e-governance and citizen information - Universitat Oberta de ...

E-governance and Citizen Information 71 Structure and Organisation5.2. Compartmentalisation, Cooperation and TransversalityDuring the last weeks of 2003, the Administration of the Generalitat had 15 departments,15 sector secretariats, 92 general management areas, 27 autonomous organisms oragencies, 59 public companies and 3 health and social security management centres.Even when this element can be viewed as an example of decentralisation, for most interviewedpeople it is an obstacle in the cooperative operations of the Generalitat (P64, P17,P15) that prevents the development of integrated policies. Therefore, departments areviewed internally as totally independent compartments that are not connected to one another.As explained next, it is a circular argument that helps explain the difficulties in thecooperation and transversality of the Generalitat, which reflects the need to “regroup thegovernment” (P59).One of the most characteristic elements of the transformation of the public sector towardsthe Network Administration is the trend towards cooperation and transversality, which wouldoccur after a greater interrelation between administrations and units within the same Administration(Layne and Lee, 2001; Mahler and Reagan, 2002; Castells and Ollé, 2003). Theaforesaid information is conceptualised as a vertical integration (when the increase in relationshipsis between administrations from different levels) or as a horizontal integration(when the increase is within the same administration) (Aibar and Urgell, 2004). This researchproject has focused on the horizontal integration, observing what is happening withinthe Generalitat and its different bodies.Next, we will analyse the extent of horizontal integration in the Generalitat. In fact, we willexplore one of the main hypotheses: that currently there is a transition processes in the Administrationthat is leading to an increase in the degree of transversality, to greater cooperationbetween departments and greater coordination to carry out joint projects.As a result we should stress that the empirical work does not allow us to speak of a radicalchange in this direction and especially with the same weight or with the same elements atall levels of the Administration. For these reasons, in the analysis we can distinguish betweenglobal events of the Administration – what we have considered as the relationshipsat the managerial levels and with a higher power – and the events at the operating levelsthat incorporate the intermediate and lower levels of the Administration. We will focus on thefirst of the two cases.http://www.uoc.edu/in3/pic