Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
|||
Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Civil service & public sector
This text discusses and compares men's and women's career patterns in state government. It is based upon newly conducted original research surveys in six states. From this research, generalisations are made concerning commonalities and differences between men's and women's experiences in public adminstration at the state level. This is a new area of research: while much has been done at the federal level (and there is a federal database to work from) until now little work has been done and little data is available for the states.
This text aims to review the issues raised by the state provision of social benefits in cash and in kind and to examine the principles on which their provision may be deemed to rest. The contributors examine the purpose of this area of public activity of 60% of public expenditure in Britain. What are these elaborate social services meant to achieve? By what criteria are they to be judged? By what authority have the objectives been adopted and the criteria applied? The answers to questions such as these will obviously reflect both differences in basic value judgements and differences in appraising the facts of any social situation. The editors compile many viewpoints on the topic.
In the US, as in many other Western economies, federal and state government is working to become more involved with the nonprofit sector; a sector in which many of the organizations are singularly ill-prepared and strategically unaligned to fulfill the new role that is being asked of them. Based on his original research, John Brothers brings together leading thought leaders from the United States and around the world by exploring the prevailing attitudes and perceptions of the nonprofit sector towards government and vice versa and provides advice and direction to help both sides of the equation towards effective collaborative working. The main themes cover the nature and implications of regulatory reform on the sector and how non-government organizations should reengineer their practices. There are also chapters on some of the hot button areas of government contracting and political advocacy. The text includes best-practice examples, case studies as well as tools and templates from across the sectors. Both sides of this emerging partnership need fast-track education on each other's capabilities, constraints and working practice. Dr Brothers' contributors provide some very valuable perspectives and insights that should inform and direct this process.
The government's "Privatization of Services Bill" requires all local authorities to prove their competitiveness in the private sector. This book has been written for those people at the sharp end of grounds maintenance, those who are performing a balancing act between making a profit and maintaining standards. This book deals exclusively with contract grounds maintenance. It is a detailed step-by-step guide to the process of setting up a contract grounds maintenance section. Giving up-to-date information on tendering, specification writing, administration and all aspects of preparing for, arranging and servicing the contracts. Those members of Direct Labour Organizations who have found themeselves having to tender for their own work, should find this handbook valuable. It is a source of advice and information for parks and recreation managers, leisure managers, landscape architects, quantity surveyors and estate managers and to all local authority staff who are wrestling with the complexities of compulsory competitive tendering. It should also be particulary helpful to students of amenity horticulture and landscape management. This book should be of interest to every local authorit
First published in 1989. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The application of complexity theory to management and the social sciences has been a key development in theory and practice over the last decade. This approach questions the possibility of finding universal methods of practice, and proposes a pragmatic and humanistic management style that evolves out of a reflective method. The focus is on practitioners observing patterns of similarity and being adaptable in decision-making. Bringing complexity theory into management reveals the importance of organizational culture and effective communication because people, their values and their objectives are at the heart of this method. Information technology provides a framework for complex communication and knowledge use, but it cannot replace highly developed professional negotiations and cooperation. This book argues that the complexity of the public service world limits the usefulness of classical and rational scientific management approaches such as New Public Management. Excessive marketization threatens a collaborative approach and overly rigid approaches to performance management and strategic management can be dysfunctional. Managing Complexity in the Public Services 2nd Edition advances a method of management practice that copes with the stark realities of the complex and unpredictable public policy world. It develops pragmatic management practices from action research that will be valuable to both academics and practitioners. The result is a new value-based practice for the post-crisis public service world.
Civil Service Systems in Anglo-American Countries presents a comprehensive overview of the important issues in modern bureaucracies, combined with a comparative analysis of the civil service systems and administrative traditions of five Anglo-American nations: Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States.In each chapter, expert contributors undertake a systematic analysis of each country's civil service from three broad perspectives: external relations, internal constituent features and patterns of change. By employing a comparative framework in conjunction with empirical research, they are able to emphasise the specific nature, characteristics and development of each civil service system. They also highlight the historical developments and reforms associated with the Anglo-American model, which are often highly distinctive compared with other OECD nations. The book concludes with a systematic comparison of each civil service system, attempting to find parallels and variations between them. Scholars and students of public administration, political science and international affairs will value this unique comparative study of the civil service traditions of Anglo-American countries.
First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
First published in 1986. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
This book reviews the evolution of organization theory literature and explains other theories of organization and the implicit wisdom of the instructor's favorite theory. It helps the reader to understand the relevance of organization theory to the problems of administering public organizations.
Networks contain complex patterns of dependency and require multiple levels of analysis to explain their formation, structure, and outcomes. In this Element, the authors develop the Multilevel Network Framework. The framework serves as (i) a conceptual tool to think more deeply about network dynamics, (ii) a research tool to assist in connecting data, theory, and empirical models, and (iii) a diagnostic tool to analyze and categorize bodies of research. The authors then systematically review the network literature in public administration, management, and policy. They apply the Multilevel Network Framework to categorize the literature; identify significant gaps; examine micro, macro and cross-level relations; and examine relevant mechanisms and theories. Overall this Element helps readers to (i) understand and classify network research, (ii) use appropriate theoretical frameworks to examine network-related problems, (iii) understand how networks emerge and produce effects at different levels of analysis, and (iv) select appropriate empirical models.
