CONCLUSIONS
Box 9 summarizes the shift from hierarchy to networks What lessons can we draw from
a view of the world in which networks rival markets and bureaucracy as a means for
delivering services?
Too often academics seek to play the role of ersatz public servant.We try to provide data,
even solutions,to present-day problem. But the social sciences offer only provisional
knowledge.Prediction is probably an impossibility,only hindsight is a realistic goal. An
awareness of our limits does not make the social sciences useless.If we cannot offer
solutions,we can define and redefine problems in novel way.We can tell the policy
makers and administrators distinctive stories about their world and how it is governed.
The new public management told a story of economy,efficiency and effectiveness
which contrasted sharply with the story of th local government officer as professional
which clients and the permanent secretary as policy adviser and fire-fighter for the
minister.