Murray seeks to demonstrate how Eastern philosophy can contribute to the development of Western public administration theory and practice. She views the end of the 20th century as an epoch-making time in which the limitations of modern thought need to be examined. Murray shares the belief held by many public administration scholars that a reconceptualization of the field is in order. She contributes to that end by focusing on individual administrators and the problems they face as they continuously struggle to balance political exigencies and governmental processes in a society that simply does not understand. As caretakers of the public trust, administrators deserve a profession that provides a philosophy of administration designed to guide them in the maturation process that is essential to self-development.

Murray has chosen ideas and characters from the East as a guide to development of a philosophy of administration for individuals committed to public service. Coupled with certain Western teachings, particularly Jungian analytical psychology, this book inquires into the elevation of human thought and action. Murray challenges public administrators to aspire to their profession as to a higher calling. This will be of particular interest to scholars and researchers in public administration, and to administrators as well.

This text examines the impact of public sector reforms and reorganisations on the experiences of the UK public sector's six million workers and those employed in the private sector but providing public services. Chapters bring long-standing topics up-to-date, such as worker representation and reward.

This volume provides information about the structures and composition of the higher civil service and its position in the political structure through a comparative analysis of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, Denmark and Sweden. The book explores how higher civil service has developed in the light of the massive changes in European societies in the past 30 years. Changes include the size of the top level of the civil service, the growing social diversity of its ranks and well as the tendency to recruit from outside the civil service. The book also examines how wider social changes, such as the democratization of education, the growth of interest groups, and the increasing importance of the European Union impact on the higher levels of bureaucracy producing similar patterns of change throughout Europe.

This volume presents an alternative perspective on the problem of leadership in organizations. Dr. Charles H. Kime argues that while individuals ultimately take actions we call leadership, structural and non-structural characteristics of the organization influence the ability and inclination of organization members to engage in these actions. Further more, evidence is presented suggesting that these organizational features become assimilated into the normative structure of the organization over time and formal and informal organizational norms shape the ways in which organization members envision their roles, functions and relationships to the organization. Once institutionalized, organizational leadership may be understood as the capacity of the organization to respond to endogenous and exogenous stimuli, which present themselves as challenges, opportunities, and threats to the organization. Drawing upon general systems and complexity and chaos theory, Kime presents organizational leadership as a normative feature of organizations, that can help or hinder their negotiation of a complex, nonlinear environment. Kime tests his formulation on a sample of fire services organizations in the United States. In addition to confirming the viability of organizational leadership as a concept, he explores the empirical relationship of organizational leadership with organizational size, texture, age, labor management process and other variables.

Designed for local government managers and administrators, this pioneering work offers a clear and comprehensive guide to the use of strategic planning techniques in the public sector. The author presents a concise overview of the strategic planning process, defines the terms involved, and provides a step-by-step methodology for organizations ready to move into the actual implementation of strategic planning. In addition to differentiating between community-based, corporate, functional, and defined-purpose strategic planning processes, Mercer explains the delineation between strategic and tactical planning and offers practical approaches to overcoming barriers to the use of strategic planning in the public sector arena. Throughout, the author makes extensive use of case studies of strategic planning programs implemented by a variety of local government and public sector organizations.

Mercer begins by describing how strategic planning can be both an effective tool for dealing with change and a technique of organizational development. He goes on to provide detailed instructions on how to prepare to conduct strategic planning, how to determine strategic issues, the importance of a values audit, and how to develop an environmental scan or assessment. Subsequent chapters address determining organizational threats and opportunities, composing the mission statement, defining critical success factors and indicators, planning strategies, and assessing strategic risks and benefits. Finally, the author shows how to perform an internal assessment of ability to actually adopt and carry out strategies, the importance of contingency planning, and how to tie strategic planning to the budget and evaluate the process. The public sector manager experienced with strategic planning techniques can use the guide as a handy reference to particular aspects of the process, while those new to strategic planning will find this an indispensable aid in developing and implementing their own internal strategic planning processes.

