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Active management of public networks

Barbara Krystyna Zyzak of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Agder has submitted her his thesis entitled “Managing Collaborative Arrangements. Challenges associated with managing secondary structures” and will defend the thesis for the PhD-degree Tuesday 24 November 2020.

The thesis demonstrates that managerial networking is essential for survival, while active leveraging of managerial networking is critical for success in public networks.

Barbara Krystyna Zyzak

PhD Candidate

The disputation will be held digitally, because of the Corona covid-19-situation. Spectators may follow the disputation digitally – link is available below.

 

Barbara Krystyna Zyzak of the Department of Political Science and Management, Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Agder has submitted her thesis entitled “Managing Collaborative Arrangements. Challenges associated with managing secondary structures”, and will defend the thesis for the PhD-degree Tuesday 24 November 2020. She has followed the PhD-programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences with Specilisation in Public Administration.

The PhD project is funded by UiA through the Ugland donation and the research project COMPOL led by Professor Jarle Trondal.

 

Summary of the thesis by Barbara Krystyna Zyzak:

Active management of public networks

The thesis examines what contributes to the success of public networks. It addresses the challenges of network structure that leads to complexity and the need for different design and management approaches. The public networks represent regional councils and governance networks in Norway.

Trust in public networks cannot be taken for granted – it must be managed

The thesis reveals that mistrust in itself does not necessarily produce cooperation failure, but it occurs due to the relevant alternatives that arose for network members. It is rather a combination of interconnecting factors such as mistrust, physical distance between ‘critical actors’, infrequent communication and difficult prior relationships between network members that together may produce unplanned disbandment. 

The findings inform public managers about trust-related consequences and the need for additional efforts in managing trust issues effectively.

Active practicing of managerial networking 

Public managers are critical within networks to broker and manage new and various connections through exploration and exploitation. The thesis demonstrates that managerial networking is essential for survival, while active leveraging of managerial networking is critical for success in public networks.

This thesis calls for the active practicing of managerial networking in networks that is a crucial element in designing new innovative thinking in the public sector.

The thesis is article-based and consists of three scientific papers.

 

Disputation facts:

The trial lecture and the public defence will take place online, via the Zoom conferencing app (link below)

Dean Anne Halvorsen, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Agder, will chair the disputation.

Trial lecture at 10:00 hours

Public defense at 12:00 hours

Given topic for trial lecture: "Building trust and counteracting mistrust in networks - what is the scope for leadership?"

Thesis Title: «Managing Collaborative Arrangements. Challenges associated with managing secondary structures

Search for the thesis in AURA - Agder University Research Archive, a digital archive of scientific papers, theses and dissertations from the academic staff and students at the University of Agder.

The thesis is available here:

https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2682238

 

The Candidate: Barbara Krystyna Zyzak (1986, Ustrzyki Dolne, Poland) Masters degree from School of Business National Louis University, Nowy Sacz, Poland. Present position: Assistant Professor, Department of Administration and Organization Theory (AdmOrg), University of Bergen (UiB).

Opponents:

First opponent: Associate Professor Jan Erling Klausen, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo

Second opponent: PhD Daniela Cristofoli, Italia (Present position: Not connected to an academic institution)

Associate Professor Marco Seeber, Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder,  is appointed as the administrator for the assessment commitee.

Supervisors were Professor Dag Ingvar Jacobsen, Department of Political Science and Management, UiA (main supervisor) and Professor Robyn Keast, School of Business and Tourism, Southern Cross University, Australia (co-supervisor)

 

What to do as an audience member:

The disputation is open to the public, but to follow the trial lecture and the public defence, which is transmitted via the Zoom conferencing app, you have to register as an audience member.

We ask audience members to join the virtual trial lecture at 09:50 at the earliest and the public defense at 11:50 at the earliest. After these times, you can leave and rejoin the meeting at any time. Further, we ask audience members to turn off their microphone and camera and keep them turned off throughout the event. You do this at the bottom left of the image when in Zoom. We recommend you use ‘Speaker view’. You select that at the top right corner of the video window when in Zoom.

Opponent ex auditorio:

The chair invites members of the public to pose questions ex auditorio in the introduction to the public defense, with deadlines. Questions can be submitted to the chair, Dean Anne Halvorsen, at e-mail anne.halvorsen@uia.no