Handbook of Public Administration, 3rd Edition

Chapter 16Managing Effective Collaborations

Michael McGuire and Chris Silvia

Public administrators operate daily across organizational and sectoral boundaries. Just as they are responsible for the success of their home organization, so too they must work with other public and nongovernmental actors on difficult, wicked problems. Societal problems around the world have become more complex, so governments' responses have become more organizationally and administratively complex. It is common to speak of “the government” as if a single government agency or administrator provides goods and services to citizens. In practice, public administrators respond to disasters, facilitate the provision of health care, undertake a development project, make ...