An Organisational Approach to Analysis of Policy Innovation by Local Authorities in Britain: The Importance of the Concepts of Scrutiny, Conflict, and Centralisation

In: Environment and planning. C, Government and policy, Band 6, Heft 2, S. 159-172

Abstract

In this paper an organisational approach is used to study the timing, duration, and outcome of the policymaking on public provision of local authorities. The organisation is considered as an intervening analytical level that bridges the gap between the effect of individual actors and that of the structure of society on the geography of public provision. Drawing on the literature of organisation theory, we analyse the effects of processes within organisations to help explain variation in public provision between authorities. The separate and combined effects of three major organisational concepts are examined: Scrutiny, conflict, and centralisation. These concepts are applied to policy innovation in four English local authorities, and specifically to their policies for the adoption of new technology in schools. Although the separate effects of the concepts help our understanding, it is their interaction which makes a significant contribution to the explanation of the timing and duration of policy innovation, as well as explaining the policy outcome, which was the aim of most previous work. Further understanding is gained when these concepts are set within the context of the overall structure and behaviour of the organisation.