Social work has become a business. The traditional distinction drawn between social work as a non-commercial activity in the public and voluntary sectors of the welfare state and private commercial activities driven by the market's profit motive has largely disappeared. In The Social Work Business John Harris addresses the introduction and consolidation of business thinking and ways of operating in social work and considers the consequences for service users, carers, voluntary organisations and social workers.

The book traces the development of the social work business from its establishment under Thatcherism to its modernisation under New Labour. It looks in detail at the use of capitalist sector methods - the heightened use of surveillance, the increase in managerial control, changes in work practices - and how this is being reflected in social work education.

The Social Work Business provides a radical reappraisal of the far-reaching changes the profession has undergone. The sources of uneasiness experienced by many social workers, faced with a transformation in the organisational culture in which they work, are thrown into sharp relief and opened up for debate.

`It is really encouraging to see that such a book has been published ... No one can deny that Open University students - and all other interested parties - are given both sides of case.' - Tribune

IThis title was first published in 2003. In the early 1990s, Australia, Sweden and the UK dismantled the old centralised pay setting systems which set the pay of civil servants and adopted decentralised pay systems. Consequently, these systems are now being considered by many other European countries as they look to reform their own systems. Bender and Elliott analyse the outcomes of these pioneering reforms in all three countries and, in doing so, provide the most detailed analysis of the pay of civil servants in these three countries to date. The authors further assess the effect that decentralisation had on the inequality of pay both within and between different departments, agencies and ministries. They identify the differences in the rates of pay growth for the different grades of civil servants that lie behind the changes in pay inequality, and assess whether decentralisation changed the way in which civil servants are paid.

Within this context, big data analytics (BDA) can be an important tool given that many analytic techniques within the big data world have been created specifically to deal with complexity and rapidly changing conditions. The important task for public sector organizations is to liberate analytics from narrow scientific silos and expand it across internally to reap maximum benefit across their portfolios of programs. This book highlights contextual factors important to better situating the use of BDA within government organizations and demonstrates the wide range of applications of different BDA techniques. It emphasizes the importance of leadership and organizational practices that can improve performance. It explains that BDA initiatives should not be bolted on but should be integrated into the organization's performance management processes. Equally important, the book includes chapters that demonstrate the diversity of factors that need to be managed to launch and sustain BDA initiatives in public sector organizations.

This important book provides a state of the art of the study of policy instruments, combining insights taken from European and American experiences, to present a detailed exposition of the nature and use of policy instruments.The book first analyses the background of the instrumental approach and outlines its development in the field of public adminstration. It also includes an exposition of four alternative schools of thought about policy instruments, namely, the instrumentalist, proceduralist, contingentist and constitutivist schools. The criteria for choosing instruments are discussed as is the effectiveness of regulatory, financial and communicative instruments. This volume also addresses the recent efforts by governments to restrict intervention in the market. The final section provides a reassessment of the instruments literature and looks at the questions that will continue to face this perspective on public policy. This book will be of great use to academics and students of public policy and political science as well as policymakers.

For the public sector, which is globally the largest employer of people and repository of information, managing information and knowledge is an extremely problematic area to address. The essence of both resources is that they are intangible, their impact and value cannot be measured through traditional accounting methods, yet they are also, paradoxically, where the greatest value and potential for improvement is located. In this book Eileen Milner introduces the reader to the concepts of information and knowledge and explores a variety of tools and techniques which may be usefully adopted in actively managing and developing these resources. Wherever possible real-life public sector case studies and examples are used to illustrate good practice, as well as some of the pitfalls of poor application. Down-to-earth and taking into account the critically important characteristics unique to public services, this will be an illuminating text both for managers and policy makers already working in the public sector and for those considering doing so.

Author Biography:
Eileen Milner is a Principal Lecturer in Information Management at the University of North London

New public management is a topical phrase to describe how management techniques from the private sector are now being applied to public services. This book provides a completely up-to-date overview of the main theoretical models of public sector management, and examines the key changes that have occurred as more and more public services are contracted out to private organisations, as the public sector itself grapples with 'internal markets'. Drawing on economics, organisational theory and poliltics, Jan-Erik Lane presents new public management from an analytical perspective. This book uses game theory and empirical studies in order to assess the pros and cons of new public management.

