Formal or Informal? The Changing Role of Coordination in Local Government Decision Making in Hungary
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Top-down formal decision-making approach traditionally prevails in the organizational culture of Hungarian public administration, but the informal approaches could undoubtedly increase the efficiency of decisions. While formal decision making is supposed to strictly follow the procedures and methods prescribed by law, the informal ones could considerably speed up the process. This dichotomy poses the question: To what extent can the often-preferred informal ways of coordination deviate from their formal counterparts? It is the intent of our exploratory research to seek responses to this question by invoking grounded theory. The study is based on the findings of the nation-wide research project in which Emese Belenyesi was one of the lead researchers. Findings shows that if informal methods are used in local decision making, they are ultimately channelled into the standard formal procedures, thus facilitating formal decision making rather than separating them from it, however they considerably increase its efficiency.
Authors: Emese Belényesi, Ágota Dobos
Language: English
Subfield: Public Administration
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3209791109