Coordination Quality: Perceptions and Drivers Among Civil Servants

Introduction

The dynamics of modern public sector reform waves, from structural fragmentation in NPM to attempts at structural reintegration in post-NPM, have resulted in a renewed interest in coordination in the government apparatus. Coordination is very high on the contemporary reform agenda in many European countries. Coordination capacity and quality is a key precondition for governments to address complex governance and policy challenges in the modern state. In a broad survey, top civil servants in ministries and central agencies in Europe were asked to assess the importance of various reform trends in their own specific policy field, and they ranked enhanced collaboration and coordination as the most important measure. Hierarchical command is the most common coordination mechanism in central government, but network arrangements are also rather common.

This article focuses on perceived coordination quality in ministries and central agencies in Norway. It will describe and explain...