Diagnosing the network relationships of a local government unit: A case study

The article aims to identify the different types of relationships within a local government’s network, according to the level of network collaboration maturity, based on the example of the Zgorzelec commune. Although in recent years, issues concerning the network trend have been explored more and more, it has been done mainly in the context of the private sector. Still, very little attention is put on the question of the intentional creation of network relations and its influence on the collaborative advantage of public organizations, including local government institutions. Therefore, the article focuses on filling this gap by deepening the analysis of the network trend and increasing the efficiency of realized tasks from the perspective of public sector organizations. At the beginning, the very idea of a relational approach in analyzing inter-organizational networks is explained, and then the author operationalizes a commune’s network relations features, dividing them into four dimensions. After, the levels of network collaboration maturity are identified. All the above considerations constituted the grounds for carrying out a case study, within which the author identified the degree of appearance and the character of evolution of network relations’ features. As a result, it is possible to present how a commune creates network relations as it achieves another level of maturity. An understanding of the process constitutes a vital aspect of the efficient development of network collaboration and building a commune’s collaborative advantage.