Public administration is commonly assumed to be a young discipline, rooted in law and political science, with little history of its own. Likewise, teaching and scholarship in this field is often career oriented and geared either toward the search for immediately usable knowledge or guidelines and prescriptions for the future. Although most administrative scientists would acknowledge that their field has a history, their time horizon is limited to the recent past. Raadschelders demonstrates that public administration has in fact a long-standing tradition, both in practice and in writing; administration has been an issue ever since human beings recognized the need to organize themselves in order to organize the environment in which they lived. This history, in turn, underlines the need for administrators to be aware of the importance and contemporary impact of past decisions and old traditions. In seeking to go beyond the usual problem-solving and future-oriented studies of public administration, this volume adds greatly to the cognitive richness of this field of research. Indeed, the search for theoretical generalizations will profit from an approach that unravels long-term trends in the development of administration and government.

"Raadschelders approaches public administration history from a dual perspective, as trained historian and professor of public administration.... The volume is appropriately called a aehandbook' in view of its methodical listing of the literature on administrative history, together with summaries of numerous authors' principal theories. The second chapter is an essay on sources in the field, including an extended bibliography.... These parts of the book alone make it useful to scholars in the field.... Raadschelders is helpful in other ways as well. The third and fourth chapters offer a highly sophisticated discussion of methodological problems encountered in writing administrative history, including the issue of perceiving 'stages.' Other chapters discuss leading substantive issues such as the development of bureaucracy and citizenship. The author combines his own history-telling with more bibliographic commentary.

In this title, first published in 1996, the author uses the locus of control personality construct to show how workers who believe they can influence life events (internals) perceive and evaluate work conditions differently than workers who believe that life events are beyond their control (externals). The author also develops a social exchange model of quitting which takes advantage of the positive (job reward) and negative (job cost) qualities inherent in work conditions. Workers tend to quit their jobs when job costs outweigh job rewards when better alternatives exist. Moreover, personality interacts with employees' evaluation of job costs and rewards and quitting behaviour. This book will be of interest to students of business studies and human resource management.

Provides an analysis of the restructuring of public service employment relations in six European countries: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark and the UK. Each of the chapters on national systems is written by leading experts in the field and is organized around a set of themes and policy issues. These include: the impact of fiscal crises, and increasing macro-economic integration within the European Union, on the scope and organization of public services; changes in the patterns and status of public service employment; the shift from centralized administration to new models of devolved management; changes in the organization and policies of public service trade unions; reforms in the structure, process and outcome of collective bargaining; patterns of conflict and co-operation between unions, managers and the state.

The Labour Government has introduced legislation to place a new duty of Best Value on local authorities, and abolish compulsory competitive tendering. This work identifies the differences between the two systems and evaluates the development of the new regime, using case studies.

Provides an analysis of the restructuring of public service employment relations in six European countries: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark and the UK. Each of the chapters on national systems is written by leading experts in the field and is organized around a set of themes and policy issues. These include: the impact of fiscal crises, and increasing macro-economic integration within the European Union, on the scope and organization of public services; changes in the patterns and status of public service employment; the shift from centralized administration to new models of devolved management; changes in the organization and policies of public service trade unions; reforms in the structure, process and outcome of collective bargaining; patterns of conflict and co-operation between unions, managers and the state.

Participation Beyond the Ballot Box is a welcome addition to the literature on democracy and the role of civil society. It demonstrates that new mechanisms being introduced in Western Europe can and do offer the potential to significantly strengthen the democratic process.

Almost a fifth of all employees work in the public sector. Employees working in the civil service, NHS, local government, education, the police and fire services also represent a large and growing body of students taking degree courses at universities. Exploring this important and rapidly changing area, this book outlines the main developments in the public sector since 1979, including topical issues such as the rise of new public management, decentralisation and contracting out. Themes which currently affect public sector employees are examined, including:

* decentralization
* contracting out
* fragmentation and the growth of individualism in the employment contract.

This stimulating, up-to-date and intellectually rigorous text is thematic, rather than sector specific, and reflects the way this subject is taught in a range of courses. It will complement alternative texts in this area and will be a valuable resource for students of public policy, public sector management, human resource management, employee and industrial relations.

In the 1990s, considerable changes in the political and social world have impacted on the character of both public and private organizations. At a time of increased uncertainty and insecurity in these organizations, new ways of managing and being managed have emerged. Recognising that organizational life is part reflective and determined by dominant social discourses, factors of gender will inevitably be central to the dynamics of organizational change. This book addresses theoretical ideas and mythologies in the examination of gendered organizations. The need to examine men in relation to family, law and society in general is growing, and this book extends this interrogation to work and organizational life. It will be of interest to students in management studies, public sector management and those involoved in public policy making as well as students and academics within gender studies and sociology.