Over the last ten years public private partnerships have become ever more popular worldwide, expanding the body of experience among construction professionals, government agencies, and industry. In these economically challenging times, PPP has emerged as a crucial framework for providing infrastructure, and also to boost construction industry activity, while shielding the taxpayer from some of the cost. Understanding the lessons learnt is essential to ensuring the success of future projects, and this timely book will prepare the reader to do just that. Starting by defining PPP itself, part one is designed to help the novice to get to grips with the basics of this topic. Part two tackles the practicalities of PPPs, including successful implementation, managing the risks involved, and how to assess the suitability of a project for the PPP route. Part three presents detailed case studies from Asia, Africa, and Australia to illustrate how PPPs should be managed, how problems emerge, and how PPPs can differ across the world. Drawing on extensive internationally conducted research, from both industry and academia, the authors have written the essential PPP guide. Taking into consideration the perspectives of those in the public sector and the private sector, as well as built environment professionals, it is essential reading for anyone preparing to work on public private partnerships in construction.
In this timely analysis, Matthew J. Quinn plots a landmark reimagination of governance and public administration, underpinned by sustainable development and civic republicanism. He draws on governance literature and Foucault's concept of governmentality to demonstrate the anachronism of existing bureaucratic norms and how these have thwarted sustainability and fuelled right-wing populism. Using international examples and the author's own extensive experience in sustainability governance as a senior UK official, the book proposes a new civic bureaucracy which fosters societal engagement and dialogue. It sheds new light on debates about the emerging crisis of governance, the role of public bureaucracy and the means to embed sustainability in governance.
Innovation is seen as an interactive process that involves many actors within and across organizational boundaries. In public sector services, innovation is a frequent, often holistic, and multi-layered process that involves many actors and many services at the same time. However, most of the existing literature on innovation in public sector services is based on the economics of innovation, which is heavily influenced by investigations of the private sector. Innovation in the Public Sector develops a more context-sensitive and rich approach in order to explore the different logics of innovation that prevail here. Rather than presenting a general theory of innovation, the book specifies how innovation and value creation are interconnected with social and institutional elements. Analytical constructs, including dynamic capability, absorptive capacity, and practice-based approaches, are reviewed and anchored in the organizational context of public sector services. Such a perspective on innovation can help us develop new understandings of the process and history of innovation, contributing to processual organizational analysis in a broader sense, and further developing present theories of organizational change.
Grappling with ethical issues is a daily challenge for those working in organizations that deliver public services. Such services are delivered through an often bewildering range of agencies and amidst this constant change, there are fears that a public service ethos, a tradition of working in the public interest, becomes blurred. Using extensive vignettes and case studies, Ethics and Management in the Public Sector illuminates the practical decisions made by public officials. The book takes a universal approach to ethics reflecting the world-wide impact of public service reforms and also includes discussions on how these reforms impact traditional vales and principles of public services. This easy-to-use textbook is a definitive guide for postgraduate students of public sector ethics, as well as students of public management and administration more generally.
Rising and changing citizen expectations, dire fiscal constraints, unfulfilled political aspirations, high professional ambitions, and a growing number of stubborn societal problems have generated an increasing demand for innovation of public policies and services. Drawing on the latest research, this book examines how current systems of public governance can be transformed in order to enhance public innovation. It scrutinizes the need for new roles and public sector reforms, and analyzes how the gradual transition towards New Public Governance can stimulate the exploration and exploitation of new and bold ideas in the public sector. It argues that the key to public innovation lies in combining and balancing elements from Classic Public Administration, New Public Management and New Public Governance, and theorizes how it can be enhanced by multi-actor collaboration for the benefit of public officials, private stakeholders, citizens, and society at large.
This comprehensive collection of the latest research and policy developments in civic service worldwide provides an informed assessment of what works and what doesn't work in the field. With contributions from some of the discipline's best-known global leaders, it presents a conceptualization and operational definition of civic service that allows for variations across nations and cultures. "Civic Service Worldwide" offers a perspective on the history and potential for civic service from its roots in military service. It summarizes the effects of national service in diverse countries, and identifies important developments in service, including service across the lifespan and transnational service. The editors and contributors also address key questions and promising theoretical and methodological approaches for advancing knowledge in the field.
This widely acclaimed work provides a lively counterbalance to the standard assessment-measurement-accountability prescriptions that have made showing you did your job more important than actually doing it. Now extensively revised, it articulates a postmodern theory of public administration that challenges the field to redirect its attention away from narrow, technique-oriented scientism, and toward democratic openness and ethics.The authors incorporate insights from thinkers like Rorty, Giddens, Derrida, and Foucault to recast public administration as an arena of decentered practices. In their framework, ideographic collisions and everyday impasses bring about political events that challenge the status quo, creating possibilities for social change. "Postmodern Public Administration" is an outstanding intellectual achievement that has rewritten the political theory of public administration. This new edition will encourage everyone who reads it to think quite differently about democratic governance.
