Panel Paper: This Could BE the START of Something BIG:

Saturday, November 10, 2012 : 11:15 AM
Hopkins (Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel)

*Names in bold indicate Presenter

Steven Kelman and Sounman Hong, Harvard University


“Path dependence” – the influence of early events on later developments through the operation of various sorts of positive feedback loops – has received considerable attention in political science, economics, sociology, and organization studies literatures, but little attention in public administration scholarship.  We study the influence of early managerial choices, and characteristics of the first manager, of a cross-organizational partnership in English and Welsh local government, Crime and Disorder Partnership, on the change in crime rates in these partnerships a decade later.  Using a survey of the first managers of these partnerships, and crime data, we find significant influences of early managerial choices and first manager characteristics on later crime performance.  In particular, we find that the most effective early managerial choices are those getting the partnership doing something, rather than working to improve the attitudes of member organizations towards collaboration (such as trustbuilding activities), seeking external legitimacy and support, or building the collaboration’s overall operating capacity.

“Path dependence” – the influence of early events on later developments through the operation of various sorts of positive feedback loops – has received considerable attention in political science, economics, sociology, and organization studies literatures, but little attention in public administration scholarship.  We study the influence of early managerial choices, and characteristics of the first manager, of a cross-organizational partnership in English and Welsh local government, Crime and Disorder Partnership, on the change in crime rates in these partnerships a decade later.  Using a survey of the first managers of these partnerships, and crime data, we find significant influences of early managerial choices and first manager characteristics on later crime performance.  In particular, we find that the most effective early managerial choices are those getting the partnership doing something, rather than working to improve the attitudes of member organizations towards collaboration (such as trustbuilding activities), seeking external legitimacy and support, or building the collaboration’s overall operating capacity.

“Path dependence” – the influence of early events on later developments through the operation of various sorts of positive feedback loops – has received considerable attention in political science, economics, sociology, and organization studies literatures, but little attention in public administration scholarship.  We study the influence of early managerial choices, and characteristics of the first manager, of a cross-organizational partnership in English and Welsh local government, Crime and Disorder Partnership, on the change in crime rates in these partnerships a decade later.  Using a survey of the first managers of these partnerships, and crime data, we find significant influences of early managerial choices and first manager characteristics on later crime performance.  In particular, we find that the most effective early managerial choices are those getting the partnership doing something, rather than working to improve the attitudes of member organizations towards collaboration (such as trustbuilding activities), seeking external legitimacy and support, or building the collaboration’s overall operating capacity.