Welcome to Module 4 of collaborative management. This week we will be covering the topic “Designing the Network.”

1. Designing the Network
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2. • Government and NGOs should consider the following five
questions in designing the network
1. What goals does the government hope to accomplish?
2. Which tools will be used to form and activate the network?
3. Who are the most appropriate partners to help government accomplish its goals?
4. How should the network be designed given the professed goals?
5. How should the network be governed and managed?
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3. • Network officials need to consider the mission question first!
• By starting first with mission and then configuring the process, network
government can offer a fundamental change from traditional government that
often looks first to process and then to mission
• After you answer the mission question, a network designer must next consider
initiation strategies to bring the necessary resources together in order to
execute the mission
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4. • Network officials must consider how to bring together the
resources necessary to execute the mission of the network as well
as possible
• Officials possess a variety of assets they can deploy to initiate a
progressive response (money, rhetoric, capacity to convene
people and technology resources, and authority)
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5. • The factors that will be the most important in choosing the right
partners—and the weight assigned to each factor—will change
depending
• A few broad criteria, however, can help governments distinguish
the most appropriate partners.
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6. • Cultural Compatibility
o The cultural issues will vary depending on the nature of the network.
For example, if the purpose of the network is to implement a new policy—as in the workfirst
approach in welfare-to-work networks—then the partner organizations
and their involved officials need to share that value.
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7. • Operational Capacity
o Operational excellence provides the most straightforward and common prism through
which to evaluate potential partners
For example, when the federal Department of Education decided to rebuild its outdated
student
loan system, it reviewed the market to identify which potential partners could both integrate
existing functions and build and operate a new system. The subsequent request for proposal
caused several competitors to join forces to form a consortium that brought the department
technology it could never have built or afforded itself.
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8. • Operational Capacity
o In evaluating the operational capacity of potential partners, several factors are typically
important: the
o Cost
o Specialized expertise
o Financial Viability
o Ability to assume some risk
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9. • Proximity to the Customer
o If government is looking for ways to communicate effectively with a particular population,
it will need to consider organizations that have:
 Broad Reach
 Strong neighborhood ties
 And are legitimate players in their communities
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10. • Consider these questions-
o What do you want to do? Deliver a service? Provide information?
o Does the network only need to be activated in response to a specific event—an
emergency or a disaster?
o How much money is available?
o What is the relative importance of accountability versus flexibility?
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11. • Consider these questions-
o What do you want to do? Deliver a service? Provide information?
o Does the network only need to be activated in response to a specific event—an
emergency or a disaster?
o How much money is available?
o What is the relative importance of accountability versus flexibility?
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12. • The success or failure of a networked approach can often be traced to its
original design.
• A government agency should not let its historical processes, current
organizational charts, or existing capabilities dictate what activities should be
pursued under a networked approach.
• Assets that public officials may use to activate a network include money,
• rhetoric, people, technology, and authority.
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