IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v58y2021i14p2933-2951.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Hybrid coordination of city organisations: The rule of people and culture in the shadow of structures

Author

Listed:
  • Stephan Leixnering

    (WU Vienna, Austria)

  • Renate E Meyer

    (WU Vienna, Austria
    Copenhagen Business School, Denmark)

  • Tobias Polzer

    (University of Sussex Business School, UK)

Abstract

Under far-reaching reforms, many cities have delegated core tasks previously delivered by their administrations to independent organisations that they formally own, e.g. municipal companies, or supervise, e.g. municipal trust funds. The coordination of these (as we call them) ‘domestic’ city organisations has proven challenging. Extant literature argues that such coordination is achieved through a mix of various hierarchical, market and network mechanisms. Yet it is unclear how these modes are combined. Addressing this gap, we ask: How do governance modes interact in the hybrid coordination of domestic city organisations? Analysing the case of Vienna, where 100 domestic organisations employ about 60,000 people, we find that while cultural mechanisms, rooted in the network mode, are predominant, they unfold in the shadow of latent structural mechanisms, which are associated with hierarchy and market. In the background, structural mechanisms keep cultural coordination effective, while cultural mechanisms allow structural coordination to remain (generally) hidden. This study aims to contribute to the literature on the governance of public organisations by exploring the relationship between governance modes as well as furthering urban governance studies by applying insights from studies on the coordination of public organisations to the city context.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephan Leixnering & Renate E Meyer & Tobias Polzer, 2021. "Hybrid coordination of city organisations: The rule of people and culture in the shadow of structures," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(14), pages 2933-2951, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:58:y:2021:i:14:p:2933-2951
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098020963854
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098020963854
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098020963854?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elinor Ostrom, 2010. "Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(3), pages 641-672, June.
    2. Christof Brandtner & Markus A. Höllerer & Renate E. Meyer & Martin Kornberger, 2017. "Enacting governance through strategy : A comparative study of governance configurations in Sydney and Vienna," Post-Print hal-02312001, HAL.
    3. John Harrison & Michael Hoyler, 2014. "Governing the new metropolis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(11), pages 2249-2266, August.
    4. William G. Ouchi, 1979. "A Conceptual Framework for the Design of Organizational Control Mechanisms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(9), pages 833-848, September.
    5. Joris Voets & Koen Verhoest & Astrid Molenveld, 2015. "Coordinating for Integrated Youth Care: The need for smart metagovernance," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(7), pages 981-1001, August.
    6. Martin Kornberger & Stephan Leixnering & Renate E. Meyer, 2019. "The logic of tact : How decisions happen in situations of crisis," Post-Print hal-02312257, HAL.
    7. Per Lægreid & Külli Sarapuu & Lise H. Rykkja & Tiina Randma-Liiv, 2015. "New Coordination Challenges in the Welfare State," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(7), pages 927-939, August.
    8. Per Lægreid & Lise H. Rykkja, 2015. "Hybrid Collaborative Arrangements: The welfare administration in Norway - between hierarchy and network," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(7), pages 960-980, August.
    9. Daniela Cristofoli & Marco Meneguzzo & Norma Riccucci, 2017. "Collaborative administration: the management of successful networks," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 275-283, March.
    10. Sandra van Thiel & Kutsal Yesilkagit, 2011. "Good Neighbours or Distant Friends?," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(6), pages 783-802, September.
    11. Christof Brandtner & Markus A Höllerer & Renate E Meyer & Martin Kornberger, 2017. "Enacting governance through strategy: A comparative study of governance configurations in Sydney and Vienna," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(5), pages 1075-1091, April.
    12. Neil Brenner & Nik Theodore, 2005. "Neoliberalism and the urban condition," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 101-107, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brorström, Sara, 2017. "The paradoxes of city strategy practice: Why some issues become strategically important and others do not," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 213-221.
    2. Martin Kornberger & Renate E Meyer & Markus A Höllerer, 2021. "Exploring the long-term effect of strategy work: The case of Sustainable Sydney 2030," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(16), pages 3316-3334, December.
    3. Van Assche, Kristof & Gruezmacher, Monica & Summers, Bob & Culling, Joshua & Gajjar, Shaival & Granzow, Michael & Lowerre, Andrew & Deacon, Leith & Candlish, Jared & Jamwal, Abhimanyu, 2022. "Land use policy and community strategy. Factors enabling and hampering integrated local strategy in Alberta, Canada," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    4. Höglund, Linda & Svärdsten, Fredrik, 2018. "Strategy work in the public sector—A balancing act of competing discourses," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 225-232.
    5. Sara Brorström & Alexander Styhre, 2021. "Plans and situated actions in urban renewal projects: The role of governance devices in realizing projects," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(3), pages 646-663, May.
    6. Susanne Fredholm & Maitri Dore & Sara Brorström, 2021. "Strategic Responses to Wicked Problems of Heritage Management: Experiences from the West Link Infrastructure Project in Gothenburg, Sweden," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.
    7. Kathryn Davidson & Lars Coenen & Michele Acuto & Brendan Gleeson, 2019. "Reconfiguring urban governance in an age of rising city networks: A research agenda," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(16), pages 3540-3555, December.
    8. Dennis Jancsary & Renate E. Meyer & Markus A. Höllerer & Vitaliano Barberio, 2017. "Toward a Structural Model of Organizational-Level Institutional Pluralism and Logic Interconnectedness," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(6), pages 1150-1167, December.
    9. Khandakar Farid Uddin, 2021. "COVID-19 Pandemic Is About More than Health: A State of Governance Challenges in Bangladesh," South Asian Survey, , vol. 28(1), pages 72-91, March.
    10. Carlos Martin-Rios, 2016. "Innovative management control systems in knowledge work: a middle manager perspective," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 181-204, May.
    11. Andrea Francesconi & Enrico Guarini, 2017. "Performance-based funding e sistemi di allocazione delle risorse ai dipartimenti: prime evidenze nelle universit? italiane," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 113-134.
    12. Pascale Amans & Sylvie Rascol-Boutard, 2006. "Controlling Complex Organizations on the Basis of an Operational Performance Measure," Post-Print hal-01659071, HAL.
    13. McCloskey Deirdre Nansen, 2018. "The Two Movements in Economic Thought, 1700–2000: Empty Economic Boxes Revisited," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(2), pages 1-20, December.
    14. Mei, Maggie Qiuzhu & Wang, Le & Yan, Jie, 2023. "Maintaining product quality consistency when offshoring to emerging markets: The role of subsidiary control," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(1).
    15. David Pastoriza & Miguel Ariño & Joan Ricart, 2008. "Ethical Managerial Behaviour as an Antecedent of Organizational Social Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(3), pages 329-341, March.
    16. Andy Gouldson & Rory Sullivan, 2014. "Understanding the Governance of Corporations: An Examination of the Factors Shaping UK Supermarket Strategies on Climate Change," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(12), pages 2972-2990, December.
    17. David Klenert & Franziska Funke & Linus Mattauch & Brian O’Callaghan, 2020. "Five Lessons from COVID-19 for Advancing Climate Change Mitigation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 751-778, August.
    18. Thomas Vendryes, 2014. "Peasants Against Private Property Rights: A Review Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 971-995, December.
    19. Michael Peneder & Spyros Arvanitis & Christian Rammer & Tobias Stucki & Martin Wörter, 2022. "Policy instruments and self-reported impacts of the adoption of energy saving technologies in the DACH region," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 369-404, May.
    20. Meyer, Camille, 2020. "The commons: A model for understanding collective action and entrepreneurship in communities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(5).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:58:y:2021:i:14:p:2933-2951. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.