| Although governmental consolidation is a frequent response to revenue shortages, poorly coordinated activities, and perceived bureaucratic inefficiency and unresponsiveness, relatively little is known about the effects of reorganization. This project explores the aftermath of legislative decisions to merge government agencies. Consolidation implementation is examined using "politically-informed dimensional analysis." This approach seeks to improve on previous efforts by systematically tapping the vast insights of organizational theory while avoiding premature a priori modelling, and by employing clearer, more useful notions of "politics." The study design is that of the multi-group, interrupted time-series quasi-experiment, focusing on the mergers establishing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Minnesota Department of Energy, Planning and Development, and the Minneapolis Community Development Agency. Its methodology--a variant of comparative case analysis--combines the logic (though not the techniques) of aggregate quantitative studies with the intensive, contextual approach of the case study. Analysis of the data suggests that, contrary to the lofty expectations of reformers and the pessimism of contemporary social scientists, merger can produce limited changes in agency policy direction and performance, in interorganizational relationships, and in configurations of internal influence and authority. While several factors interact to generate (and inhibit) change, a key concept of emerge from the study is organizational permeability. Permeability--the degree of organizational susceptibility to environmental influence--regulates the dynamics and impact of internal and external factors. Moreover, it is subject to the manipulation of outside actors (e.g., legislators, interest grops) and agency decision-makers, making it a critical element in discussions of institutional design and evaluations of governmental responsiveness. Finally, the study demonstrates the promise of the dimensional approach as a means of untangling complex and diverse patterns of organizational behavior and generating testable hypotheses for further research. |
