analyses are also incorporated. Management in network settings iy not based on central authority and cannot be guided by a single organizational goal ay is the case in the classical management approach Management involves managing flexible structures toward collective efficiency. The ability 19 manage is related to the mternal condition of the manager's primary arganization. It involves technical, legal, political and cost dimensions It requires different capacities, skills and knowledge frum that of single organization management. The next steps in the research wondd inchide the development of the skills needed, an analysis of the role of organizational power and the operational variables of neaworks, the issue of network cohesion, and the question af loss of contrad or difficulty in assessing network accountability MANAGI 2 IN NETWORK “TTIN Itis time to focus attention on managing within networks. The significance of these actions is clear. now the details need to be filled in. Kettl (1996) maintains that the most important change in administrative functions over the last century. in both the public and private sectors. is the dramatic rise in organizational interdependence. As he points out, a core task of managers is to build critical linkages while simultaneously managing the intemal functions of their agencies. However, network analysis has lagged behind other types of interorganizational analysis. Milward (1994), for example. observes that researchers in public management seem to display an overdeveloped capacity for policy analysis and an underdeveloped capacity for administrative analysis. Examination of the managerial aspects of networks and networking holds the prospect of altering this imbalance. Since networks are great laboratories of contemporary management. empirical research on network process can make important contributions to management theory. Empirical research on 19? 0 Policy Studies Review, Spring 1999 16:1 public management networking thus forms the basis of the analysis. in this article. we develop a network management knowledge base, relying on our own and other empirical studies. The authors’ major networking study isa multi-phase study of city government involvement in economic development policy networks in 237 Midwestern cities, along with six field-based case studies conducted among the more active of these cities. The study examines the multiple actors involved in these networks, the structures and purposes of the networks, multiple networking strategies, and the varying levels of networking activity across the cities (Agranoff and McGuire, 1998a: 1998b: 1998¢; 1998d: McGuire. 1998). Another important study involves management within rural enterprise alliances. which are formal networks of producers, distributors, labor unions. employer institutions, and government agencies (Agranoff, 1998). The other body of research with a strong bearing on our understanding of networks involves an evaluation of a rural strategic planning project, where community leaders were expected to create networks and engave in intergovernmental linkages (McGuire, etal. 1994), Many other pubtie management network analyses help frame our thinking, including those of Bardach (1998). Milward (1994), O" Toole (1993: 1996: 1997}, and Hull with Hiern (1987). We present these findings initially by differentiating networks from other managerial contexts and perspectives. The nature of management within networks is then explored. followed by a section on the skiils needed to manage effectively. Finaliy, an agenda for future research in network management is developed. THE EMERGENCE OF NETWORKS When we refer to networks, we are speaking of social structures that permit interorganizational interactions of exchange, concerted action and joint production (Alter and Hage. 1993}. Quite simply. networks are “structures of interdependence involving multiple organizations or parts thereof, where one unit is not merely the formal subordinate of the others in some larger hierarchical arrangement” (O'Toole. 1997: 45). For the public manager, such network structures can be formal or informal, and they are typically imtersectoral,