This book explores the management of change to improve public service effectiveness. It breaks new ground in addressing why public service change is becoming increasingly complex to manage, how people cope with this new complexity, what implications arise for improving policy and practice, and which avenues for further research and theory-building look particularly promising. The contributors are all leading researchers from the USA, Canada and the UK. Together they provide a synthesis of state-of-the-art thinking on the complex change process in Anglo-American contexts, policy-making for public service reform that generates managerial complexity, and practice in service organizations to improve provision. Special reference is made to education and health: the largest and most complex of the public services. The analysis has wider relevance for other public services and national contexts. Managing Change in the Public Services is essential reading for all concerned with public service improvement - leaders and managers in service organizations, administrators, trainers, advisers and consultants who support the management of change, policy-makers and public servants, and advanced course students and academics. The book also offers general insights for the theory and practice of managing organizational and systemic change.

Carolyn Ban breaks new ground by analyzing the European Commission from a public management perspective. Based on extensive interviews conducted over six years, it explores how the European Commission faced the challenge of enlargement, how it recruited and socialized thousands of new staff members, and its success in integrating newcomers. It argues that nationality was less important in understanding the newcomers than expected and, conversely, that gender was more important than expected, as one of the major effects of enlargement was to shift the organization's gender balance. It includes an analysis of language use and language politics as an important part of organizational culture. The work provides a lively and readable picture of life within the Commission. Melding management with sociology, anthropology, and linguistics, contributes to the growing literature on international organizations. It will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, students, and to those who hope to pursue international careers.

Since the late 1990s, new strategies concerning the role and shape of welfare states have been formulated, many of which are guided by a logic of social investment. This book maps out this new perspective and assesses both its achievements and shortcomings. In doing so, it provides a critical analysis of social investment ideas and policies and opens up for discussion many of Europe's most pressing concerns--such as an aging population, the current economic crisis, and environmental issues-- and whether social investment can provide adequate responses to these challenges.

How are responses to urban policy challenges affected by new ideas about governance? How can we explain the governance transformations that result? And what are the consequences for democracy? This wide-ranging study of three European cities - Birmingham, Copenhagen and Rotterdam - shows how hybrid forms of governance emerge from the tensions between new visions and past legacies, and existing institutional arrangements and powerful actors. Hybrid governance includes public-private partnerships, stakeholders boards, and multi-actor forums operating at arm's length to institutions of representative democracy. Offering detailed studies of migration and neighbourhood policy, as well as a novel Q methodology analysis of public administrators' views on democracy, the book explores how actors generate new practices, shows how these develop, and evaluates the democratic implications. The book concludes that hybrid governance is both widespread and diverse, is spatially and policy specific and that actors - public managers, politicians and the public - contribute to hybrid designs in ways that promote and challenge democratic conventions.

"Clumsy Solutions for a Complex World" is a powerful and original statement on why well-intended attempts to alleviate pressing social ills too often derail, and how effective, efficient and broadly acceptable solutions to social problems can be found. It takes its cue from the idea that our endlessly changing and complex social worlds consist of ceaseless interactions between four ways of organizing, justifying and perceiving social relations. Each time one of these perspectives is excluded from collective decision-making, governance failure inevitably results. Successful solutions are therefore creative combinations of four opposing ways of organizing and thinking.

Much maligned in the past as wasteful and self-serving, government public relations provides several distinct services that can be used to advance the substantive mission of an agency in ways that save money, time, and effort. In the same manner as budgeting, HR, strategic planning, and performance assessment, public relations must be included in the contemporary public administrator's toolbox. Using unorthodox yet cost effective measures, public relations can increase the utilization of governmental goods and services, promote voluntary compliance with new laws, improve media relations, and strengthen the standing of the agency with the public at large. In short, public relations "is" public administration.

Addressing the theory, practice, and context of government public relations, Government Public Relations: A Reader compiles contemporary writings from international sources to provide an understanding of the importance, value, and uses of public relations as tools to advance the goals of government. Each section begins with an introductory overview and short preview of the section topic. The end of each section provides additional reading and a list of discussion questions that can help identify key points.

Beginning with an introduction to the general subject, the book focuses on the discrete purposes of public relations to make their benefit and application more tangible. Topics include media relations, public reporting, responsiveness, and outreach, as well as the integral role of PR in crisis management. The book stresses the "publicness" of government public relations as distinct from business PR and examines the increasing use of non-profit agencies to deliver governmentfunded services. The last section summarizes the overall themes along with trends likely to influence the future of the field such as globalization and e-reporting. An extensive appendix consists of an annotated bibliography of the historical literature.

