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Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Civil service & public sector
At a time when there is growing concern in many countries over the funding of expanding public sectors, this important new book brings together leading specialists in public finance to re-examine the economics of public sector growth. Several chapters document changes in the size of the public sector over recent decades for major OECD and Third World economies. Subsequent chapters then explore prominent explanations including public choice perspectives, bureaucracy models, relative price effects and Wagner's Law, and assess their contribution to current knowledge. The book also provides a number of new case studies of specific government activities - education, health and social security.
Offering essential interpretations of the surge in recent literature on strategy and public management, this timely and insightful Handbook includes contributions from some of the key figures in the field, focusing on concepts such as strategic management, strategic planning, and strategizing for public purposes. Providing an in-depth examination of strategic public management as a key topic in public management and governance, this Handbook considers the interconnections between strategy, public value, and the state, and the challenges of strategizing collaborative governance. Chapters discuss the role of design-oriented practices in strategic public management, the rise of public innovation labs, business model innovation, and the financial dimension of strategy in the public sector. It also includes case studies from Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States, illustrating the effects of Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the growth of artificial intelligence on strategic public management. This stimulating Handbook will be essential reading for students and scholars in strategic management, public management, public administration, public policy and politics, and political science. It will also be beneficial for public managers, public administrators, strategizers, local, regional, and national politicians, and network managers.
Web 2.0 can create value for political processes by decreasing costs and increasing opportunities for civic engagement, and, as a result, will likely affect the future of governance. Public Service, Governance and Web 2.0 Technologies: Future Trends in Social Media investigates the effects of Web technologies and social media on interaction and the political process. Researchers, government administrators, and policymakers will benefit from the book's examination of e-governance in an increasingly complex and interdependent world. Readers will learn to use Web technologies to address local and global problems and improve systems of governance, social equity, economic activity, sustainability, service delivery, transparency, and the ethical and legal dimensions of public service.
Should we be doing--or trying to do--everything ourselves, or might it be better to contract some tasks out to others? Could they do them better and cheaper than we can? More and more state and local governments are asking these questions, and while there are many answers on the Federal level, these answers often don't apply lower down the line. Nevertheless, it is evident that contracting out is often the better strategy--but how best to go about it? What are the benefits and what are the hidden risks? Dr. O'Looney's book provides precisely the guidance that state and local managers need: first, how to decide to outsource a government service, then step-by-step how to proceed. Based on extensive interviews and other research, O'Looney takes managers through the intricacies of contract outsourcing and administration, but in doing so he makes clear that he appreciates the importance of government. His book is not an argument for privatization, as so many other books are; rather, it is an affirmation of government and the benefits of its many services. Readers will find theory and advice on the services that are most suitable for contracting out; a listing and review of the components of a high-quality analysis, including the analysis of often overlooked political, organizational, and functional aspects of government; advice on how to go from deciding to outsource to actually designing, implementing, and monitoring a contract in situations that could prove hazardous to the livelihoods of government workers. He also discusses the changes that need to be made in the organizational culture, management, and employee training as a result of the change to a contract-based system of providing services; the considerations in designing work specifications and other critical aspects of the government-vendor relationship, and how ideal contracting processes and ideal contracts can differ according to the nature of the service being contracted. The result is a thorough and highly practical volume for executives and managers in the public sector, and for those who hope to do business with them.
As emerging trends and research threads surface in the area of e-government, academicians, practitioners, and students face the challenge of keeping up-to-date with new and innovative practices. ""Current Issues and Trends in E-Government Research"" provides a complete synopsis of the latest technologies in information policy, security, privacy, and access, as well as the best practices in e-government applications and measurement. ""Current Issues and Trends in E-Government Research"" presents the most current issues in e-government hardware and software technology, adoption and diffusion, planning and management, and philosophy.
