This timely Handbook examines performance management research specific to the public sector and its contexts, and provides suggestions for future developments in the field. It demonstrates the need for performance management to be reconceptualized as a core component of business both within and across organizations, and how it must be embedded in both strategic decision-making and as a day-to-day leadership and management practice in order to be effective. Addressing multiple levels of analysis, the Handbook shows how performance management can enable high performance if governance, systems, organization and individual components are aligned. Written by an international team of both academics and practitioners, chapters offer insights into why changes in practice need to occur, how to make such changes possible, and what these changes require from a practical standpoint. The Handbook also highlights current limitations in public sector performance management and suggests new initiatives for performance management frameworks. Scholars of public policy in human resources, administration and management looking for exemplary current research in these fields will find this Handbook invaluable. It will also be of interest to public administration and human resources practitioners looking to develop new practice and create new ways of thinking and behaving in the aftermath of global upheaval.

In the 21st century governments are increasingly focusing on designing ways and means of connecting across boundaries to achieve goals. Whether issues are complex and challenging climate change, international terrorism, intergenerational poverty or more straightforward - provision of a single point of entry to government or delivering integrated public services - practitioners and scholars increasingly advocate the use of approaches which require connections across various boundaries, be they organizational, jurisdictional or sectorial.

Governments around the world continue to experiment with various approaches but still confront barriers, leading to a general view that there is considerable promise in cross boundary working, but that this is often unfulfilled. This book explores a variety of topics in order to create a rich survey of the international experience of cross-boundary working. The book asks fundamental questions such as:

• What do we mean by the notion of crossing boundaries?
• Why has this emerged?
• What does cross boundary working involve?
• What are the critical enablers and barriers?

By scrutinizing these questions, the contributing authors examine: the promise; the barriers; the enablers; the enduring tensions; and the potential solutions to cross-boundary working. As such, this will be an essential read for all those involved with public administration, management and policy.

When reading current human capital management or human resources management textbooks, it is clear that many do not reflect current research. Even new Strategic HRM books are only recently reporting research that has been widely discussed in academic journals over the last 10 years. Discussion with those who span the academic/practice worlds shows that they have regularly been struck by the dissonance between the journals and the texts. They agree that there should be more commonality but suggest that, although some of the HRM journal articles may carry some implications for practice, many do not. They are often vague as to the real potential value of the research and only outline potential interventions in a very rudimentary way. Covering a range of topics which affect the way that human capital is attracted, developed, managed and supported, this book presents recent research which can be applied to the real world. Written by practitioners with academics, each chapter provides an overview of the research, as well as the links to current human capital management practices and identifying potential implications for future implementation. The book is designed to be of interest to academic researchers, university professors and graduate students, and to management scientists, industry economists, government officials, public policy developers and analysts, research and laboratory managers, marketing, human resources and operations managers, in fact anyone who is interested at understanding the current progress of human resources management and human capital development.

When reading current human capital management or human resources management textbooks, it is clear that many do not reflect current research. Even new Strategic HRM books are only recently reporting research that has been widely discussed in academic journals over the last 10 years. Discussion with those who span the academic/practice worlds shows that they have regularly been struck by the dissonance between the journals and the texts. They agree that there should be more commonality but suggest that, although some of the HRM journal articles may carry some implications for practice, many do not. They are often vague as to the real potential value of the research and only outline potential interventions in a very rudimentary way. Covering a range of topics which affect the way that human capital is attracted, developed, managed and supported, this book presents recent research which can be applied to the real world. Written by practitioners with academics, each chapter provides an overview of the research, as well as the links to current human capital management practices and identifying potential implications for future implementation. The book is designed to be of interest to academic researchers, university professors and graduate students, and to management scientists, industry economists, government officials, public policy developers and analysts, research and laboratory managers, marketing, human resources and operations managers, in fact anyone who is interested at understanding the current progress of human resources management and human capital development.

This book discusses whether the pursuit of learning organisation status leads to behaviours that close an organisation to new knowledge. Discussion of three assumptions derived from literature indicates that developing learning processes may not automatically result in useful knowledge. Consideration of learning organisation models, power, potential system closure, knowledge levels and individual preferences suggests that instead the outputs may lead to an organisation effectively reversing the knowledge development cycle, effectively closing the system. Moreover epistemological study indicates that, whilst the models are assumed to be rational in nature, the organisational knowledge is constructed. This mismatch, plus a lack of challenge, is shown to undermine an organisation's ability to recognise or use its knowledge. Four implications are identified: that idea generation becomes less important than idea recognition and use; that knowledge recognition becomes severely limited; that the presence of putative knowledge prevents transformation and that developing learning organisation activities inhibits change.