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Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Civil service & public sector
This important book brings together a careful selection of the major works in planning which relate to the provision of public facilities - such as recreation grounds, parks and sports arenas. The opening sections present classic, theoretic papers that lay both the general and the specific foundations for why some facilities are treated outside of the market. Key topics such as institutional issues, the role of the private sector, and the assessment and evaluation of public facilities planning and financing are then examined. Finally, the volume looks at some of the more novel approaches that are emerging in the provision of public facilities, and concludes with a selection of case-studies that demonstrate the application of a set of planning approaches. This authoritative volume will be a useful resource to researchers and planning practitioners alike.
The underpinning assumption of public management in the developing world as a process of planned change is increasingly being recognized as unrealistic. In reality, the practice of development management is characterized by processes of mutual adjustment among individuals, agencies, and interest groups that can constrain behaviour, as well as provide incentives for collaborative action. Paradoxes inevitably emerge in policy network practice and design. The ability to manage government departments and operations has become less important than the ability to navigate the complex world of interconnected policy implementation processes. Public sector reform policies and programmes, as a consequence, are a study in the complexities of the institutional and environmental context in which these reforms are pursued. Building on theory and practice, this book argues that advancing the theoretical frontlines of development management research and practice can benefit from developing models based on innovation, collaboration and governance. The themes addressed in Public Sector Reforms in Developing Countries will enable public managers in developing countries cope in uncertain and turbulent environments as they seek optimal fits between their institutional goals and environmental contingencies.
Regulating Development examines the impact that regulation - good or bad - can have on the development of poorer societies. It opens with a succinct review of critical issues, including the implications of the spread of intellectual property rights legislation and the role of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).The volume examines the regulatory experiences of three important developing economies: Brazil, Ghana and South Africa. Key regulatory themes are analysed, most notably capital markets and corporate governance regulation, the regulation of the telecommunications sector and the use of regulatory reforms to promote the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises. Within each chapter policy lessons are drawn, the relevance of which extend well beyond national or even regional boundaries. The principal aim of the book is to show the extent to which regulation is moving increasingly to centre stage as a driver of development in Africa and Latin America. The book also demonstrates how thoughtful, well-planned regulation can make a real contribution to the emergence of supply-side competitiveness. This book will be invaluable reading for academics, researchers and students with an interest in economics and development studies, as well as for regulators and policymakers in developing countries.
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.
Public enterprises remain of fundamental importance in advanced economies, and this volume characterises them as hybrids, influenced by markets and ministries.
First Published in 1998. This is Volume IV of eighteen of a series on the Sociology of Public Policy, Welfare and Social Work. Stemming from an original study on social mobility, this book looks at Britain's higher civil servants from 1870 to 1955 who are mainly sourced from the expensively-educated middle classes.
First published in 1984, this book examines the style of leadership amongst senior civil servants and its impact on administrative reform by investigating the work of Sir Percival Waterfield who was First Civil Service Commissioner from 1939 to 1951. He was responsible for setting up the Civil Service Selection Board which was the key institution in the pioneering new approach to personnel selection initiated in Britain after the Second World War. It has been regarded as the model for personnel recruitment in other contexts and for civil service recruitment in other countries. The book raises fundamental questions about the criteria for recruitment and promotion of leading officials in British central government and offers a rare glimpse of the day to day work of top civil servants and the administrative culture in which they operate.
In recent years, there has been an increase of public employees being fired for inappropriate behavior on social media. This research explores social media conduct of public employees that have been adjudicated through the federal and state court systems. The arguments of these cases are based upon the question of an employee's first amendment rights versus the rights of the employer to maintain a desired work environment. The research found that widespread negative publicity, disruption of close working relationships, inappropriate and offensive employees comments led to favorable outcomes for the public employers. In contrast, when an employee posts on social media while off-duty as a private citizen, the employer has not cited any disruption and the comments are not personal attacks against employers but have substantial public concerns led to positive outcomes for the public employee.