This textbook reviews and systematically presents the use of the Internet in public administration and politics. Further, it employs a process-oriented layer model to define the opportunities for exchange and participation for all stakeholder groups, covering the following topics: eAssistance, eProcurement, eService, eContracting, eSettlement, eCollaboration, eDemocracy, and eCommunity. In turn, real-world case studies demonstrate the practical applications in industry, administration and research. The second edition of this book has been completely revised and extended, and includes several new case studies. It offers a valuable asset for students in Business, Economics and Political Sciences courses, as well as practitioners interested in emerging opportunities for digital exchange and participation in the knowledge society.

In Northern and Western Europe, and within the European Union, governance networks are increasingly conceived as an efficient and legitimate way of formulating and implementing public policy in a complex, differentiated and multilayered world. "Democratic Network Governance in Europe" aims to assess the recent experiences with governance in and through interactive networks at local, national and transnational levels.

In many countries and sectors, public procurement is developing from a functional orientation to an effective socio-economic policy lever. There is a great interest among managers and academics to learn from other countries' and other sectors' change initiatives and how they dealt with the challenges they encountered. This text provides such learning opportunities. It arises from the International Research Study on Public Procurement (IRSPP) and presents case studies of public procurement, covering diverse nations, sectors and issues.

The cases are combined with editorial commentary and contextualizing chapters to assist the student reader in understanding this complex topic. The text combines descriptions of cases of public procurement with cross case analysis to draw out the key dimensions to enable further examination of the key themes. Each case study concludes with three questions to aid its use as a teaching and training text.

Edited by a team of internationally recognised experts in the field this innovative text illustrates the strategies and innovations within public procurement on a global scale and highlights common problems that all countries encounter. Public Procurement will prove vital reading for anyone with an interest in this topical area.

There are several competing theoretical approaches to studying governance networks. However, methodological questions about how to study democratic network governance have so far received little research attention. "Methods in Democratic Network Governance" aims to remedy this problem by addressing some important methodological questions in relation to a comparative case study of the multilevel network governance of employment policy in Britain, France and Denmark.

This widely praised work provides a framework for the many voices calling for the reaffirmation of democratic values, citizenship, and service in the public interest. The expanded edition includes an all-new chapter that addresses the practical issues of applying these ideals in actual, real-life situations. "The New Public Service, Expanded Edition" is organized around a set of seven core principles: serve citizens, not customers; seek the public interest; value citizenship and public service above entrepreneurship; think strategically, act democratically; recognize that accountability isn't simple; serve, rather than steer; and value people, not just productivity. The book 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. All students and serious practitioners in public administration and public policy should read this book. While debates about public policy issues will surely continue, this compact, clearly written volume provides an important framework for public service based on and fully integrated with citizen discourse and the public interest.

Credit rating agencies play a powerful and contentious role in the governance of global financial markets. Introducing an original framework for delegating political authority to private actors, this book explains common trends in the regulatory use of private ratings for public purposes and analyzes regulatory changes after the Financial Crisis.

This book is unique in that it explores public sector reform from a strategic management perspective. The authors whose work is represented in the book examine seven strategies for public management reform: (1) increases in accountability, (2) decentralization and delegation of authority and responsibility for decision making and management, (3) application of information technology to improve management and responsiveness of governments to citizens, (4) developing and improving management control systems in the public sector, (5) measures to reduce corruption in government, business and society, (6) development and use of performance indicators, and (7) integration of performance measurement and management in public organizations. Authors address the need for and application of various strategies, and impediments to implementation of each strategy. Case analysis is used to derive findings and conclusions.

When one thinks about how collective decisions are made, voting is the method that comes naturally to mind. But other methods such as random process and consensus are also used. This book explores just what a collective decision is, classifies the methods of making collective decisions, and identifies the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Classification is the prelude to evaluation. What are the characteristics of a method of making collective decisions, the book asks, that permit us to describe a collective decision as good? The second part of the book is detailed exploration of voting: the dimensions in which voting situations differ, the origins and logic of majority rule, the frequency of cycles in voting, the Arrow and Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorems, criteria for ways of cutting through cycles and the application of these criteria to a variety of rules, voting over continuums, proportional representation, and voting rules that take account of intensities of preferences. Relatively unknown methods of voting give voting a much greater potential than is generally recognized. Collective Decisions and Voting is essential reading for everyone with an interest in voting theory and in how public choices might be made.

Globalization transcends borders and cultures as it develops both from the natural flow of information and communication technologies and as a directed and driven quest for global hegemony by self-serving corporations and world political heavyweights. It bears a multifaceted web of influence that manifests in inequalities in growth, prosperity, and accountability in varying social, cultural, and economic contexts. The Handbook of Globalization, Governance, and Public Administration is the first comprehensive resource that untangles this complex knot of issues. Mapping the multi-layered relationships among the individuals, local and national governments, international organizations, global corporations, natural resources and the world market, this encyclopedic volume is both a primer and a guide for researchers, academics, and policymakers both public and private. The book demonstrates in broad terms how globalization presents new threats to national sovereignty, the environment and public health, tends to increase worldwide inequality, and produces global insecurity. Using country-specific cases, the essays examine the role of bureaucracy and market orientation in Hong Kong and China, the new position of public-private partnerships in Africa as protectors instead of exploiters of the people, a Russian implementation of incentive systems to maintain local growth, and the fruitless corruption of a land development scheme in India. Ethics and the need for future global consciousness is illustrated by energy policy, which pits consumers and business interests against local communities and is moderated only by supranational organizations. The solution calls for sustainable development to be grounded in community-based institutions while governments seek growth through market expansion worldwide. Concerns for public health, climate change, and sustainable energy are growing in the global village and understanding the multi-dimensional chess game is key to survival.

