Heterogeneity and Contingency in Social Programs: Consequencies for Implementation Management

A typology of social programs is presented. Two dimensions permit discriminate among programs: task homogeneity or heterogeneity, and interaction between agent and recipient. The resulting four program types differ in the nature and intensity of those challenges. The program implementation is dependent on program design and specially, it is argued, on the technical and institutional context. The more heterogeneous the tasks and conditions of production and delivery of program outputs, and greater the needed interaction, the voice and participation of target populations is more relevant for program effectiveness. Also, the larger the number of organizations involved in program goal attainment, the character of program management is more strategic.

The universal management problem is to deal with tensions and conflicts: a) among plans, routines and formalization of procedures, and the diversity and variability of situations confronted; b) between agent discrecionality and value judgments and technical imperatives; c) hierarchical mandates and population demands. But these tensions and conflicts differ according to program objectives, activities and implementation environment. Social management of programs is a professional field whose knowledge base has a difficult codification and formalization. The specificity of each social intervention, the tasks demands, the nature of the target population, the particular social relationships involved, all are factors that add complexity to the social processes of program implementation and management.