First published in 1973, Efficiency Criteria for Nationalised Industries asks by what criteria we should judge the efficiency of nationalised industries, what we mean by saying they should be run commercially and where the public interest should lie. In this work, Professor Nove believes we answer these questions incorrectly due to a lack of understanding of economic theory and a desire to relate real world economics to that of the text book. The author says many economists, in a world of indivisibilities, complementarities and systems, persist in thinking in terms of one-dimensional, fragmented marginalism. Professor Nove, who is known for his writings on the Soviet economy, raises many points relevant to the East as well as the West. His work contributes to the economics of socialism, while also making the case for greater realism in economic theory in general.
'Carrera and Dunleavy provide a crystal clear and comprehensive account of the complex issues involved in how best to improve the productivity of government services. They offer a nuanced but powerful explanation of productivity puzzles, conundrums and dilemmas in the public sector. But they also offer solutions to many of these problems. Finally, I have found a text on public economics that makes sense, gives genuine management insights and offers real suggestions to practitioners as to what to do next.' - Barry Quirk, Chief Executive, London Borough of Lewisham, UK'This book presents a welcome and sobering analysis of productivity performance in UK central government - a subject that has received remarkably little serious academic attention up to now, in spite of decades of general commentary on managerialism.' - Christopher Hood, All Souls College, UK 'Leandro Carrera and Patrick Dunleavy have performed an amazing feat in this book through their rigorous examination of a thorny topic that has dogged pundits and academics alike. Just how efficient is government and how well does it do its job? As a result of an impressive - but accessible - set of data analyses, the authors make an authoritative attack on the proponents of the New Public Management, and offer some clear recommendations for reform based on better use of new technology.' - Peter John, University College London, UK Productivity is essentially the ratio of an organization's outputs divided by its inputs. For many years it was treated as always being static in government agencies. In fact productivity in government services should be rising rapidly as a result of digital changes and new management approaches, and it has done so in some agencies. However, Dunleavy and Carrera show for the first time how complex are the factors affecting productivity growth in government organizations - especially management practices, use of IT, organizational culture, strategic mis-decisions and political and policy churn. With government budgets under stress in many countries, this pioneering book shows academics, analysts and officials how to measure outputs and productivity in detail; how to cope with problems of quality variations; and how to achieve year-on-year, sustainable improvements in the efficiency of government services.
Designed for use by professionals and graduate-level students in public administration and not-for-profit management, this is a comprehensive, clearly written guide to the use of statistical analysis in the management of nonprofit organizations. The volume emphasizes statistical models that use more than one variable and is unique in presenting multivariate statistics specifically with the public and nonprofit manager in mind. Examples throughout have been chosen to be relevant to the not-for-profit organization and each chapter contains several real-life illustrations of how statistical techniques can be used in actual practice. In addition to explaining statistical methods and techniques in detail, the author focuses on why statistics should be used and helps the reader obtain an intuitive grasp of the rationale behind the statistics. Because she stresses the logic of proofs and the limitations of results rather than the pure mathematics of statistical derivation, the volume is accessible to students and managers with only a little statistical background. Following a chapter that introduces the concept of multivariate analysis, Stiefel explains simple and multiple regression models in detail. Later chapters discuss other techniques that are becoming widely used in not-for-profit organizations: logit and probit analysis, time-series models, and simultaneous equation models. Two types of examples are used to make the material immediately relevant to the not-for-profit manager: real-world examples culled from professional journals and reports in a variety of fields including health care, education, finance, budgeting, and administrative science; and examples of results obtained using statistical programs run on a personal computer. Thus the book enables the reader to understand and interpret both the statistics used in professional articles and statistical results as they appear on computer printouts. Four appendixes review basic statistical methods such as simple summation operators, the Pearson Correlation Coefficient, and hypothesis testing for the sample mean.
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.