Singapore was ranked first for the competence of its public officials from 1999 to 2002 by "The Global Competitiveness Report". While research has been done on various aspects of public administration in Singapore, there is to date no comprehensive study of the Singapore Civil Service and the statutory boards and their contribution to the attainment of national development goals. The aim of this book is to rectify this gap in the literature by providing a detailed study of public administration Singapore-style. Public administration Singapore-style is characterized by these features: macho-meritocracy; competing with the private sector for talent; low level of corruption; reliance on institutional and attitudinal administrative reforms; reliance on statutory boards to implement socio-economic development programs; effective policy implementation, improving service to the public; and using policy diffusion to solve problems. The book's main thesis is that the nature of public administration in Singapore results from the combined influence of Singapore's policy context and the various policies introduced by the People's Action Party government since it assumed office in June 1959, 50 years ago.

Niall Sinclair, a well-known official in the Canadian Government and in Knowledge Management, presents an innovative way to circumvent the inflexibility of government bureaucracy to drive successful knowledge management initiatives in the public sector. Sinclair proposes a technique that has been proven to work in his own governmental area of 20,000 employees that enables executives and professionals, especially those in government and public institutions, to implement KM programs successfully and circumvent KM critics.

"Theories of Democratic Network Governance" aims to renew and refocus the political and scholarly debate on the use of governance networks in public policy making by raising and answering a series of questions about the dynamics of governance networks, the conditions for governance network success and failure, the forms and functions of metagovernance (defined as the regulation of self-regulating networks) and the democratic implications of network governance. In an attempt to answer these pressing questions, the contributors draw on a wide range of theoretical approaches within governance network theory, institutional theory and democratic theory.

This practically-focused text presents a hands-on guide to making biometric technology work in real-life scenarios. Extensively revised and updated, this new edition takes a fresh look at what it takes to integrate biometrics into wider applications. An emphasis is placed on the importance of a complete understanding of the broader scenario, covering technical, human and implementation factors. This understanding may then be exercised through interactive chapters dealing with educational software utilities and the BANTAM Program Manager. Features: provides a concise introduction to biometrics; examines both technical issues and human factors; highlights the importance of a broad understanding of biometric technology implementation from both a technical and operational perspective; reviews a selection of freely available utilities including the BANTAM Program Manager; considers the logical next steps on the path from aspiration to implementation, and looks towards the future use of biometrics in context.

Every developed country has a public employment service that connects job seekers with employers through information, placement, and training support services. In Federalism in Action, Donna E. Wood assesses how Canada's public employment service is performing after responsibility was transferred from the federal government to provinces, territories, and Aboriginal organizations between 1995 and 2015. Drawing upon over twenty years of data, Wood reveals the governance choices provinces made, the reasons behind these choices, and the outcomes they achieved. Provincial decisions regarding employment programming is an important public policy issue about which little is known, and even less understood within the context of Aboriginal communities. Federalism in Action includes analytical comparisons of Canada's employment programming with the United States, Australia, and the European Union, as well as information from insightful interviews with key informants from every province. In firmly placing Canada within the extensive international literature on the governance of welfare-to-work policies, this book makes an important new contribution to research.

In the knowledge economy, the value of corporations is directly related to their knowledge and intellectual capital. But broaden the perspective a little wider and you begin to see the possibilities: Think of cities, regions, even entire nations, in addition to the public sector. If intangibles and intellectual capital are important to the private sector, they are also important to the productivity and competitiveness of the public sector, and so to communities and nations as a whole. In this book, Editors Ahmed Bounfour and Leif Edivinsson have brought together the best minds in intellectual capital throughout the world to focus on a new and fertile area of research: measuring and managing the intellectual capital of communities. This is a creative and cutting-edge area of research that has the potential to change how public sector planning and development is done. Once there is a clear way to identify where wealth is created in a given region/nation, this process has the potential to reveal a huge knowledge repository in the public sector with a significant but idle potential for collective wealth creation the wealth of nations in waiting.

This book explores the extent to which a transformation of public employment regimes has taken place in four Western countries, and the factors influencing the pathways of reform. It demonstrates how public employment regimes have unravelled in different domains of public service, contesting the idea that the state remains a 'model' employer.