The present volume provides a collection of material on the subject of international comparisons, contributed by scholars from a range of relevant disciplines and geographical backgrounds. The papers in this volume have been classified into two broad groups united by overlapping themes. Part I includes essentially empirical papers intended to provide a clear picture of the different types of international comparisons that have been undertaken by various organizations and individuals. The papers relate to empirical studies of different sectoral and national income aggregates at both regional and global levels. The papers in Part II deal with methodological and analytical issues. Discussion of the appropriateness of various aggregation methods for international comparisons accounts for a major component of this section. The volume provides a set of studies on international comparisons of prices, output and productivity, and will provide a reference source for interested readers.

When environmentalists fail to persuade us that there is an imminent threat of environmental disaster, they typically invoke the "precautionary principle" in order to justify their calls for more regulation. This work challenges the claim that the precautionary principle (PP) is an appropriate guide to public policy decisions. The fundamental problem is that it is impossible to prove a negative, so the PP can be used to justify any regulation limiting emissions of any substance. Taken in its extreme form, the PP would end civilisation. In its more practical form, the PP is about taking a hyper-cautious approach to emissions of substances into the environment. This means imposing very strict controls on the licensing of new technologies and cutting back drastically on emissions of substances into the environment. Although not as devastating as Leggett's philosophically dubious proposal, this more practical approach has serious drawbacks The opening brace of papers discusses the dubious philosophical foundations of PP, and consider the consequences of applying it in various policy contexts relating to scientific controversies.

As increasing numbers of women enter the workforce, it has become more and more common to find husbands and wives who are both committed to careers in the public sector. This book offers the first detailed analysis of this important new segment of the workforce. Based on extensive surveys, it presents a comprehensive profile of public sector career couples and explores solutions to common problems faced by human resource managers in this field.

The authors first examine dual-career couples as a segment of the workforce, the lifestyles of these couples, and the challenges they face in work and family life. Current management practices in the public sector are carefully considered, with special attention to the recruitment and retention of dual-career couples in the face of prevailing anti-nepotism policies. In addition to providing guidance on legislative issues and judicial policies that affect the employment of dual-career couples, the authors develop a model of interpersonal and management skills for integrating dual-career couples into the workplace. Finally, strategies for resolving policy obstacles are suggested. A valuable tool for human resources professionals, this book will also be of interest in the areas of labor relations, public administration, and policy studies.

This book brings together a selection of June Pallot's most significant work. Written from a country (New Zealand) that led the world in many aspects of its financial management reforms, this work provides thoughtful comment on matters that remain of crucial importance today, especially the constitutional need to carefully monitor and respond to the reform initiatives and motives of executive government. Revisiting accounting issues and developments in the public sector, and reminding readers that the fundamental purpose of government accounting is different from that for the business sector, this book provides a timely reminder of the need for caution when considering the application in the public sector of accounting techniques devised for business purposes. June Pallot's legacy challenges accountants in the public sector to find better ways of addressing "collective decision-making under new governance approaches," proposes ways forward and offers suggestions for future research. This book, prepared by her colleague Susan Newberry, is a tribute to June's work.

This collection of essays represents a comprehensive socio-political analysis of public and private bureaucracy, emphasizing its dangerous ramifications for democracy and individualism. The contributors analyze a variety of bureaucratic systems, providing a combination of theory, case studies, and proposed solutions, in an effort to enable the reader to confront the real problems of bureaucracy. Emphasis is on programs and principles directed to the maintenance of democracy and freedom within the limits and conditions of modernity. Bureaucracy Against Democracy and Socialism offers valuable implications for anyone interested in organizational theory and behavior.