This insider's perspective on the federal workforce demystifies the myth of the underworked and overcompensated employee, examines workers' daily challenges, and considers the future of government work and its workers. Since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, federal employees-unlike any other segment of the American worker-have dealt with the reality that their workplaces are potential targets. Additionally, this workforce deals with public scrutiny and a prevailing opinion that federal employees are obsolete and inept. This unprecedented study attempts to dispel ill-informed speculation about our nation's civil servants by providing a thorough examination of the differences-and similarities-between the private and federal employment sectors. Himself a 30-year veteran of government work, Anthony Stanford explores the challenges unique to this group, including the impact of political posturing, the bureaucratic red tape preventing progressive change, and the tensions and security concerns stemming from terrorist threats. Chapters cover topics such as the fallacy of the underworked employee, performance measurements that impede performance and threaten the mission of some federal agencies, the obstacles that prevent federal managers from effectively dealing with personnel issues, and strategies for altering the public perception of the federal workforce. Written in an engaging and accessible style, the book allows readers to learn what it is really like to work for the federal government. Examines the claims that federal workers are underworked, overcompensated, and expendable Analyzes comparable pay and benefits between the federal and private sector workforce to dispel rumors of overcompensation Uncovers the truth behind the misconceptions surrounding the work of federal employees and explains how these workers differ from those in private companies or unions Contains contributions from federal career employees, political appointees, and politicians familiar with the operation of the federal workforce Shares nonclassified policy documents and mission statements from across federal agencies to illustrate the daily workings of these offices
Among the most intractable problems in the public sector is how to train effective administrators. Nagel and the contributors to this wide-ranging investigation show how worldwide the training problem is, and how critical is the need to solve it. Included here are discussions of, among other issues, how to motivate, reward, promote, and sanction new and experienced hires, and also how to deal with them fairly and productively in other ways. They explore ways to provide training courses in colleges, government agencies, and private sector training facilities, how to teach specific subjects, such as financial administration (including taxation, spending, budgeting), and how to develop and implement public policies that are effective, efficient, and equitable. Interdisciplinary as well as cross-national, the book provides viewpoints from both academics and practitioners - people from political science, public administration, public policy and related disciplines. It also offers a combination of liberal and conservative ideological viewpoints, and reaches into Africa, Asia, East and West Europe, Latin America and North America for its viewpoints. Among the book's features are its stress on the importance of well-trained public administrators, its coverage of the controversial aspects of public administration training, and its success at integrating the substance of public policy with administrative procedures. The result is a major source of information for public administrators and policy makers already in government service and for students in academic programs preparing them for it.
In the years between the Indian Mutiny and Independence in 1947 the
Indian Civil Service was the most powerful body of officials in the
English-speaking world. 300,000,000 Indians, a sixth of the human
race, were ruled by 1000 Civilians. With Whitehall 8000 miles away
and the peasantry content with their decisions, they had the
freedom to translate ideas into action. Anglo-lndian Attitudes
explores the use they made of their power by examining the beliefs
of two middle ranking Civilians. It shows, in great detail, how
they put into practice values which they acquired from their
parents, their teachers and contemporary currents of opinion.
Public Information Technology: Policy and Management Issues constitutes a survey of many of the most important dimensions of managing information technology in the public sector. Written by noted academics and public administration practitioners, this book addresses general policy and administrative issues in this arena as well as the information technology skills needed by public managers.
Why has the United States established a new technology transfer regime, and how does it actually perform? Lee and his contributors see it as a set of new game rules in which government, industry, and the academic community are allowed--authorized, in fact--to interact and collaborate toward the goal of successful technological innovation. Their book--thus far unique in its field--reports on the empirical research that examines how various independent components of the system interact and collaborate. In doing so the authors provide data and information on which policy assumptions are valid and which aren't, which rules are helpful and which are hindrances, and how the various players in this game assess its future. The result is an important contribution to the literature that explores the interface of business, government, and society--essential reading not only for academics, but also for corporate management concerned with business strategy and policy. Lee and the contributors point out that as technologies grow in complexity, companies often target their internal resources on core competencies and utilize outside sources for supporting knowledge or technology. As universities step into the marketplace, trying to make money through aggressive commercialization of their intellectual property, they face conflict of interest problems within their walls, as well as complex and often unfathomable intellectual property negotiations with the corporations with whom they deal. Their third major point is that with declining R&D budgets but increasingly tough competition, American faculty members are troubled by the collision of two powerful but not necessarily complementary motives: the need for external funding for research and the need to preserve academic freedom and intellectual autonomy. How these issues and problems are dealt with is carefully and readably explored in this volume, which will contribute significantly to the ongoing debate.
