Furthermore, how does management at the network level, not just the organizational level,
infl uence performance? What accounts for the shifts in network
dynamics over extended periods, and what difference do such
changes make? Can we develop better explanations for the wide
variation in the effi cacy of transnational, especially multilateral,
networks?
Can we incorporate the systematic examination of large
numbers of network cases with the detailed inclusion of structural
and behavioral features of the individual networks—thus enhancing
both extensiveness and intensiveness? Can the use of simulations
through agent-based modeling provide better and more systematic
understanding of how modifying certain network characteristics
can have implications for network behavior and outcomes? Can we
make progress at understanding what may be the diff ering dimensions
of managerial networking with diff erent clusters of actors and
how these diff erences matter? Can we embed our examinations of
networks and networking in public administration within multilevel
models, thus developing more realistic depictions of the complex realities within which public managers frequently operate? And can
we develop a more comprehensive understanding of the worrisome,
not just the attractive, consequences of networked public action?
Given the considerable variation in types of network settings,
particularly with regard to self-organized versus mandated networks,
simple nostrums will have little value; we could greatly benefi t from
better theory that can successfully combine the elements of both.
Such further developments would be of immense value to the practice
of public administration. Th e world of public administration,
in short, has for some time been treating networks seriously, but the
work is far from complete.