Administrators and directors of non-profit organizations (NPOs) face most of the same challenges and problems that confront their counterparts in profit making organizations. And while there are certain concepts of administration that are fairly universal in nature, they have to be applied sensitively to the unique situations facing every NPO. Author Robert D. Hay suggests that there is a body of knowledge that can be mastered by NPO managers that can transform a hit-or-miss approach into a professional method for achieving professional results within the context of each NPO's own unique environment, strengths and weaknesses, and managerial philosophy. Comprehensive in its approach, "Strategic Management in Non-Profit OrganizationS" covers not only the development of strategic management planning, but also its integration into the organization's operative functions, such as operations, marketing, personnel, and finance. A distinctive feature of the book is a self-management evaluation of various objectives, strategies, and policies of the various functions which each non-profit organization has to perform. The self-evaluations will aid administrators not only in making strategic decisions but also in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their performance in accomplishing the objectives.

The three introductory chapters of Part I provide essential background material on the nature of NPOs, the nature of management, and the nature of strategy. Part II is concerned with strategy formulation as it is conditioned by each NPO's specific philosophy and goals. Integrating the overall mission into the operative functions of any NPO--operations, marketing, personnel, and financing functions--is addressed in Part III. In strategy implementation, the focus of Part IV, the major emphasis is placed on the managerial functions which have to be performed: planning, acquiring, organizing, leading, coordinating, and evaluating. Based on 15 years of research of 65 different non-profit organizations, "Strategic Management of Non-Profit OrganizationS" is an in-depth response to the needs expressed by these organizations. This volume will be profitably read by all who have a vital interest in providing the services of NPOs as well as those associated with public agencies.

Responding to a critical need in government for ways to manage costs better and improve productivity, The author gives practitioners and advanced students of public administration not just the statistical methods they require but also the hands-on skills they need and will use daily. His book introduces cost and management accounting, shows how to use decision-making tools in solid problem-solving situations, and lays out measures to help manage an organization's productivity. Also covered are such topics as cost estimation, benefit-cost analysis, simulation, inventory analysis, network modeling, mathematical programming, game theory, and more. The result is a readable and focused resource that facilitates the reader's grasp of two of the most critical elements in the successful operation of any organization: cost and optimization.

The book is organized in three parts. Part I deals with costs in government and emphasizes cost behavior, cost analysis, and cost accounting. Part II treats basic optimization techniques that are useful in cost management. Included are classical optimization, network analysis, mathematical programming, and games and decisions. In Part III the author deals with special cases in cost and optimization, particularly multivariate analysis, productivity management, and some related topics in general management. The book succeeds in presenting these complex issues clearly and in an accessible manner, and adds examples from public sector experience which will resonate with practitioners and students alike.

In this new approach to a comparative text in public management, Randall Baker examines how, why, and to what extent the public sector around the world has shared in the management revolution. The book is designed to isolate and demonstrate the essential American-ness of the United States' public service by holding it up to the mirror of other developed democracies. While there are lessons to be learned from other countries, Baker and his expert contributors examine the complexities of making comparisons across cultures, even within broadly similar democratic systems, and urban-industrial economies.

The volume concludes with a list of sectoral cases. These comprise most of the main dimensions of public-sector activity around the world. They are the main elements of many graduate professional degrees in public affairs, and the material has been written with the needs of both practitioners and teachers in mind. This is essential reading for all concerned with public management and administration as well as comparative government.

This is one of the very first studies by Chinese and Western experts to examine the current picture of public administration in China. Mills and Nagel provide a general background into the nature of public administration in China, specific reforms in government agencies, personnel administration and compensation, and administrative law. Insiders and frequent visitors evaluate the state of public administration today for scholars, students, and practitioners in public administration and political science.

This unique appraisal opens with a general discussion of public administration in China and the teaching of administrative science. The second section defines basic concepts behind China's administration systems, current reforms, constraints on Chinese bureaucracy and coordination, and administrative law. The third section of the book describes efforts underway to promote a better quality of personnel, to appraise performance more fully, and to reevaluate methods of compensation. In conclusion, insiders to China provide current assessments of the situation in China currently in the field of public administration.

