纵向结构与横向关系的统一:英格兰促进经济增长中的合作型领导与问责机制

Aligning vertical structures and horizontal relationships:collaborative leadership and accountability mechanisms to enhance economic growth in England

本文探讨公共的、私营的和公民的领导人工作的纵向与横向维度,对象是英格兰经济发展中的领导,尤其是那些在地方企业合作这一复杂领域工作的领导,地方企业合作项目是英国中央政府促进增长的地方化议程中的一个主要合作工具。本文洞察到,国家、非国家机构以及公民,为了改变当地面貌而共同合作,在分散的、横向的、主要是非正式的新型互动/相互关系领域中,能够以创新的方式适应一套复杂的纵向法定权威机构。要进一步了解合作型领导,在调查多重问责和松散网络关系中的合作生产方式时,就需要新的方法路径。当务之急是要理解跨部门领导的问题,这种跨越部门边界的领导处于由纵向法定结构和横向非正式行动领域构成的复杂网络中。在这种网络中,作为国家机构代表的领导人,为了实现那些仅凭其成员组织不容易实现的目标,需要进行合作。在维护和促进其优先事项、目标以及新项目(在此指的是地方企业合作项目)的利益时,他们还需要妥协和协商,将其领导职能交还给上级组织。那么,从理论上,本文源于近期有关新公共治理理论与实践的争论,表明新公共管理模式没有重视正式权威机构与分散化非正式关系之间的复杂性。本文还利用乌特勒支学派的问责模型,确定在地方企业合作中的领导人之间的社会关系,阐明他们在当事机构范围内如何维护机构与个人的行动。

This article explores vertical and horizontal dimensions of the work of public,private and civic leaders involved in economic development in England,in particular,those working in the complex terrain of Local Enterprise Partnerships,a key partnership tool in the UK central government’s localism agenda for driving growth.It offers insights into innovative ways in which state,non-state and citizen agents navigate a complex set of vertical,legal authority structures within fragmented,horizontal and largely informal new‘spaces’of interactions/interrelationships to collaboratively co-produce strategies and plans for transforming local areas.To advance our knowledge of collaborative leadership requires new methodological approaches to investigating multi-accountabilities and how co-production works within‘loosely coupled’networks.It is imperative to appreciate the problems associated with leadership working across sectoral boundaries within complex networks of vertical,legal structures and horizontal,informal action spaces.In such networks,leaders,as institutional representatives,work collaboratively to achieve objectives not readily attainable by member organisations acting alone.They also need to compromise and negotiate their representative role back to a parent organisation while protecting and promoting the priorities,aims and interests of the new entity,in this case,a Local Enterprise Partnership.Theoretically,then,the article is located in recent debates on the theory and practice of New Public Governance,to show the inadequacies of New Public Management models for capturing the complexities between formal authority structures and fragmented informal sets of relationships.It also draws on accountability models,notably,from the Utrecht School,to identify social relations between collaborative leaders on Local Enterprise Partnerships,and to show how they assert agency and individual actions within the boundaries of participating institutions.