水资源治理中的创新:时间的重要性

Innovations in water governance:the importance of time

在治理过程的演进中,时间通常被认为是一种没有生命力、具有惰性的背景因素。然而,本文将时间作为一个影响水资源治理创新过程及其发展的重要因素。以荷兰两个案例为基础,本文分析了对时间的认知和管理过程。公共管理者们试图通过设定最后期限、将不同的时间表予以同步并采用强制限定行动的时间跨度等方式,来综合管理时间。各方参与者不同的时间表可能会相互干扰,这种干扰又可能会阻碍治理过程。对时间的分析有助于解释治理过程的动态性,本文的研究表明,时间的调整分配对于实现治理创新而言是至关重要的环节。对实践工作者的启示对于创新过程而言,时间是一个关键因素。创新活动的各方参与者往往对'时间'——包括不同的时间范围和最后期限,有着各不相同的认知。经典的时间管理主要致力于研究如何优化时间分配,而本文主要探讨了时效性治理。一个基础性的研究步骤在于,解释各方行动者是如何设定各自不同的时间范围、形成时间周期和优化时间分配的。管理者们在竞争激烈的市场中首先需要调整短期的时间范围,继而从中期的时间纬度人手精心研发创新活动,并将之嵌入政策环境中。要使创新的发展与市场和政府组织的发展相同步,处理时间的适应性是非常重要的。

Time is often considered to be an inert background against which governance processes evolve.Instead,this article approaches time as a factor that influences the development of innovation processes in water governance.Drawing on two Dutch cases,we analyse perceptions of time and the management of time.Public managers manage time by trying to fix deadlines,by synchronizing different timelines or by imposing their time horizon on the process.Different actors’timeframes may interfere with one another,and this may hinder governance processes.The analysis of time helps to explain the dynamics of governance processes,and this article shows that the alignment of timeframes is a crucial activity in realizing innovations in governance.Points for practitioners Time is a crucial factor in innovation processes.Actors often have different perceptions of time,including different time horizons and deadlines.Classic time management mainly aims at budgeting time.This article argues for time sensitive governance.An elementary step is to explicate actors’various time-horizons,time cycles and time-budget Managers need to align short-term time horizons needed in competitive markets,with mediumterm views required to carefully develop innovations and embed them in the policy environment Adaptivity in dealing with time is important to synchronize the development of innovations with developments in the market and governmental organizations.