Corporate autonomy and institutional control : the Crown corporation as a problem in organization design / Douglas F. Stevens.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stevens, Douglas F. (Douglas Frederick)

Contributor:

Institute of Public Administration of Canada.

Series:

Canadian public administration series.

Canadian public administration series = Collection administration publique canadienne

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Government corporations--Prairie Provinces.

Government corporations.

Organization.

Physical Description:

x, 233 p. ; 24 cm.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Buffalo : McGill-Queen's University Press, c1993.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Stevens examines institutional frameworks for Crown corporations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba between the early 1970s and the mid 1980s, showing how each framework establishes different practices and offers distinct strategic advantages. Organizational approaches in Alberta most closely approximated what the author calls a "self-contained" design, in which corporate actors had the advantage and were most able to achieve their own objectives. In Manitoba, where "vertical information systems" prevailed, central bureaucratic monitoring agents tended, to some extent, to wield influence over the corporations. Saskatchewan practice was akin to a "lateral relations" pattern, with an equilibrium between corporate and bureaucratic goals. Stevens's comparison of Crown corporation organization designs suggests that, while no one form is inherently more efficient than another, each leads to qualitatively different outcomes. He concludes that the most important issue in problems of organization design is who is winning the Crown corporation "game" -- a finding of considerable interest to all students of government enterprise.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Preface

The Autonomy and Control Problem: Normative Perspectives

A Positive Perspective: The Game Analogy

Alberta: The Self-contained Design

Manitoba: The Vertical Information Systems Design

Saskatchewan: The Lateral Relations Design

Origins and Consequences of Crown-Corporation Organization Designs

Corporate Autonomy and Institutional Control: Conclusions

Alberta Crown Corporations (31 March 1986)

Manitoba Crown Corporations (31 March 1986)

Saskatchewan Crown Corporations (31 March 1986)

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Co-published by Institute of Public Administration of Canada.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [213]-218) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-85587-5

9786612855870

0-7735-6333-4

OCLC:

732600995