Check out this piece of literature on public policy networks and their applications to wicked-problems - > PUBLIC POLICY NETWORKS AND ‘WICKED PROBLEMS’: A NASCENT SOLUTION?

In the paper, a number of public health networks were analyzed to figure out what works and doesn’t work. It seems to support the earlier discussed on DAO structure, and evolutionary-organizations especially. Which sound very similar to public-policy-networks. Also, the entire concept is also very similar to heterarchies-are-the-ideal-civil-society and building new kinds of governmental organizations.

One interesting point highlighted, is the importance of professionalization to maintain the stability of collective knowledge, and identity.

Thirdly, the study helps retheorize the literature on leadership of public networks, at least in arenas with strong professions. We found a relatively benign ‘post bureaucratic’ leadership style with high engagement from health professionals drawn into managerial roles. Small team based leadership was more common than individualized forms, notably in the higher performing cases.

Clinical managerial hybrids displayed strong values and expanded professional identities. They operated as ‘shapers’ and quiet system architects, building organizational capacity over time, rather than individual transformational change agents (contrasting with the pattern in education, Currie et al. 2005). Their long-term careers in the networks (for example, core team in Metropolitan Sexual Health Network) provided a stable organizational core, ultimately rooted in the logic of professionalism, which protected organizational memory and learning.

And inter-organizational learning, between the network nodes is super super important, and the relevant use of ICT systems to facilitate that.

Making Wicked Problems Governable?: The Case of Managed Networks in Health Care is a good future reference for additional material.