Co-management in public service networks - The organizational effects

The third sector increasingly produces public services in collaboration with the state. This has not left the organizations in question unaffected. Recent research suggests that organizations involved in public service delivery are evolving towards forms of network production, in which the production process takes shape across a number of different organizations. As we will argue, organizations are faced with simultaneous pressures for differentiation and integration, which are alleviated (though not resolved) by internal changes in staffing, skills, structure and management style. Some of the problems of integrating public service networks are essentially resolved within organizations.