The Blind Spots of Public Bureaucracy and the Politics of Non‐Coordination (Executive Politics and Governance)

Annotation 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 Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Blind Spots, Biased Attention, and the Politics of Non-coordination (Tobias Bach, Kai Wegrich)....Pages 3-28 Accounting for Blind Spots (Martin Lodge)....Pages 29-48 Blind Spots: Organizational and Institutional Biases in Intra- and Inter-organizational Contexts (Tom Christensen)....Pages 49-67 Front Matter ....Pages 69-69 Professional Integrity and Leadership in Public Administration (Wolfgang Seibel)....Pages 71-86 The Alarms That Were Sent, but Never Received: Attention Bias in a Novel Setting (Helge Renå)....Pages 87-109 Front Matter ....Pages 111-111 Why Cooperation Between Agencies is (Sometimes) Possible: Turf Protection as Enabler of Regulatory Cooperation in the European Union (Eva Heims)....Pages 113-131 Blame, Reputation, and Organizational Responses to a Politicized Climate (Markus Hinterleitner, Fritz Sager)....Pages 133-150 Passing the Buck? How Risk Behaviours Shape Collaborative Innovation (Krista Timeus)....Pages 151-170 Media and Bureaucratic Reputation: Exploring Media Biases in the Coverage of Public Agencies (Jan Boon, Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen, Koen Verhoest, Mette Østergaard Pedersen)....Pages 171-192 Front Matter ....Pages 193-193 Central Banks and Banking Regulation: Historical Legacies and Institutional Challenges (Jacint Jordana, Guillermo Rosas)....Pages 195-216 Why Do Bureaucrats Consider Public Consultation Statements (or Not)? Information Processing in Public Organizations (Simon Fink, Eva Ruffing)....Pages 217-238 Front Matter ....Pages 239-239 How to Deal with the Blind Spots of Public Bureaucracies (Tobias Bach, Kai Wegrich)....Pages 241-261 Back Matter ....Pages 263-269 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 makes 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. 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.-- Provided by publisher