Lecture IntentLecture Intent Position my scholarship within ideas and streams introduced in seminar to this point Provide initial introduction to.

Implementation, Organizational Management & Leadership

Jodi SandfortAssociate Professor & Chair

University of Minnesota, Humphrey School of Public Affairs

Lecture Intent

Position my scholarship within ideas and streams introduced in seminar to this point

Provide initial introduction to organizations as sites of implementation activity Share two analytical tools (worksheets)

Introduce understanding of individual agency / strategic action often attributed to “leadership”

Strategic Action Fields(Fligstein & McAdams 2011; 2012)

Strategic action fields are mesolevel social orders with individual and collective actors that interact around “shared understandings about the purposes of the field, relationships to others in the field, and the rules governing legitimate action in the field” (9).

Coercion, competition, cooperation around specific issues.

Shared understanding of power distribution and dominants beliefs, even if contested.

Legitimacy is an important driver of strategic action.

“Social Skill” is the ability to induce cooperation by appealing to legitimate authority, creating shared meaning and collective identity.

Core ComponentsImplementation takes place within…

• Multi-level implementation systems

• Policy field, organization and frontlines

• Organized around a core program technology

• Change occurring through strategic action bounded by legitimate authority

• Laws and regulation

• Market forces

• Associations & norms

• Beliefs & values

• Led and sustained by people with Social Skill within that context

Assumptions

1. The starting point for implementation research is a core program

technology around which strategic action occurs at multiple levels

within the implementation system; WINTER (2012)

2. The core program technology adopted within a system is not

necessarily that most likely to lead to the desired change in the

behavior or conditions of the target population; REGIME PERSPECTIVE

3. The processes and practices integrated within an implementation system are those perceived of as legitimate by the actors within that system; ORGANIZATIIONAL MANAGEMENT

4. To change processes and practices within the implementation system, field actors utilize social skill to alter legitimate authority within the system, or to capitalize on exogenous shocks to create new authority for action. LEADERSHIP

Simple, Multi-level Model

Policy FieldsProgram technology

OrganizationProgram technology

Front lineProgram technology

Simple, Multi-level Model: Affordable Care Act

Policy FieldsProgram technology

OrganizationProgram technology

Front lineProgram technology

+ 25 groups, agencies, and companies engaged

Change in the implementation system that leads to sustained, desired

change in the behaviors or conditions of the target group.

Indicators of Effectiveness

Multi-level Analysis

Multi-level Analysis

Policy Field

Organization

Frontlines

Analysis of Organizations in Implementation

Systems

Authorizing Organizations Provide financial and legal authority in the field

Service Organizations Operationalize the program technology and create

offerings for target group

Different analysis than conventional org. science

Executive DirectorOrganization A

Program Manager

A1

Program Manager

A2

Program Manager

A3

Org Funders Board of Directors

From the perspective of the executive director who has to manage the expectations of key stakeholders of the organization…

Executive DirectorOrganization B

Program Manager

B1

Program Manager

B2

Org Funders Board of Directors

Program

Manager A1

Program Funders

…it’s a very different view from the perspective of the program manager! There lies a potential for tension.

Executive Director

Organization C

Program

Manager C1

Program

Manager C2

Executive Director

Organization A

Program

Manager A2

Org FundersBoard of Directors

Program Manager

A3

Executive Director

Organization B

Program Manage

r B1

Program Manage

r B2

Analytical Tool: Organization-Program Integration Audit (OPIA)

Organization Program

Target Audience /Constituency

Core Program Technologies

Structure

Financial Resources

Culture & Power

External Environment

Organizations’ Adaptations to Change

(Miles & Snow, 1977)

Entrepreneurial problem - identifying new or expanding existing lines of business. Domain

Engineering problem – transform inputs into outputs. Logic of change

Administrative problem – supervisory and coordination of activities. Coordination of activities

Decisions about Domain within Organizations

What do we already know how to do? Programmatic Capacity Manuals and Materials Staff Knowledge from Experience Staff Professional Orientation and Beliefs

about Core Program Technology

What management infrastructure and skills do we already possess? Management Capacity Supervision Processes Information Technology systems

Path Dependency

Path Dependency

Logic of Change: Program Process Flow

Program Process Flow: One Service Providing Organization

Investigating Partnerships in Early Childhood Education study, Sandfort, Selden & Sowa

Program Process Flow: Another Service Organization

Investigating Partnerships in Early Childhood Education study, Sandfort, Selden & Sowa

Program Process Flow: Still Another Service Organization

Investigating Partnerships in Early Childhood Education study, Sandfort, Selden & Sowa

Sandfort & Moulton (2015)

Competing Sources of Legitimate Authority

• Laws and regulation

• Market forces

• Associations & norms

• Culture and values

Levers Shaping Program Core

Professional Norms

Laws & Regulations Market Forces

OrganizationCore program technology

Beliefs and Values

“Leadership”

Social Skill of Context, understanding these levers Focused on change that improve process and outcomes in

system operation that are aligned with change desired in target population

Knowledge relevant to Technical Challenges Gather and Assess evidence about public problem and

solutions Develop procedures to improve Efficiencies

Abilities to help others grapple with Adaptive Challenges Engage others and use emotional intelligence Work with “facilitative devices” as boundary objects to

communicate Deploy reflective practice and improvisation

NPF

LPF MPFPolicy Fields

Program technology PF

BPF

NO1

LO1 MO1Organization

Program technology O1

BO1

NF1

LF1 MF1Front line

Program technology F1

BF1

NO2

LO2MO2Organization

Program technology O2

BO2

NF2

LF2MF2

Front lineProgram technology F2

BF2

A Model of a Complex System

Building Systems Thinking Capacity

Source: Waters Foundation