Arguing that society has pursued short-run approaches to decision-making that in the long term are counterproductive, On Systemic Balance presents a multidimensional and interdisciplinary alternative to problem solving. The usual method of dealing with problems such as housing shortages and environmental protection is a narrow, simplistic, quick, and intrusive solution. This type of solution ultimately ignores the many interrelationships within a system. The long term effect is imbalance and destabilization. The author reinforces his argument with economic and environmental examples. He then introduces alternative approaches to decision making and applies them to several settings. By stressing slow incremental intrusions, regard for interrelationships, and longer term balance, the author suggests that we might redefine problems more appropriately, develop less harmful and more enduring solutions, and provide a more stable environment.

Goldberg maintains that we cannot truly predict the consequences of our actions, particularly large-scale actions taken over a short period of time. He presents his argument first by equipping the reader with a set of multidisciplinary tools and second by demonstrating the poor results of our present decision-making style. He then introduces an alternative approach which borrows from biology, economics, management, and anthropology and applies it to three distinct settings.

This book seeks to promote a new spiritual approach to organizational leadership that goes beyond visionary management to a new focus on the spiritual for both leader and led. Reflecting on the current crisis of meaning in America, this book takes up the search for significance in peoples' worklives--in the products they produce and in the services they offer. Recognizing that the new corporation has become the dominant community for many-- commanding most of our waking hours by providing a focus for life, a measure of personal success, and a network of personal relationships--Fairholm calls on business leaders to focus their attention on the processes of community among their stakeholders: wholeness, integrity, stewardship, and morality. Spiritual leadership is seen here as a dynamic, interactive process. Successful leadership in the new American workplace, therefore, is dependent on a recognition that leadership is a relationship, not a skill or a personal attribute. Leaders are leaders only as far as they develop relationships with their followers, relationships that help all concerned to achieve their spiritual, as well as economic and social, fulfillment.

Under pressure from both the Federal government and private citizens, local and state governments are restructuring their services, including the areas of education, highway, and transportation. While the federal government wants to reassign responsibilities to local governments, voters want greater efficiency and lower taxes via privatization. This edited collection considers these pressures, the responses from state and local governments, and specific experiments in privatizing local services.

The book's opening chapter presents an overview of the changing landscape, while the following chapters consider possibilities in both education and highway services. In education, interdistrict school choice and state-local structures are considered. Highway services are seen in federal-state and state-private relationships. Reporting on a variety of experiments, each chapter illustrates a type of service or arrangement for restructuring governmental services.

This text evaluates the validity of a key proposition of public choice theory: that competition is associated with superior performance by governmental organizations. Three forms of competition in local government are identified: competition between local authorities; competition between councils and private contractors; and competition between parties for political power. The extent and consequences of competition are assessed in both the UK and USA. The analysis is used to draw conclusions on the effects of competition and the validity of public choice theory.

Cyberspace is the nervous system of today's advanced economies, linking critical infrastructures across public and private institutions. The authors of this book comprehensively explore the many issues surrounding this unique system, including private sector cyber security investment decisions and implementation strategies, public policy efforts to ensure overall security, and government's role in the process. The authors draw primarily on case-based information and focused survey data to describe and critique the economic strategies and broad technical approaches that private sector organizations adopt to secure their information technology infrastructure. Based on an analysis of these strategies, they propose several public policy responses that go beyond those that have come from recent policy reports. These responses include the construction of a national database of reliable and cost-effective information suitable for benchmarking, and public research and development support for innovations and infrastructures. The authors discuss the goal of such efforts: to shift private investments toward more socially-optimal proactive levels and to develop standards and protocols to ensure a more effective use of cyber security technologies. The first systematic analysis of the economics of cyber security, this insightful book will be of great interest to private and public sector managers and strategists involved in cyber security, as well as academics and researchers in the fields of economics, management, information systems, systems engineering, political science, and public policy.

