20967 - PUBLIC NETWORKS: GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
Department of Social and Political Sciences
Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
ACME (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - AFC (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - AI (6 credits - I sem. - OP | 12 credits SECS-P/07) - CLELI (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - CLMG (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - DES-ESS (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - DSBA (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - EMIT (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - ESS (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - FIN (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - GIO (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - IM (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - MM (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07) - PPA (6 credits - I sem. - OP | SECS-P/07)
Course Director:
FRANCESCO LONGO
FRANCESCO LONGO
Suggested background knowledge
Interest and basic knowledge of public policy and public management logics and tools
Mission & Content Summary
MISSION
There are no public services or policies which are run individually by single institutions: they are all embedded in strong interdependencies with other level of government or have horizontal relationships and spill over. All major relevant public issues (energy, covid, migrations, global warming, transportation, economic development, welfare services, etc.) are so embedded in relevant inter-institutional networks. Networks have poor room for hierarchical approaches. Most management tools are based on hierarchies: they are not suitable for networks. Public managers, tackling those issues, needs to act as relation and process managers. The course aims to analyze public sector networks, involving public, private and third sector organizations, at local, regional, national and international level. The course intends to evaluate the existing interdependencies, to assess critically networks governances and functioning modes in order to provide students with tools to re-design them. The public network framework is applied to diverse and heterogeneous policy fields (culture, utilities, waste, transportation, health and social care, social housing, etc.) . One of the main objectives is to distinguish network design and building, from network functioning and steering and from inter- institutional conflict and crisis management.
CONTENT SUMMARY
The course is divided in two parts:
- the first one (16 lessons) is based on case discussion and lectures;
- the second one (8 lessons) is based on public networks managers’ presentations and interviews managed by students
The main content of the course are:
- what are public network, what are inter-istitutional interdependencies: why is it so difficult to organize them?
- why every public policy or service needs an implementation network?
- why hierarchical logics do not work for network management?
- which are the steering needs of different cluster of public policies networks
- how to organize networks
- how to manage public networks: the steering tool box
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
Discover inter-istitutional interdependencies
Assess the degree of actors awarness about inter-istitutional interdependencies
Classify public networks
Understand their steering or managerial needs or gaps
Design and organize a public or PPP network
Manage a public policy network
Apply network logics in different policy fields and international environments
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
Understand policy contexts in every public filed or sector
Know to assess the drivers of public policy implementation gaps
Design the istitutional arrangement and organizational structure of a public policy network or a PPP
Define and manage the financial model within a network
Plan and control output and outcomes of knots within a network
Manager conflict within network
Define group or network HR strategies and tools
Teaching methods
- Lectures
- Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
- Individual works / Assignments
DETAILS
8 lessons are based entirely on public policy networks managers, coming from all different policy fields and level og Government.
They have a 45' talk and for 45' the class runs a group interview to the guest speakers
Every student is free to opt for a personal case study about a self selected public policy network which accounts as the final exam.
The case is supposed to be based on the analysis of the AS IS situation, the assessment of strength and weaknesses, and suggestions for a redesign, both on istitutional/organizational arrangements, strategies, management logics and tools implemented
Assessment methods
| Continuous assessment | Partial exams | General exam | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
x |
ATTENDING STUDENTS
Written general exam on the slides, a list of papers and the guest speakers presentations
or
Indivudual case study on a self selected public policy network
NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
Written general exam on the text book and a list of papers
Teaching materials
ATTENDING STUDENTS
Slides
A list of selected papers
Guest spekers presentations (slides)
NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
A textbook
A list of selected papers
Last change 05/06/2025 20:54