Beyond Collaboration and Interorganizational Networks: The “Gotong Royong” Model of Bureaucratic Reform in Indonesia

This paper aims to explore the concept of Gotong Royong for developing bureaucratic reform (BR). The goal of BR is to establish a government administration bureaucracy that is both effective and efficient. Every nation on the planet prioritizes bureaucratic transformation (Farazmand & Pinkowski, n.d.). Including Indonesia, BR has become a serious issue until now. The condition of the Indonesian bureaucracy is still stagnant. A mutual cooperation process is needed in carrying out BR so that it runs more effectively. The Squad Team work pattern is a new marker of the RB process. In administrative studies, mutual cooperation is less well known, overshadowed by the theories of Collaborative Governance and Interorganizational Networks. This research seeks to analyze BR by developing the concept of Gotong Royong and comparing the theories of Collaborative Governance and Interorganizational Networks. The method used is a phenomenological and netnographic approach to the Squad Team work model in Indonesia. Data mining was carried out through participatory research and exploring the understanding of BR team members. As a result, mutual cooperation has been applied to the squad team model. Mutual cooperation has the main characteristics of being selfless and not placing too much importance on formal instruments. Desire arises from members naturally in work involvement.