This chapter opens with short overview of public management, focusing on its context and character, capturing the role of public managers in general operating in this environment, and specifically highlighting any references to the behaviours of middle managers. It proceeds to review the diverse and interdisciplinary contributions that form the theoretical backcloth to collaboration, before proceeding to examine the literature on management between organisations and the role of individual actors in this setting.

Public management

The purpose of this opening section is not to indulge in a lengthy discussion around the contested notion and nature of public management that can be readily found in numerous textbooks (Lynn, 2006; Osborne, 2010a), but simply to outline some relevant background to support and frame some of the later discussions addressed in this book. Historically, the design and delivery of public policy and management have been characterised by a number of dominant approaches – from Public Administration to New Public Management and, arguably, to New Public Governance – although in practice differences between these can be confused (Table 2.1).

The focus of public administration is on the delivery of public services prescribed by legislation, with public administrators governed by various rules and procedures. Here, there is a clear divide between politics and the administration; bureaucracy is central to making and delivering policy; and the role of professionals is dominant, reflecting the ‘institutionalisation of the impartial expertise necessary to meet the complex, technical needs of the modern state’ (Lynn, 2006: 260). In contrast, public management is driven more by public purposes and the process of strategic choice (Ranson and Stewart, 1994: 34), and where management tasks involve policy planning, staff development, organisational development, engaging with the public, and reviewing and evaluating practices. Management is seen as a craft and the product of actions and decisions of public managers. Bovaid and Loffler (2003: 5) define public management as: ‘an approach which uses managerial techniques to increase the value for money achieved by public services‘.