TY - JOUR A1 - Wenzel, Bertolt T1 - Rational instrument or symbolic signal? BT - Explaining coordination structures in the Directorate-General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs of the European Commission JF - Public Policy and Administration N2 - This article examines the reorganization of formal coordination structures in the Directorate-General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs of the European Commission. While rational approaches in organization theory emphasize functional efficiency as an explanation for organizational design and coordination structures, the findings of this study indicate that the reorganization was not driven primarily for reasons of efficiency and to increase the coordination capacity of the organization. The study demonstrates that, even in a highly technical policy area such as fisheries management in the European Union, the (re-)design of formal organizational structures does not follow primarily a technical-instrumental rationale. Instead, the formal coordination structures have also been adapted to live up to changing expectations in the institutional environment, to modern management concepts in marine governance, and to ensure the legitimacy of the organization. However, although the empirical findings of this study substantiate the theoretical assumptions of an institutional perspective, institutional explanations alone are insufficient to comprehensively understand why organizational structures are reorganized and changed. KW - Coordination structures KW - European Commission KW - fisheries policy KW - marine governance KW - organizational reform KW - organization theory Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0952076716683764 SN - 0952-0767 SN - 1749-4192 VL - 33 IS - 2 SP - 149 EP - 169 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wenzel, Bertolt T1 - Organizing coordination for an ecosystem approach to marine research and management advice BT - the case of ICES JF - Marine policy N2 - This study examines the reorganization of formal coordination structures of a unique international public organization involved in marine governance in Europe, namely the structural reorganizations of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) between 1999 and 2009. The findings indicate that the reorganizations of ICES’ formal coordination structures were not driven primarily for reasons of efficiency, by clear and consistent goals, and by clear means-ends considerations for organizational design as proposed by rational perspectives in organization theory. Instead, the formal coordination structures have also been adapted to live up to changing expectations in the institutional environment, to modern management concepts in marine governance such as the Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM), and to ensure the legitimacy of the organization. However, it is also found that institutional explanations alone are insufficient to comprehensively understand why the formal organizational structures of ICES were reorganized. Instrumental and cultural perspectives in organization theory as well as resource-dependence theory additionally add to understand how ICES responded to external demands and why organizational structures have been changed. KW - International public organization KW - Coordination KW - Organization theory KW - Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM) Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2017.05.009 SN - 0308-597X SN - 1872-9460 VL - 82 SP - 138 EP - 146 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wenzel, Bertolt T1 - Organizing coordination in fisheries and marine environmental management: Patterns of organizational change in Europe JF - Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America N2 - Over the past decade, an increasing number of public organizations involved in marine governance in Europe have adapted their formal coordination structures for fisheries and marine environmental management. This study examines why the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), DG FISH of the European Commission, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR), and the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM) have changed their sectoral structures into organizations with a geographical focus on marine ecosystems. The study finds that the gradual convergence of formal coordination structures for fisheries and marine environmental management is driven by coercive, normative and mimetic processes of isomorphism. The structural changes reflect an organizational adaptation to a changing institutional environment and an Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM) focusing on regional marine areas, cross-sector integration and coordination. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. KW - Public organizations KW - Coordination KW - Fisheries management KW - Marine environmental management KW - Isomorphism Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2016.10.012 SN - 0964-5691 SN - 1873-524X VL - 134 SP - 194 EP - 206 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wenzel, Bertolt T1 - Organizing coordination in a public marine research and management advice organization: The case of the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research JF - Marine policy N2 - Public organizations involved in marine management are increasingly confronted with coordination challenges in marine governance. This study examines why and how the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR) reorganized its formal coordination structures between the areas of fisheries management and marine environmental management The findings indicate that organizing efficient and, at the same time, legitimate coordination structures between different areas of marine governance is a "wicked" organizational problem with no ultimate and single optimal solution. In contrast to the assumptions of classical organization and management theory, the study finds that the reorganization of formal coordination structures is not necessarily driven for reasons of efficiency and perceived coordination problems. Instead, public marine management organizations also change their organizational structures to live up to external expectations to adopt modern management concepts, such as the Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM). However, the study indicates that the adoption of the EAM has stimulated coordination and integration efforts in the research and advisory activities of the IMR. