Trust, power, and organizational routines: Exploring government's intentional tactics to renew relationships with nonprofits serving historically marginalized communities

Abstract

Her research focuses on improving the implementation of social policy, particularly those policies designed to support low-income children and their families.

Can Leadership Improve Interorganizational Collaboration? Field-Experimental Evidence From a Team-Based Leadership Training Intervention

“…The findings contribute to the public administration literature in different ways. The overall contribution is the corroboration and extension of research that demonstrates how leadership can be a solution to challenges with goal conflict, power struggles, and institutional logic in public organizations (Cheng & Sandfort, 2023;Nederhand et al, 2019;Piatak et al, 2018) and in this case particularly when collaborating across organizational boundaries. These findings are particularly relevant in public sector settings, where accountability is often unclear and tensions can dominate collaboration.…”

“…Hence, leadership training focuses on improving the managers' abilities to secure structural alignment. Therefore, we expect that: (Cheng & Sandfort, 2023).…”

“…It is important to consider that leadership in collaborative settings often encounter challenges such as the compartmentalized, hierarchical, and specialized structuring of public organizations (Scott, 2020) where responsibilities for managers and subordinates are linked to, for example, certain purposes, work processes, clientele, or geographical areas (Simon, 1946; Weber, 1978). Further, goal conflicts and tensions around accountability (Lee, 2022; Piatak et al, 2018) make it necessary for managers to be proactive and focus on facilitating mission-driven responses, legitimacy, resource exchange, and trust building (Cheng & Sandfort, 2023).…”

Confronting Uncertainty and Change: Challengers or Champions?

“…Several pieces this week explore governance in conjunction with social equity goals. Cheng and Sandfort (2023) argue that existing public management practices and organizational routines in the contracting regime have created power asymmetry and distrust between government agencies and nonprofits serving historically marginalized communities. Their inductive study of Minnesota's 2-Generation Policy Network, finds that government's cascading trust-building tactics within the bureaucracy and with nonprofits marginalized communities allowed them to create a new collaborative infrastructure that both changed organizational routines and built power to address racial inequities.…”

Invisible and indispensable: Using the lowly request for proposals to advance public value

“…288) show how institutional design, including grant design, “supports long‐term commitment to shared enterprise.” Brown et al (2018) emphasize contracting for complex products requires investment in shared decision‐making, including in shaping RFPs. Cheng and Sandfort (2023) consider how a grant‐making process could be used to change organizational routines, improving trust between the state and marginalized communities. These scholars' valuable research is complemented by a growing practitioner literature led by foundations and nonprofits like the Pew Charitable Trusts, Results for America, and the William T. Grant Foundation, though much remains to be explored.…”