The New Public Service: Serving, not Steering provides a framework for the many voices calling for the reaffirmation of democratic values, citizenship, and service in the public interest. It is organized around a set of seven core principles: (1) serve citizens, not customers; (2) seek the public interest; (3) value citizenship and public service above entrepreneurship; (4) think strategically, act democratically; (5) recognize that accountability isn't simple; (6) serve, rather than steer; and (7) value people, not just productivity. The New Public Service asks us to think carefully and critically about what public service is, why it is important, and what values ought to guide what we do and how we do it. It celebrates what is distinctive, important, and meaningful about public service and considers how we might better live up to those ideals and values. The revised fourth edition includes a new chapter that examines how the role and significance of these New Public Service values have expanded in practice and research over the past 15 years. Although the debate about governance will surely continue for many years, this compact, clearly written volume both provides an important framework for a public service based on citizen discourse and the public interest and demonstrates how these values have been put into practice. It is essential reading fo students and serious practitioners in public administration and public policy.
Beginning with the decade of the nineties, the idea of strategic management of government and nonprofit organizations burst upon the scene. Traditionally, governments have been thought of as being unchanging, resistant to change, or at the most, changing by reaction to pressure. Strategic management suggests both the idea of adaptation to change forces as well as defining mission and concerting future organizational design and behavior accordingly, perhaps even changing the environment. Work force management is an important dimension of this new approach. Both direct and indirect compensation of this work force to achieve an array of possible objectives is a critical aspect of work force management. The strategic approach to public organizations is also concerned more than ever with obtaining optimal performance, however it may be defined. Compensation, as a subset, is very much part of this quest for organizational performance and performance improvement. Thus, there is a linkage of subparts, each with many potential alternatives: organizational mission/objectives, compensation objectives, compensation system design, and the role of pay in obtaining desired type and levels of performance. This design chain is the focus of this book.
This study fills a void in the literature of Latin American politics by offering a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the state and its bureaucratic components in the various nations of the region. The author notes at the onset that the complexity of the state apparatus in Latin America--ranging from the entrenched bureaucracy of Brazil to the minimal administrative capabilities of Nicaragua--presents both a challenge and a problem for analysts. His unique contribution here is combining an overview of public bureaucracy in Latin America with a series of country and regional profiles. With this basis for analysis established, Graham focuses on changes in the state, the society, and the economy that have occurred over the past two decades in order to develop a set of new perspectives on Latin American politics and economics. Organized into three sections, the study begins with three chapters that address the centrality of the state, the structural dimensions of the Latin American public sector, and issues in administrative reform. Country profiles of Mexico, Brazil, and Nicaragua and a study of regional variations in development policy make up Part Two. The final section includes comparisons of Latin American nations with selected European nations--an unusual juxtaposition that further enhances the readers understanding of the Latin American experience. Throughout, three themes tie the analysis of the state to its broader context in the surrounding polity, economy, and society: the performance of the state in the provision of basic services; the spatial dimensions of public administration and management; and the extension of state activities throughout society. The author's analytical framework thus entails identifying the structures that condition policy implementation, clarifying the spatial dimensions that shape public policy, and utilizing intergovernmental relations and field administration constructs to establish the centralization/decentralization mix required to reintegrate politics with policy and with organizations in the pursuit of more effective programs.
