Street-Level Management A Clientele-Agent Perspective on Implementation

• Published in: Journal of public administration research and theory Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 551 - 568
• Main Authors: Gassner, Drorit, Gofen, Anat
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 01-10-2018
• ISSN: 1053-1858; 1477-9803
• DOI: 10.1093/jopart/muy051

It is now widely accepted that public policy is not merely about its formal wording but rather the ways it is implemented. Implementation portrayals are not uniform: some focus on street-level delivery while others refer to managerial actions of different administration levels. Although varied, current implementation research overlooks the distinct position of chief executive officers of street-level organizations, who are overarchingly in charge of, and accountable for, the direct delivery of multiple policies to a local target population. This study distinguishes them as a unique public management category, termed here “street-level management,” and explores their contribution drawing on interviews with school principals, police station chiefs, and heads of social services bureaus (N = 78), as well as on official documents. Because street-level managers (SLMs) were found to approach their target populations as a collective endowed with contextual characteristics and a particular mix of policy preferences and needs, they are redefined as “policy clientele.” To convey that policy clientele is the main lens through which street-level management is exercised, a “clientele-agent” perspective is proposed as complementing state-agent and citizen-agent viewpoints on street-level implementation. A clientele-agent approach is evidenced in SLMs’ ongoing efforts to facilitate reciprocal relationships with policy clientele and in four street-level managerial functions—translation, adaptation, mobilization, and articulation. Uncovering overlooked collective aspects of street-level implementation and the involvement of policy clientele in direct delivery arrangements, street-level management allows for a more nuanced understanding of the interstices between policy making and direct delivery.