Because the literature on organizational networks and network
relations is by now so large, a thorough consideration of all that has
been done to date is an impossible task, at least within the confi nes
of a journal article. Our intent here has been to provide a brief
overview of what we believe are the key fi ndings and ideas that have
emerged in the study of networks over the past two decades that are
particularly relevant to public management network scholars and
practitioners concerned with or working in service delivery networks.
Too often, scholarly research either does not reach practitioners
in a way that is usable, or the knowledge transferred is extremely
narrow, depriving practitioners of an understanding of the bigger
picture. Th is article has been attempted to convey public network
research knowledge that is both nontechnical and broad enough to
address a range of important questions and issues. Th ose involved
in network practice will, of course, still need to adopt the general
conclusions that we have made here to their own specifi c network
settings.