Sims and the contributors to this challenging new volume maintain that public sector organizations must radically reinvent themselves, if they are to survive and succeed in their missions: to provide quality service to their clients at a cost taxpayers can afford (or are willing to pay). They offer a firsthand look at how change occurs at all levels of government, and from this and other experiences they lay out strategies and tools that others in government can use quickly and with good results in their own public organizations. However, Sims and his panel of experts also note that not everything in organizational change will produce positive benefits; some results will be negative, and these too must be understood and dealt with. By compiling the viewpoints, advice, experiences, recommendations of public managers themselves, plus consultants, academics, and citizens who benefit from government (and are often its harshest critics), Sims gives readers a solid, realistic insight into the problems of today's public agencies, and workable advice on how to solve them. "Accountability and Radical Change in Public Organizations" examines the current government and reinvention initiative occurring in public organizations at the local, county, state, federal and international levels. The book highlights the importance of understanding that change in government will continue to be a way of life for public managers, thus requiring an ongoing analysis of those forces driving change and the need to increase our understanding of why certain change efforts work and others fail miserably in government. The contributors to this volume emphasize that while reinvention, accountability, and change are serious initiatives that public managers must confront they must take caution and learn from each others' experiences.
This volume focuses on what many see as an iminent crisis in the public sector, and particularly in the federal government-the possibility that, due to the realities of workforce demographics, poor leadership, lack of competitiveness in the labor market, and demotivating worker conditions, the public service will not maintain its capacity to manage programs, execute laws, and effectively deliver services for the American people. Larry Lane and James Wolf examine the significant human resource problems now confronting federal agencies, addressing these issues from a demographic, organizational, political, and cultural perspective. Arguing that the revitalization of the public service demands an effective, responsible, energetic, and committed workforce, they recommend concrete solutions and strategies aimed at stabilizing the current situation and contributing to a stronger and more effective public service over the long term. Following an introductory statement of major issues, Lane and Wolf explore the crucial roles of the public service in a democratic system of governance and assess the factors that now put the system at risk. They then introduce four conceptual lenses that can be used as an analytical tool to understand the problems of the public service and to develop solutions for assuring the supply, preparedness, productivity, and dedication of government employees. The authors first look at employment flow-the problem of maintaining workforce cadres over time. They examine problems of attraction and retention, inadequacies in system personnel policies, and the necessity for workforce planning. Turning to a discussion of competence in the workforce, the authors examine systemicblocks to the development of competence and offer strategies for addressing the competence issue. The next two chapters treat the concepts of energy and commitment, exploring ways to foster an organizational culture that encourages productivity, continuous improvement, and a long-term commitment to public service. The final chapter presents a detailed set of proposals, options, and initiatives for rebuilding the public service. Administrators, policy-makers, personnel officers, and students of public administration will find this work a significant contribution toward understanding and resolving the public sector's intensifying human resource problems.
Sir Henry Taylor's classic treatise The Statesman, originally published in 1836, is the first modern book to be devoted to the subject of public administration. It has been read and studied by generations for its keen insights into the relationship between public administrators and elected officials in a democracy. It has also been appreciated for its wit. The present volume is the first twentieth-century edition to be based on the revised and expanded text that Taylor published in 1878 as part of his Collected Works. It is also the first edition to be fully annotated. The lengthy editors' introduction to this volume emphasizes the relevance of Taylor's thought to the fundamental issues of public administration in the contemporary United States. The editors demonstrate the superiority of Taylor's understanding of the relationship between politics and administration to the widely accepted model of that relation that derives from the thought of Woodrow Wilson. Above all, they argue, Taylor's insights merit our attention because they indicate how a properly organized civil service can be a locus of statesmanship in a democracy, fulfilling the intentions of the authors of the American Constitution in a contemporary context that differs significantly from what the Founders themselves anticipated.