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. KW - Public organizations KW - Coordination KW - Wicked problems KW - Ecosystem approach KW - Fisheries management KW - Marine environmental management Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2015.11.017 SN - 0308-597X SN - 1872-9460 VL - 64 SP - 159 EP - 167 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - THES A1 - Wenzel, Bertolt T1 - The organization of coordination in marine governance N2 - Over the past decade, an increasing number of public organizations involved in fisheries and marine environmental management in Europe have changed their formal coordination structures. Similar reorganizations of formal coordination structures can be observed for organizations at different administrative levels of governance with different mandates across the policy cycle. Against the backdrop of this phenomenon, this PhD thesis is interested in exploring how these similar organizational reforms can be explained and why the formal coordination structures for fisheries and marine environmental management have been reorganized in the cases of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the Directorate-General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs of the European Commission (DG FISH), the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR) and the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM). Accordingly, the objective is to shed light on how public organizations actually “behave” or “tick” in the face of increasingly complex coordination challenges in fisheries and marine environmental management. To address these questions, the thesis draws on different theoretical perspectives in organization theory, namely an instrumental and an institutional perspective. These theoretical perspectives provide different explanations for how organizations deal with issues of formal organizational structure and coordination. In order to evaluate the explanatory relevance of these theoretical perspectives in the cases of ICES, DG FISH, the IMR and the SwAM, a case study approach based on congruence analysis is applied. The case studies are based on document analysis, the analysis of organizational charts and their change over time, as well as expert interviews. The aim of the thesis is to contribute to the coordination debate in the marine policy and governance literature from a hitherto omitted public administration and organization theory perspective, as well as explaining coordination efforts at the organizational level with an organization theory approach. The findings indicate that the formal coordination structures of the organizations studied have not only changed to solve coordination problems in fisheries and marine environmental management efficiently and effectively, but also to follow modern management paradigms in marine governance and to ensure the legitimacy of these organizations. Moreover, it was found that in the cases of ICES, DG FISH, the IMR and the SwAM, the organizational changes were strongly influenced by external pressures and interactions with other organizations in the organizational field of fisheries and marine environmental management in Europe. Driven by forces of isomorphism, a gradual convergence of the formal horizontal coordination structures for fisheries and marine environmental management of the organizations studied can be observed. However, the findings also indicate that although the organizational changes observed may convey a reaction to changing environments, they do not necessarily reflect actual policy change and the implementation of new management concepts. N2 - In den vergangenen Jahren konnte bei einer wachsenden Anzahl öffentlicher Organisationen, die in das Fischerei- und Meeresumweltmanagement in Europa involviert sind, die Reorganisation von formalen Koordinationsstrukturen beobachtet werden. Solche Reorganisationen können für Organisationen auf unterschiedlichen administrativen Ebenen mit unterschiedlichen Zuständigkeiten im Policy-Cycle beobachtet werden. Vor dem Hintergrund dieses Phänomens widmet sich dieses Dissertationsprojekt der Frage, wie diese ähnlichen Organisationsreformen erklärt werden können und warum die formalen Koordinationsstrukturen für das Fischerei- und Meeresumweltmanagement in den folgenden empirischen Fällen reorganisiert wurden: dem Internationalen Rat für Meeresforschung (ICES), der Generaldirektion FISCH der Europäischen Kommission (DG FISCH), dem Norwegischen Institute of Marine Reserach (IMR) und der Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM). Das Ziel des Projekts ist es herauszufinden, wie öffentliche Organisationen in Anbetracht komplexer Koordinationsprobleme im Fischerei- und Meeresumweltmanagement „ticken“ und wie sie sich verhalten. Zur Beantwortung der Forschungsfrage wurde ein organisationstheoretischer Zugang gewählt. Das Forschungsdesign basiert auf Fallstudien mit einem Kongruenzanalyse-Ansatz. Das Ziel des Projekts ist es, einen Beitrag zur Koordinationsdebatte in der Meeres-Governance-Literatur zu leisten und Koordinationsfragen in der Meeres-Governance aus einer bisher vernachlässigten organisationstheoretischen Perspektive zu beleuchten und zu erklären. Die Ergebnisse des Projekts zeigen, dass die formalen Koordinationsstrukturen der untersuchten Organisationen nicht unbedingt reorganisert wurden um Koordinationsprobleme im Fischerei- und Meeresumweltmanagement effizient und effektiv zu lösen, sonder dass diese auch in Reaktion auf moderne Management-Paradigmen in der Meeres-Governance und aus Legitimitätsgründen geändert wurden. Zudem zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass die beobachteten Reorganisationen stark durch externen Druck aus den Organisationsumwelten und durch Interaktionen mit anderen Organisationen beeinflusst wurden. KW - public organizations KW - organization theory KW - coordination KW - organizational reform KW - marine governance KW - Öffentliche Organisationen KW - Organisationstheorie KW - Koordinierung KW - Organisationsreform KW - Meeres-Governance Y1 - 2017 ER -