Abstract
This paper addresses coordination problems in central government by focusing on the Norwegian case. The main research questions are: What are the experiences of civil servants concerning horizontal and vertical coordination, and internal and external coordination? What is the relative importance of structural, demographic and cultural variables for explaining variations in civil servants’ perception of coordination? The data base is a questionnaire to civil servants in ministries and central agencies in 2006. The main findings are that there are more problems with horizontal coordination than with vertical coordination; that coordination problems are bigger in central agencies than in ministries; and that a low level of mutual trust tends to aggravate coordination problems.
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Notes
The data from 1976 is from a similar type of survey and an exactly similar question concerning main tasks (Lærgeid and Olsen 1978).
17% of civil servants in the ministries and central agencies report that coordination is their main task (19% in ministries and 13% in central agencies). 40% say that coordination is a big part of their task portfolio (45% in ministries and 31% in central agencies).
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Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this article was presented at the Study Group on Governance of Public Sector Organizations, EGPA Conference, Madrid 19-22 September 2007. We wish to thank Anne Lise Fimreite, Paul G. Roness, Koen Verhoest and two anonymous referees for valuable comments.
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Christensen, T., Lægreid, P. The Challenge of Coordination in Central Government Organizations: The Norwegian Case. Public Organ Rev 8, 97–116 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-008-0058-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-008-0058-3