March 3, 2005 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector
by Stephen Goldsmith and William D. Eggers
This book examines how the federal and state governments are increasingly using companies and nonprofit organizations to carry out activities they once performed, and suggests ways in which that approach can be conducted more effectively.
Stephen Goldsmith, a former mayor of Indianapolis, and William D. Eggers, an official at Deloitte Research, note that, as a result of efforts to streamline government, federal contractors now employ about twice as many people as the federal government does, and federal agencies spend about $100-billion more on contracts each year than on salaries. The authors say they do not question the reliance on private contractors to provide services and meet society’s needs. But they suggest that the traditional, hierarchical way that government operates is ill-suited for monitoring contractors and has contributed to failures of contractors to carry out their end of the bargain.
Mr. Goldsmith and Mr. Eggers write that government needs to build horizontal ties with private and nonprofit organizations to create a “seamless delivery system.” They call on public officials to more actively seek out the best private and nonprofit partners for the job, and to develop relationships that are built on open communication and cooperation. The authors also suggest ways to overcome the distrust that can arise when private and nonprofit partners have differing cultures and values.
The authors write that if these types of partnerships are to take place, governments must retain employees skilled in collaboration, negotiation, and mediation. “People whose background and temperament enable them to build up a trove of relationships across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors” will do a better job of running government in a “networked world,” write Mr. Goldsmith and Mr. Eggers.
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036; (202) 797-6258 or (800) 275-1447; fax (202) 797-2960; bibooks@brookings.edu; http://www.brookings.edu; 224 pages; $44.95, cloth; $18.95, paper; ISBN 0-8157-3129-9.
