9
In the present case, a norm of proactive management exists when a manager initiates contact
with network actors.
8
Conversely, a manager whose network contact is from (1,2) above can be
thought of as instituting a managerial norm of reactivity. Suffice it to say, not all managers who
initiate have higher quality networking skills. Along the same lines, not all managers who simply
meet when they are asked have lower quality networking skills. The object is not to measure
subjective networking quality. Instead, the objective is to explore and somehow quantify
managerial norms, specifically proactivity and reactivity, in order to determine their influence
on organizational performance.
Modeling the Effects of Managerial Norms
9
The network management portion of public management is concerned with the use of
managerial tools and strategies, which have demonstrable effects on program performance. This
is the impetus behind studying managerial norms as strategic tools. Due to this fact , it is
important that current scholars spend time grappling with questions of measurement and
estimation unique to the field as they begin to think about modeling meaningful relationships.
This study follows the advice of Gill and Meier (1999) and focuses on the relative magnitude of
program effects (e.g. program success). More specifically it analyzes program performance as a
function of managerial norms (proactive/reactive), program resources, and task difficulties (or
constraints). In recent work, Meier and O’Toole (2001, 2003) and O’Toole and Meier
(1999,2000) have modeled the influence of public management on program performance:
O
t
= B
1
(S +M
1
) O
t-1
+ B
2
X
t
M
2
(1/S) + e
t
[1]
10
8
It should not be assumed here that managers who do not initiate cannot be strategically
effective. It is simply stating that managers who initiate may experience increased levels of
organizational performance over those that do not initiate because proactivity reduces
uncertainty and promotes collaboration, as posited earlier.
9
For a detailed explanation of the Meier /O’Toole management model, please refer to Meier and O’Toole (2001).
Convention