Employee Coordination in Carrying Out Duties and Functions at the Regent’s Official Residence in Bone Bolango Regency

Abstract

Coordination failure in local government operational units remains a persistent yet underexplored governance challenge, particularly at the micro-organizational level where service delivery consequences are most immediate. This study examines employee coordination at the Regent’s Official Residence of Bone Bolango Regency, Indonesia, across three analytical dimensions: unity of action, communication quality, and clarity of task division. Using a qualitative descriptive design, data were collected through observation, semi-structured interviews with nine purposively selected informants, and document analysis, and analyzed using the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña. The findings show that coordination failure is structural rather than individual. Formal coordination mechanisms fail to generate behavioral alignment, geographic distance and infrastructural constraints weaken communication, and role ambiguity fosters free-riding, accountability diffusion, and fragmented task execution. These deficits interact in a self-reinforcing cycle that sustains coordination breakdown. The study contributes to coordination theory by extending empirical analysis to the micro-operational level of district government, identifying geographic distance as a critical structural barrier, and demonstrating how role ambiguity generates collective organizational dysfunction. Effective coordination improvement therefore requires integrated intervention across communication infrastructure, role design, and supervisory accountability.