Designed as a text for upper-level undergraduate-and graduate-level courses in public administration, public management, public policy, organizational behavior, this book looks at how people work effectively in public organizations. Written entirely by experienced practitioners, the text is unique in that it addresses throughout both the practical concerns of the working administrator and those of the theorist. By using their own on-the-job experiences as illustrative samples, the contributors clearly demonstrate how theory can improve practice and how practice can be used to generate theories. Following an introductory chapter by the editor on the role of practitioners in the intellectual development of public administration, the text is divided into four sections. Part One, on the individual in public organizations, covers the ways in which managers learn and teach, presents an alternative contemplative paradigm of organizational behavior, and explores the role of the heroic individual in public administration. Part Two focuses on other people and public organizations, examining such issues as organizational learning, internal evaluation in organizations, organizational pathologies, and controlling conflict. Turning to the question of structure and public organizations, the contributors address ways in which organizational structure can be influenced, describe a learning model of organization, identify archetypes in organizations, and analyze the structure of power in public organizations. The final section looks at the management and leadership skills necessary to be successful in public administration.
Since the height of the privatization debate in the 1990s, changes in government policy have resulted in significant transformation in the public sector. Some organizations have made the transition from government bureaucracy to business venture successfully; others have struggled to relinquish their traditional bureaucratic culture. In this book, Pillay and Bilney explore the cultural changes occurring within the public sector and the effects that government mandated change initiatives have actually had. The culmination of this book was due to the subject expertise and guidance of Professor Robert Jones at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. It provides perspectives on the efficacy of cultural change in the Australian public sector, and explores the practical implications for society and government as it seeks to entrench the culture of the citizen as customer. It is particularly useful for researchers and organizations searching for ways to improve service delivery within the confines of particular market positions.
This new work offers a substantive political theory approach to organizational theory. It differs significantly from most organizational perspectives in that it applies political theory to four prevalent organizational models found in administration today. Most such models fall within the province of government or corporate management and fail to deal with the democratic and public dimensions of organization. In this study, Davis examines various organizational theories' prospects to generate authentic public organization. He also suggests alternative considerations by which to facilitate more genuine public organization. An important contribution to the literature in organizational theory and public administration, this work will be of interest to scholars and students in these and related fields.
This text is a must for all aspiring or serving policy supervisors. It sincerely deals with a problem that has perplexed police union representatives and could go a long way toward easing labor/management confrontations regarding marginal police performance. "Robert B. Kliesmet, General President, International Union of Police Associations, AFL-CIO" "Burnout in Blue: Managing The Marginal Police Performer" is an important contribution to professional law enforcement. Today, as never before, the volume of crime and the limited resources allocated to provide police services places tremendous demands on our law enforcemtn agecies. This already difficult situation is compounded further by police employees who perform at a marginal level, thus diminishing the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. The information provided in this book is well researched, insightful, and practical in terms of its application to productive and successful police operations. It is must reading' for every police supervisor and manager. "Jerald R. Vaugh, Executive Director, International Association of Chiefs of Police" "Burnout in Blue" confronts the problem of poor police performance and shows police supervisors how to identify and deal effectively with marginal, unresponsive subordinates. Few if any books in the field offer such concrete, practical guidelines for improved police performance.
In 1972 the United States Congress established the Office of
Technology Assessment (OTA) as a small analytical agency to become
better informed about implications of new and emerging
technologies. OTA's principal products - technology assessments -
were designed to inform Congressional deliberations and debates
about issues that involved science and technology dimensions but
without recommending specific policy actions.