Women working to change unfair treatment in bureaucracies can be either "missionaries" or "mandarins," and must often be a combination of the two. "Missionaries" work from within the organization in their pursuit of gender equity. "Mandarins" work to adapt to the techniques and practices of the bureaucracy.This book examines two kinds of strategies for making the bureaucratic structures of organizations, multilateral institutions and non-governmental organizations more gender-equitable. The contributors examine gender struggles not only at the discursive level, where women's needs are constructed and contested, but also at the institutional level of bureaucratic rules, procedures and resource allocation. Studies from many different countries, including Vietnam, Australia, the US and Morocco illustrate the variety of strategies for change adopted by feminists in different political and cultural settings, and show the highly diverse forms of feminist politics. From their different perspectives the contributors acknowledge the gendered nature of institutions, but argue against the view that these organizations are monolithic and impermeable.The contributors have much to say to all feminists working within bureaucracies -- whether state or civil society institutions -- with the aim of promoting women's concerns; this book is also a significant contribution to recent developments in the anthropological study of organizations.
Designed as a comprehensive overview of public sector compensation, the book addresses strategies for change, with the author warning that failure of the profession to address this issue will ultimately lead to citizens taking matters in their own hands. The author's issues-oriented approach addresses his core messagethat the escalation of public sector compensation is impacting the ability of government to meet its core responsibility and the failure of government to address this has serious consequences. Not just a critique, it presents context, analysis, and suggestions for reform.
First published in 1988, this book is about the application of moral standards in the course of official work in the British civil service. It approaches the subject by examining the career of Sir Edward Bridges, Head of the Civil Service from 1945 to 1956. The book raises questions, of major importance at the present time, about methods of work and the standards expected of civil servants.
The need for evaluation of public sector research and development activity is critical in today's political environment to assist policymakers with resource allocation. Methodology for evaluating public sector research and development activity is described and illustrated by the author using in-depth case studies drawn from the research programs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. These cases range from newly formed federal laboratory research initiatives to well-established research programs. Managerial and evaluative guidelines are enunciated. The United States has supported research and development activity on both the applied and basic research levels for most of its history. The importance of public sector research has often been discussed but its effectiveness has not been adequately reviewed. The need for evaluation of public sector research and development activity is critical in today's political environment to assist policymakers with resource allocation. Methodology for evaluating public sector research and development activity is described and illustrated by the author using in-depth case studies drawn from the research programs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. These cases range from newly formed federal laboratory research initiatives to well-established research programs. Managerial and evaluative guidelines are enunciated. This work should be of interest to scholars who deal with economics in general, public policy, science policy, and public administration. In addition, practitioners in public administration and managers of public sector research laboratories on federal and state levels should find the information useful. Those who depend on research and development done with public sector money or who use it to supplement their research programs will also be interested.
This book presents an overview of the scientific study of public management, gathering together some of the most authoritative experts in this area of study in Europe and the United States, writing specifically about their respective countries. These essays seek to present the national distinctiveness of the study of public management, in the context of specific state administration. This book goes further than some previous books concerning public management by highlighting the underlying differences between Europe and the United States and amongst European countries, in relation to their particular political-administrative circumstances. The aim of this book is to establish a dialogue between Anglo-American and European approaches to public management, to encourage readers to see their own national ideas and practises in contrast to others and foster leaning by asking repeatedly 'compared to what?'
First published in 1979, Supplies Management for Health Services looks at the characteristics and problems of hospital suppliers and examines the way in which the hospital and the National Health Service deal with supplies problems and relations with suppliers. Beginning with a description of the National Health Service and its supplies' organisations and the role of the Department of Health and Social Security in this field, the book then reports on the detailed studies made over two years of the supplies' problems of ten London area health authorities and ten London manufacturers of medical equipment. The NHS situation is then contrasted with the supplies' situation in three non-health organisations and with the health supplies situation in France and West Germany. The final part of the book analyses the information obtained, proposes a means of assessing supplies systems, and evaluates the NHS situation. This is followed by the realistic proposals for reform, advocating a system similar to that used in British defence services, based on a central procurement agency, close cooperation with private manufacturers, and manufacture by government where necessary. This book will surely interest students of economics and global health.
