What is it about?

The American system of a fragmented but interdependent public economy poses both opportunity and constraint for the thousands of agencies that make up the administrative state. In the wake of this complexity has come subsequent demands for expenditure limits and more effective program administration. This article looks at critical variables which show promise in explaining how public organizations enlarge their administrative discretion and strategically navigate during times of "turbulent transition." In doing so, it provides the illustrative case of Pacific Coast public seaports during the global "container revolution" and the environmental movement of the 1970s and 80s.

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Why is it important?

The article focuses on a comparative analysis of public organizations, some of which deploy a strategic management framework in addressing change while others attempt to maintain a bureaucratic status quo. In the tradition of organizational systems theory, it shows how to redesign public organizations to promote strategic thinking in the face of heightened situational uncertainty.

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This page is a summary of: TURBULENT TRANSITION AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANCE: RELATING POLICY OUTCOMES TO STRATEGIC ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITIES, Review of Policy Research, March 1988, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/j.1541-1338.1988.tb00849.x.
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