Paper info: Network management functions: A case study of elderly care networks
Title
Network management functions: A case study of elderly care networks
Authors
Katri Nykänen
Helsinki School of Economics
Finland
Place of Publication
The paper was published at the 24th IMP-conference in Uppsala, Sweden in 2008.
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Abstract
This paper investigates the basic functions of network management. We review network management, and compare it with managing hierarchies and markets. From this comparison we develop a framework of four required network management functions: framing, activating, mobilizing and synthesizing. We further develop this framework empirically through a case study of two different types of health and social care networks: one that produces elderly home care services and one that develops interactive, technology-based services for elderly living at their home. We find that the four network management functions manifest in different ways in the studied networks, different situations naturally require different types of management, but the essence of the functions remains the same, indicating that despite dissimilarities between different networks their management rests on four fundamentally similar managerial functions.