Congress is expected to announce that new practices are to be adopted across the federal sector which will incite new and innovative partnerships between the public and private sectors. In A Guide to Innovative Public Private Partnerships: Utilizing the Resources of the Private Sector for the Public Good author Thomas A. Cellucci introduces these new procedures and how both private entrepreneurs and government managers can use them most effectively. This book enables organizations in both the private and public sectors to develop and execute efficient and effective business partnerships. Detailed requirements and market potentials are developed which would help entice the private sector to use its own resources to develop products and services without delay and at minimal cost to taxpayers. The book starts from basic principle of partnerships, develops the concept of commercialization-based public-private partnerships, and provides templates, potential marketing tools, and real-world examples to prove the effectiveness of this shift in how government will work in the future. This is a "must read" for anyone interested in doing business with the government as well as government leaders who are being forced to trim budgets and show genuine value in their agencies.
First published in 1988, this book is about the application of moral standards in the course of official work in the British civil service. It approaches the subject by examining the career of Sir Edward Bridges, Head of the Civil Service from 1945 to 1956. The book raises questions, of major importance at the present time, about methods of work and the standards expected of civil servants.
A new approach to understanding and improving performance and
public value
What is good government? Why do some governments fail? How do you implement political accountability in practice? What incentives do you need to put in place to ensure that politicians and public servants act in the public interest and not their own? These questions and many more are addressed in Timothy Besley's intriguing Lindahl lectures. Economic analyses of government usually divide into two broad camps. One which emphasizes government as a force for public good that can regulate markets, distribute resources and generally work towards improving the lives of its citizens. The other sees government as driven by private interests, susceptible to those with the power to influence its decisions and failing to incentivize its officials to act for the greater public good. This book adopts a middle way between the two extremes, the Publius approach, which recognizes the potential for government to act for the public good but also accepts the fact that things often go wrong. It shares the view that there are certain institutional preconditions for effective government but then proceed to examine exactly what those preconditions are. Timothy Besley emphasises that it is not just about designing an appropriate institutional framework but also about understanding the way incentives work and the process by which the political class is selected.
Europe is in a troubled state. The macroeconomic situation looks grim, national governments are close to dysfunction, and Europeans are facing austerity and relative decline. The one bright spot on the horizon is the potential for positive action at the level of the city and urban regions. In this book, the editors have assembled a collection of original contributions by scholars from Europe, North America and Asia who offer insights as to how local authorities in Europe might be able to chart a course for their city or urban region during this period of extraordinary difficulty. The volume begins with an Introduction, followed by a set of three papers in Part Two examining European urban competitiveness from the standpoints of measurement and policy. This section also provides a case study of the cities of one country - Italy - from which the reader can gain an understanding of the current position of European cities as well as what might be possible going forward. Experience has shown that perhaps the most crucial element in competitiveness enhancement is good and effective governance. To that end, Part Three examines structural aspects of urban government, including polycentric regions, wide metropolitan cooperation, the role of social actors and territorial aggregation. Part Four treats issues of innovation from two perspectives and provides a case study from Eindhoven, while also covering social issues such as demographics, participation, social exclusion and mobility. This set of scholarly reflections will be of considerable benefit to urban practitioners, researchers and students of public policy. Contributors: P. Canonico, C. Donolo, G. Hirsch, M.P. Iacono, D. Ietri, J.-L. Klein, P.K. Kresl, W.F. Lever, E. Mastropietro, D.J. Maurrasse, R. Mercurio, S. Micelli, S. Mollica, P. Ni, A.H.J. Otgaar, J. Shen, J. Sobrino, D.-G. Tremblay, L. van den Berg
Public management research has in recent years paid increasing attention to the third sector, especially to its role in the provision of public services. Evidence of this is the rising number of publications on the topic, as well as a growing number of sessions and papers on the topic in academic conferences of the EGPA and IRSPM. However, much of the discussion on its role is motivated at least as much by ideology as by fact. We still lack a proper empirical understanding of what happens when the third sector is drawn into public service provision. In this thematic presentation of Co-Production: The Third Sector and the Delivery of Public Services, we will try to enhance this understanding by presenting several new studies on the subject. We also introduce the concepts of co-production, co-management and co-governance as a conceptual framework that enables us to better understand such developments. |
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