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

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Scotland), 2021-11, Vol.58 (14), p.2933-2951
• Main Authors: Leixnering, Stephan, Meyer, Renate E, Polzer, Tobias
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alliances; Cities; Coordination; Governance; Hierarchies; Markets; Organizations; Shadows; Trusts
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1177/0042098020963854

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. 作为影响深远的改革措施，许多城市将以前由行政部门交付的核心任务委托给它们在法律上拥有（如市政公司）或监管（如市政信托基金）的独立机构。事实证明，协调这些机构（我们称之为城市“内务”机构）困难重重。现存文献认为，这种协调可通过各种等级、市场和网络机制的混合来实现。然而，目前还不清楚这些模式如何结合。为了填补这一空白，我们追问：在国城市“内务”机构的混合协调中，治理模式是如何相互作用的？通过分析维也纳的案例（100个城市“内务”机构雇用了大约60,000人），我们发现，虽然植根于网络模式的文化机制占主导地位，但它们是在与等级制度和市场相关的潜在结构机制的背景下展开的。在该背景下，结构机制保持文化协调的有效性，而文化机制允许结构协调保持（通常的）隐藏。本研究旨在探索治理模式之间的关系，并将公共组织协调研究的见解应用于城市环境以进一步推进城市治理研究，从而为公共组织治理文献做出贡献。