Cutback management is a way of life for most public and private sector organizations today, and the factors leading to its presence are expected to be felt well into the 1990's and beyond. At the same time, organizations are being faced with a changed internal culture where employees want and need to be involved in decisions that affect them. The author, who has been at the forefront of assisting organizations in effectively managing both external and internal change, explores the trends impacting state and local governments in the next decade and beyond, describes the cutback management environment that policy and decision makers face, and lays out effective approaches to deal with this environment from the bottom of the organization upward. In this manner, organizations that identify techniques to improve revenues and reduce costs can find lasting solutions that are accepted at all organizational levels.

After reviewing the 15 major trends expected to impact state and local governments during the 1990's and beyond, the author describes the cutback management environment being faced by most state and local governments. He then describes in detail how to set a direction to address the cutback management environment through the application of strategic planning and goes on to describe how to organize around critical success factors in order to focus resources on achievement of the organizational mission in light of external and internal environmental factors. He explores various techniques for improving employee productivity, ranging from the use of new technology to better management systems to various types of employee involvement. He then discusses the importance of values in the achievement of a shared organizational vision and describes various employee involvement processes that can be used to secure buy-in by employees at all levels where organizational changes are underway. Among other issues explored in depth are the use of matrix management to improve productivity in a project-oriented environment and contingency planning to deal with unforeseen events. The book culminates with a description of how to use strategic management as a day-to-day tool for effective bottom-up cutback management, and provides real-life case situations of how state and local governments are effectively dealing with the cutback and involvement processes. This book is aimed at state and local government policy and decision makers.

Designed for local government managers and administrators, this pioneering work offers a clear and comprehensive guide to the use of strategic planning techniques in the public sector. The author presents a concise overview of the strategic planning process, defines the terms involved, and provides a step-by-step methodology for organizations ready to move into the actual implementation of strategic planning. In addition to differentiating between community-based, corporate, functional, and defined-purpose strategic planning processes, Mercer explains the delineation between strategic and tactical planning and offers practical approaches to overcoming barriers to the use of strategic planning in the public sector arena. Throughout, the author makes extensive use of case studies of strategic planning programs implemented by a variety of local government and public sector organizations.

Mercer begins by describing how strategic planning can be both an effective tool for dealing with change and a technique of organizational development. He goes on to provide detailed instructions on how to prepare to conduct strategic planning, how to determine strategic issues, the importance of a values audit, and how to develop an environmental scan or assessment. Subsequent chapters address determining organizational threats and opportunities, composing the mission statement, defining critical success factors and indicators, planning strategies, and assessing strategic risks and benefits. Finally, the author shows how to perform an internal assessment of ability to actually adopt and carry out strategies, the importance of contingency planning, and how to tie strategic planning to the budget and evaluate the process. The public sector manager experienced with strategic planning techniques can use the guide as a handy reference to particular aspects of the process, while those new to strategic planning will find this an indispensable aid in developing and implementing their own internal strategic planning processes.