Pluricentric Coordination

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Pluricentric Coordination

• Towards an interactive approach to coordination
  and strategies
• Karina Sehested
• Forest and Landscape Denmark Copenhagen
  University
• kar_at_life.ku.dk

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Pluricentric context Region Zealand
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Conditions

• No single actor/institution in control
• One comprehensive strategy difficult
• Selection of strategic tasks with cohesion
  choise of dimensions
• Coordination through cooperation and persons
  not systems

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Implications

• Theory
• Theoretical contributions move in the same
  direction
• from cohesion, unity and universal rationality to
  valuing and exploiting the floating and messy
  character of coordination in its interpretive and
  relational forms
• Practice
• In fragmented governance situations without any
  form of hierarchy

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New idea of coordination

• Re-interpretation of the meaning and role of
  coordination
• Re-definition of balance between vertical and
  horizontal coordination
• New ways of promoting co-ordination

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The definition

• Coordination through
• Situated working practices
• Dynamic, interactive, selective and overlapping
  linkages,
• That might provide temporary fixations and
  multiple orders

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Strategy making in different forms

• Analytic and learning strategy making
• We have to make analyses
• We have to integrate/influence political goals
• We have to mobilise relevant actors
• We have to build up common understanding and
  consensus

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Make strategies play in concert
 
  Multiple projects and strategies Hierarchical ordering Multiple orders Multiple projects and strategies Hierarchical ordering Multiple orders Multiple projects and strategies Hierarchical ordering Multiple orders
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Barriers

• Specialised and bureaucratic organisation and
  silo thinking vertical coordination
• Lack of competences
• Traditional mental maps of planning and roles
  one overall strategy made by experts
• Command and authoritative behaviour
• Power struggles Unwillingness to co-operate
• Fights about being THE coordinator or
  meta-govenor

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Drivers

• Recognition of the necessity of cooperation
  created in the process
• Acceptance of the role as one among many
  mentally and in behaviour
• New competences and project based structures
• Selective and strategic link making work
• Story work gluing stories together but creating
  several strategies - multiple orders

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Link making work

• Create and participate in several networks make
  linkages
• Make strategic choises about who is the most
  important actors
• Solving real problems is essential for link
  making work
• Clarify the interdependency and develop common
  interests
• Make common rules for the networks and clarify
  roles and responsibility
• Build up trust and confidence in the relations
• Handle conflicts

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Story and consensus work

• Focusing attention to certain strategic issues
• Creation of meaning and shared meaning
• Develop common problem-solutions narrative by
  gluing parts of different stories
• Accept and work with differences and tensions in
  stories and meanings in order to find areas for
  consensus potentials
• A temporary fixation
• we agree about this issue/strategy for now but
  are open to new ideas and sudden change