The public sector is one of the largest employers in the UK. Employees working in the NHS, local government, education, the police and fire services also represent a large and growing body of students taking business degree courses at universities.
This book also looks at the issue of employee relations in the public services. Starting from a legal, economic and financial context, Corby and White outline the main developments in the public sectors, decentralisation, contracting out, fragmentation and the growth of individualism in the employment contract.
The contributors then develop and analyse the themes which are currently affecting public sector employees - pay, equal opportunities, competitive tendering, flexibilities, quality and the position of trade unions.
This is a stimulating, up-to-date and intellectually rigourous text which will be essential reading for students of public policy, public sector management, human resource management, employee and industrial relations. The thematic approach will compliment many alternative texts which are more descriptive and focused on individual services.

Through its budgetary, managerial and regulatory review mandates, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the US can function as an "enforcer" with a significant impact on public policy and its implementation. This is a study of the OMB and its significant role within the American government.

This study, with contributions from both scholars and practitioners, examines the theory and practice of public sector ethics across a broad range of environments.

The main focus of downsizing has shifted from the private to the public sector. The cutbacks began in the Department of Defense. Now the goal is a federal civilian workforce reduction of 12 percent by the year 2000.

This pioneering study looks at the management of workforce reductions in the public sector both in theory and in practice. Three case studies -- of the Defense Logistics Agency, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Food and Drug Administration -- illustrate the organizational, managerial, and human dimensions of attempting to improve performance with reduced resources. The author draws on extensive interviews with senior executives and middle managers in the three agencies; at the General Accounting Office, the Office of Personnel Management, and the National Performance Review; the Senior Executives Association and the Federal Managers Association; and scholars and researchers.

In a larger sense, this work pushes the boundaries of knowledge concerning organizational change and makes a significant contribution to organization theory. It offers important new insights not only for public sector managers but for organization theorists and management specialists whose work on downsizing has been presumed but not shown to be applicable to the public sector.

This volume uses original research to assess the innovative capacity of voluntary organizations. It provides:
* a conceptual framework for understanding the innovative capacity of voluntary organizations
* empirical evidence detailing the nature and extent of innovation
* an analysis of successful innovators in personal social services
* the applicability of the for-profit model of innovation to non-profit organizations
* an account of the contingent nature of voluntary organizations' relationship to their external environment and particularly their main funders.
The development of a theory of innovation in non-market and non-profit conditions makes this volume an important addition to organizational studies literature.

eBook available with sample pages: EB:0203068017

In the public sector at the moment resources are scarce - or at the very least finite and limited - how they are allocated is therefore of crucial importance.
This book analyses this process and examines the competing values that underlie the public service ethic, including the role of markets and quasi-markets, in the delivery of public services.
Topics discussed include:
* whether people should be denied the public services they need because public bodies are short of money
* what balance we should strike between markets and public organisations to provide public services
* whether the use of markets has gone too far and whether we need to return to a public service ethic

The widespread restructuring and privatization of UK public services has fundamentally changed the nature of society. This text is an examination of all aspects of public sector management. It includes: recent developments in the public sector and policy making; analysis of the role of markets and quasi markets in the allocation and delivery of public services; the heuristics and dialectics of resource allocation; news stories from the press, such as the story of "child B" to illustrate arguments; and two diagnostic inventories "Monksbane and Feverfew" and "RAPS" which readers can use to assess their own values about public services.

The main focus of downsizing has shifted from the private to the public sector. The cutbacks began in the Department of Defense. Now the goal is a federal civilian workforce reduction of 12 percent by the year 2000. This pioneering study looks at the management of workforce reductions in the public sector both in theory and in practice. Three case studies -- of the Defense Logistics Agency, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Food and Drug Administration -- illustrate the organizational, managerial, and human dimensions of attempting to improve performance with reduced resources. The author draws on extensive interviews with senior executives and middle managers in the three agencies; at the General Accounting Office, the Office of Personnel Management, and the National Performance Review; the Senior Executives Association and the Federal Managers Association; and scholars and researchers. In a larger sense, this work pushes the boundaries of knowledge concerning organizational change and makes a significant contribution to organization theory. It offers important new insights not only for public sector managers but for organization theorists and management specialists whose work on downsizing has been presumed but not shown to be applicable to the public sector.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) occupies a critical juncture in relations between the office of the President, the Executive Branch, and Congress. Through its budgetary, managerial, and regulatory review mandates, it can function as an "enforcer" with a significant impact on public policy and its implementation_ Despite this, OMB has maintained a low profile in recent years, and has eluded focused attention. Remarkably, this is the fast study of OMB to appear in nearly two decades-a time of momentous change both in presidential-congressional relations and in U.S. budgetary politics, including the short-lived line-item veto. The book will be extremely useful not just to students of public policy but to anyone trying to work effectively with federal, state, or local budget offices.