Intended as a text for master's level students in public administration and public policy, this volume provides an introductory survey of the field that focuses on the structures of operation, management, and environments of modern governments. The contributors address federal, state, and local governments as well as intergovernmental relations, discussing such topics as fiscal management, policy analysis, program evaluation, management and administration, marketing, and the developmental progress of national governments. Their aim throughout is to distill for the reader a solid base of current knowledge about the field of public administration and the challenges it offers to practitioners as we move into the 1990s. The volume begins with an introductory chapter which addresses current and evolving issues in U.S. public administration and demonstrates the ways in which political, social, and economic trends impact upon modern governments and their managers. The functions and structure of the federal bureaucracy and state and local governments are described in detail in two chapters, followed by a chapter by editor Marcia Whicker that explores intergovernmental relations. The contributors then turn to an examination of government operations in the fiscal management, policy analysis, and program evaluation arenas. Three chapters discuss management issues, including organizational theory, leadership, and personnel administration. Finally, the text addresses the use and adaptation of private sector marketing techniques, the developmental progress of national governments, and the evolution of historical/philosophical values that constitute the framework for future governance.
A public manager herself and successful consultant in the public sector, Camaron Thomas argues for a whole new way of being a public manager. She introduces a new paradigm for how the public sector should work: a collaborative, functional environment in which fast-paced, purposeful change, civility, and initiative are actually the norm. Real, positive change is part of every employee's job; control in the public sector must be replaced with shared responsibility, and for her new paradigm to be realized it must be understood and internalized by managers one at a time. This book argues for a whole new way of "being" a public manager, one that affects what managers do, how they do it, and who they are as people. It replaces the concept of agencies and control with shared responsibility, and tests the idea in the arena of public sector budgeting. Most importantly, it recognizes that it is managers themselves who must change, if the profession is ever going to improve. This book is written for the 19 million plus current public sector managers, who grind through every day. It's also written for their successors, for whom the task only promises to be more difficult.
This study of leadership in the British civil service draws the lessons of how change in central government can be managed and implemented from a series of biographical studies of the acknowledged leaders in the civil service in the 19th and 20th centuries, from Charles Trevelyan, the founder of the modern civil service, to modern Mandarins such as Robert Armstrong and Margaret Thatcher's personal adviser the outsider Sir Derek Rayner. The case studies are linked to the wider themes of leadership and administrative culture in Whitehall, illustrating the patterns of change and continuity over time.
The main focus of the book is institutional change in the Scandinavian model, with special emphasis on Norway. There are many reasons to pay closer attention to the Norwegian case when it comes to analyses of changes in the public sphere. In the country's political history, the arts and the media played a particular role in the processes towards sovereignty at the beginning of the 20th century. On a par with the other Scandinavian countries, Norway is in the forefront in the world in the distribution and uses of Internet technology. As an extreme case, the most corporatist society within the family of the "Nordic Model", it offers an opportunity both for intriguing case studies and for challenging and refining existing theory on processes of institutional change in media policy and cultural policy. It supplements two recent, important books on political economy in Scandinavia: Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity (Kathleen Thelen, 2014), and The Political Construction of Business Interests (Cathie Jo Martin and Duane Swank, 2013). There are further reasons to pay particular attention to the Scandinavian, and more specifically the Norwegian cases: (i) They are to varying degrees neo-corporatist societies, characterized by ongoing bargaining over social and political reform processes. From a theoretical perspective this invites reflections which, to some extent, are at odds with the dominant conceptions of institutional change. Neither models of path dependency nor models of aggregate, incremental change focus on the continuous social bargaining over institutional change. (ii) Despite recent processes of liberalization, common to the Western world as a whole, corporatism implies a close connection between state, public sphere, cultural life, and religion. This also means that institutions are closely bundled, in an even stronger way than assumed for example in the Varieties of Capitalism literature. Furthermore, we only have scarce insight in the way the different spheres of corporatism are connected and interact. In the proposed edited volume we have collected historical-institutional case studies from a broad set of social fields (a detailed outline of contents and contributors is attached): * Critical assessments of Jurgen Habermas' theory of the public sphere * Can the public sphere be considered an institution? * The central position of the public sphere in social and political change in Norway * Digital transformations and effects of the growing PR industry on the public sphere * Institutionalization of social media in local politics and voluntary organizations * Legitimation work in the public sphere * freedom of expression and warning in the workplace * "Return of religion" to the public sphere, and its effects |
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