Development as Leadership-led Change

Andrews, Matt; McConnell, Jesse; Wescott, Alison

doi:10.1596/978-0-8213-8395-7

Cited by 27 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…We advocate, therefore, for the adoption of convening and connection mechanisms that allow broader engagement in designing, experimenting and diffusing reforms intended to strengthen states. 'Convening' typically involves bringing groups of leaders together with key implementers to craft local experiments and solutions (Dorado 2005), while 'connection' involves ensuring second and third degree interactions with frontline workers who will ultimately have to implement final changes (Andrews, McConnell and Wescott 2008). These processes allow and encourage agents to move from left to right in Figure 1, escaping capability traps and moving into a context where organizations demand inspired, informed and concerned contributions from their people.…”

Section: The Importance Of Broad Engagement For Assuring Viability Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

Escaping Capability Traps Through Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA)

Andrews¹,

Pritchett²,

2013

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Many reform initiatives in developing countries fail to achieve sustained improvements in performance because they are merely isomorphic mimicry-that is, governments and organizations pretend to reform by changing what policies or organizations look like rather than what they actually do. In addition, the flow of development resources and legitimacy without demonstrated improvements in performance undermines the impetus for effective action to build state capability or improve performance. This dynamic facilitates "capability traps" in which state capability stagnates, or even deteriorates, over long periods of time even though governments remain engaged in developmental rhetoric and continue to receive development resources. How can countries escape capability traps? We propose an approach, Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), based on four core principles, each of which stands in sharp contrast with the standard approaches. First, PDIA focuses on solving locally nominated and defined problems in performance (as opposed to transplanting preconceived and packaged "best practice" solutions). Second, it seeks to create an authorizing environment for decision-making that encourages positive deviance and experimentation (as opposed to designing projects and programs and then requiring agents to implement them exactly as designed). Third, it embeds this experimentation in tight feedback loops that facilitate rapid experiential learning (as opposed to enduring long lag times in learning from ex post "evaluation"). Fourth, it actively engages broad sets of agents to ensure that reforms are viable, legitimate, relevant, and supportable (as opposed to a narrow set of external experts promoting the top-down diffusion of innovation).

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Section: The Importance Of Broad Engagement For Assuring Viability Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

Escaping Capability Traps Through Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA)

Andrews¹,

Pritchett²,

2013

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“…• A third piece of this perspective is that institutional reform requires the engagement of a broad set of agents (Andrews 2008;Andrews et al 2010). Individual champions are not enough, and even small groups of centrally located actors are insufficient.…”

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confidence: 99%

Explaining Positive Deviance in Public Sector Reforms in Development

Andrews¹

2015

World Development

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“…Change space occurs at the intersection of available acceptance (beliefs about change as well as formal commitments), authority (to endorse change and enforce accountability), and ability (including resources) (Andrews et al ., ). Acceptance largely corresponds to managing meaning: addressing the need for change, the merits of the identified response/change, and inspiring confidence in the efficacy of the change process.…”

Section: A Staged Model Of Institutional Entrepreneurial Actionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Institutional entrepreneurs seek to replace existing routines (past orientation) by reframing the narrative to make sense of current challenges and possibilities (present orientation) while they strategically promote targeted institutional change with a future‐orientation. The framing focus begins with dislodging skepticism, cynicism, denial, and/or resistance; extends to exploration and experimentation; and ends with commitment to the selected reform (Andrews et al ., ). Framing emphasizes the solution's specificity, logic, feasibility, and cognitive proximity to existing institutions, including values and identity.…”

Section: A Staged Model Of Institutional Entrepreneurial Actionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Agency in Institutional Reform: Creating the Ethiopia Commodities Exchange

Brinkerhoff

2015

Public Admin & Development

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Summary The role of agents and agency in institutional reform literature has largely been underplayed and decontextualized, even being described as a “black box.” Despite calls for linking individual agency with organizational and societal analysis, the specific contours of agency remain under‐theorized. This paper presents and illustrates a framework for institutional entrepreneurism, outlining the essential role and specific actions institutional entrepreneurs can contribute to introducing, promoting, and crystallizing institutional reforms. The framework identifies how institutional entrepreneurial actions shift in their targets and responses as the resource needs change in different stages of the reform process. Using the example of establishing the Ethiopia Commodities Exchange (ECX), I illustrate each stage of institutional entrepreneurial action. The ECX experience illustrates institutional entrepreneurs as networked, political actors, who announce institutional reforms through cultural efforts that make it as easy as possible for stakeholders to comply with proposed reforms. The who and the how of agency may shift through the stages of institutional reform. The ECX experience confirms that institutional reform is political and requires engaging with both macro‐level and micro‐level politics and power. The paper closes with implications for policy and practice. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Development as Leadership-led Change

Cited by 27 publications

References 97 publications

Escaping Capability Traps Through Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA)

Escaping Capability Traps Through Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA)

Explaining Positive Deviance in Public Sector Reforms in Development

Agency in Institutional Reform: Creating the Ethiopia Commodities Exchange

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