Grappling with ethical issues is a daily challenge for those working in organizations that deliver public services. Such services are delivered through an often bewildering range of agencies and amidst this constant change, there are fears that a public service ethos, a tradition of working in the public interest, becomes blurred. Using extensive vignettes and case studies, Ethics and Management in the Public Sector illuminates the practical decisions made by public officials. The book takes a universal approach to ethics reflecting the world-wide impact of public service reforms and also includes discussions on how these reforms impact traditional vales and principles of public services. This easy-to-use textbook is a definitive guide for postgraduate students of public sector ethics, as well as students of public management and administration more generally.
Many accounts of British development since 1945 have attempted to discover why Britain experienced slower rates of economic growth than other Western European countries. In many cases, the explanation for this phenomenon has been attributed to the high level of defence spending that successive British post-war governments adhered to. Yet is it fair to assume that Britain's relative economic decline could have been prevented if policy makers had not spent so much on defence? Examining aspects of the political economy and economic impact of British defence expenditure in the period of the first cold war (1945-1955), this book challenges these widespread assumptions, looking in detail at the link between defence spending and economic decline. In contrast to earlier studies, Till Geiger not only analyses the British effort within the framework of Anglo-American relations, but also places it within the wider context of European integration. By reconsidering the previously accepted explanation of the economic impact of the British defence effort during the immediate post-war period, this book convincingly suggests that British foreign policy-makers retained a large defence budget to offset a sense of increased national vulnerability, brought about by a reduction in Britain's economic strength due to her war effort. Furthermore, it is shown that although this level of military spending may have slightly hampered post-war recovery, it was not in itself responsible for the decline of the British economy.
Brazil is a pioneer in the development of participation policies, with the most advanced banking systems in the world and a health system that serves the majority of a population scattered over more than 8.5 million square kilometres. However, Brazil also displays one of the highest rates of social and economic inequality worldwide, unable to fight illiteracy, school dropout, lack of basic sanitation, and unemployment. The Brazilian Way of Doing Public Administration is an accessible collaboration between scholars and practitioners rich with findings applicable worldwide, exploring Brazil's government's functioning at various points in recent history. Comprehensively presenting public management cases and theories in two sections - public management and public policy - the chapters provide scholars and practitioners with unique and previously underexplored insights and experiences. Exploring links between administrative systems and policy performance, The Brazilian Way of Doing Public Administration is a necessary book for practitioners, policymakers and researchers in management, public administration, business, and economics.
The concept and practice of civic service is deeply rooted in America's past, present, and future, and has been a featured component of recent presidential agendas. Yet despite ongoing debates about the methods and values of civic service, no recent book has systematically analyzed the effectiveness and outcomes of service programs in America. Civic Service: What Difference Does It Make? presents a thorough, research-based evaluation of public service programs in the United States. Divided into four key parts, this groundbreaking volume presents original information not found anywhere else. Selected Contents: Part 1. Ideological and Historical Context1. The Ideal2. Policy EvolutionPart 2. Evidence and Methods3. The Nature of the Evidence4. Methodology: Defining Civic ServicePart 3. Research Synthesis Findings5. Civic Service Outcomes6. Qualities of Successful ProgramsPart 4. Summing Up and Taking Stock7. Drawing Conclusions about Civic Service8. Policy Implications: The Evolution of Civic Services ObjectivesAppendices
The new context and character of public service--shifting values, entrepreneurship, information technology, multi-sector careers--require enhanced technical, ethical, and leadership skills. This concise and readable work describes what it means to be a consummate professional public servant. Essential reading for both professionals and students, it sets standards for everyone who conducts the public's business, and links them with performance management, human resource administration and information technology skills. The book identifies the ethical foundations of public service and how to integrate them in practice. It also addresses individual leadership, what it means and how it is based on a foundation of technical and ethical skills. Filled with original illustrative examples and case studies from government, the non-profit sector, and business, The Professional Edge is an ideal supplement for any introductory course in Public Administration or Ethics in the Public Service. |
You may like...
Handbook on Gender and Public Sector…
Hazel Conley, Paula Koskinen Sandberg
Hardcover
R5,797
Discovery Miles 57 970
Human Resource Management In Government…
E. van der Westhuizen
Paperback
Research Handbook on Motivation in…
Edmund C. Stazyk, Randall S Davis
Hardcover
R6,041
Discovery Miles 60 410
Organisational Analysis and…
Steve Mpedi Madue, Stellah Lubinga
Paperback
Managing For Excellence In The Public…
Gerrit van der Waldt
Paperback
Performance Management - A Contemporary…
Maryam Moosa, Marius Meyer
Paperback
|