Foundations of Relating: Theory and Evidence on the Formation of Street‐Level Bureaucrats’ Workplace Networks

• Author: Spiro Maroulis,Muhammad Azfar Nisar
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12719
• Published date: 01 November 2017
• Date: 01 November 2017

Foundations of Relating: Theory and Evidence on the Formation of Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Workplace Networks 829

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 77, Iss. 6, pp. 829–839. © 2017 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12719.

Spiro Maroulis is assistant professor

in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona

State University. His research addresses

the theoretical and methodological

problems involved with understanding

the relationship between individual and

collective behavior, with a particular focus

on innovation implementation, social

networks, and public policy.

E-mail: spiro.maroulis@asu.edu

Muhammad Azfar Nisar is

assistant professor at Lahore University

of Management Sciences. He is interested

in understanding the dynamics of the

citizen–state relationship with a particular

emphasis on street-level bureaucracy, social

marginalization, and social networks.

E-mail: manisar@asu.edu

Public

Administration

and the

Disciplines

Abstract : Despite the importance of peers in forming role expectations, fostering group identity, and facilitating job

learning, limited theory and empirical evidence exist on the antecedents of street-level peer relationships. To address this

gap, the authors draw on social capital and social exchange theories to develop hypotheses about the micro-social founda-

tions of street-level bureaucrats’ peer selection. The hypotheses are tested using a rich data set from an intraorganiza-

tional network of teachers in a large urban school implementing a reform that strongly promoted frontline innovation.

Both structural and instrumental considerations, such as seeking peers possessing characteristics and resources valued by

the reform, figure prominently in the work relations of street-level bureaucrats. These results imply that the introduction

of improvement initiatives requiring frontline participation, in addition to altering work practices, may also alter social

networks within the frontline of an organization in a manner that favors some frontline workers over others.

Practitioner Points

• Peer interactions help frontline workers implement improvement initiatives and make sense of desired

changes.

• Instrumental considerations play an important role in determining peers in the workplace.

• Frontline workers are more likely to form work relationships with peers possessing locally valued resources.

• The design and implementation of policies aimed at organizational change, in addition to potentially

changing the way work is done within an organization, can also impact who is important inside an

organization.

• Failure to take networks of work relations into account could limit the impact of human resource practices

and organizational reforms within organizations.

Rosemary O’Leary , Editor

Muhammad Azfar Nisar

Lahore University of Management Sciences

Spiro Maroulis

Arizona State University

Foundations of Relating:

Theory and Evidence on the Formation of Street-Level

Bureaucrats’ Workplace Networks

I t has long been recognized that workplace

relationships represent an important dimension

of bureaucratic behavior (Berman, West,

and Richter 2002 ; Brehm and Gates 1997 ;

Moynihan and Pandey 2008 ). Indeed, the general

significance of the emergent “structure of repeated

interactions” (Etzioni 1975 ; Ranson, Hinings, and

Greenwood 1980 ; Reich and Hershcovis 2011 ) for

organizational employees has been noted since the

Hawthorne studies in the early twentieth century.

The intraorganizational network of work relations

influences and constrains organizational behavior

in many significant ways, prompting Krackhardt

and Hanson ( 1993 ) to label it the “central nervous

system” of organizations.

Perhaps nowhere have work relations been more

emphasized than in the literature on street-level

bureaucracy, in which a prominent theme has

been the role of peer interactions in forming role

expectations, fostering group identity, and facilitating

job learning (Brehm and Gates 1997 ; Goodsell

1981 ; Keiser 2010 ; Lipsky 1980 ; Maynard-Moody

and Musheno 2003 ; Mischen and Jackson 2008 ;

Oberfield 2014 ; Sandfort 2000 ; Vinzant and

Crothers 1998 ). Workplace relationships are especially

important for street-level bureaucrats because of the

high work demands, limited resources, and uncertain

job environment (Morrell and Currie 2015 ). This

significance of peer relations is augmented by the

feeling among street-level bureaucrats that higher-

level decision makers do not always understand

the dynamics of their work (Maynard-Moody and

Musheno 2003 ). Work relations of street-level

bureaucrats can also serve as conduits of information

and knowledge transfer through which street-level

bureaucrats learn to get things done (Oberfield

2014 ; Siciliano 2015a ). Moreover, the importance

of peers is of particular managerial consequence in

the introduction of reforms or innovations in which

new behavior is required on the front line. Peer

relationships in such situations can provide material

resources that help frontline workers make sense

of and implement desired changes (Andersen and