This contributed volume explores the management of intergovernmental relations--policies and networks. The book is a response to the growing need for concrete information on the development and use of different strategies for managing in the intergovernmental system. Such strategies became increasingly important during the Reagan years, especially with that administration's penchant for public-private partnerships. This study assembles some of the most respected experts in the field who outline the strategies and management skills needed to build and maintain intergovernmental networks essential to the implementation of complex public programs.

This contributed volume explores the management of intergovernmental relations--policies and networks. The book is a response to the growing need for concrete information on the development and use of different strategies for managing in the intergovernmental system. Such strategies became increasingly important during the Reagan years, especially with that administration's penchant for public-private partnerships. This study assembles some of the most respected experts in the field, who outline the strategies and management skills needed to build and maintain intergovernmental networks essential to the implementation of complex public programs. From a theoretical vantage point, it introduces several innovative concepts and models that will enhance the reader's ability to understand strategic behavior and management in intergovernmental settings. Public, health, and hospital administrators, public sector management professionals, as well as students and scholars of urban studies, business, and nonprofit studies will find invaluable insight in this detailed study.

Four major themes run through the book, reflecting a new step in the development of the literature relating to strategies and networking: a shift in emphasis from intergovernmental relations to intergovernmental management; the view of networks as a separate and distinct level of analysis requiring revised terminology, concepts, and emphasis; a revised view of strategic management for use in the public sector that moves away from a rational-logical approach; an emphasis on the individual and the importance of behavioral processes. Included here are the ideas of the importance of leadership as a facilitator, and the role of the strategic vision of the leader.

In this intriguing volume, Merrie G. Klapp explains how regulatory decisions in such crucial areas as public health, technological safety, and environmental quality are molded and recast. She finds that scientific uncertainty is a key factor, with agencies, interest groups, Congress, and the courts attempting to shift responsibility of proof or varying the standard of proof according to the pressures brought to bear on the issue. In general, Professor Klapp finds that when citizens or industrialists organize to protest a regulatory decision and when the legislature or the courts take scientific uncertainty into account, then the initial regulatory decision is changed.

By contrast with the United States, where scientific uncertainty is used as a public resource and rationale for change, in France and Britain scientific uncertainty is treated as a private resource. French and British scientists do not treat regulatory decisions as opportunities to reveal scientific uncertainty to the public--instead, discussions of uncertainties are held behind closed doors and, when reports are made to the public about regulatory decisions, scientific information is presented as if it were certain. Bargaining with Uncertainty will be a provocative analysis to those scholars and researchers concerned with the making of public policy as well as those concerned with risk assessment in public health, the environment, and technology.

This volume analyzes changing work and employment in British public services. In doing so, it begins by critically engaging with debates around the ideological, regulatory and social drivers of change, and their impact on workforce composition, service ethos, equality, and the role of trade unions. It then analyzes employment relationships within fluid organisational boundaries, tackling the key issues of partnership and trust, pay and rewards and employment security. The concluding section reflects on public service productivity and its comparative context.

This volume is part of a series which presents selected research papers dealing with important methodological and theoretical issues in the policy sciences. Topics discussed in this volume include: the role of science in public policy; and public policy in developing and developed countries.

"Strategic Planning for Public Service and Non-Profit Organizations" is the 12th volume in the "Best of Long Range Planning Series", and focuses on strategic planning for public and non-profit purposes such as government, public agencies and non-profit or voluntary organizations.;The book also addresses how strategic planning differs from other kinds of planning and how strategic planning for public and non-profit purposes can be tailored to fit differing circumstances.

Many changes are taking place in the public sector across Europe as emphasis is being placed on the efficient use of resources, the way that public organisations are managed and their relationship with clients and customers. Post-bureaucratic structures are being introduced and a more managerialist culture is being established. A new type of public servant is emerging - the public manager. This book consists of three theoretical chapters and nine case studies of public managers, which examine these changes amongst member states of the European Union. The concluding chapter identifies common trends and explains similarities and differences in terms of the constitutional, political, cultural and economic contexts.