Instructor's Manual also available -- please call 1-800-818-7243 or email [email protected]

"The fifteen case studies in this book place the reader in a wide variety of real public health leadership situations. . . . Each situation is presented to the student with the swirl of communications, conflicts, and conundrums that I have found accompany any difficult public health leadership judgement. The case writers have done a very good job of placing the student in public health decisional situations that, to me, feel like the reality of my own professional life."

The six chapters and fifteen cases contained in this book challenge students to ask the appropriate questions and stimulate their thinking about public health leadership and management.

• a framework and tools for case analysis, and
• the important environmental context of the health care system in general and public health systems specifically.

• are all based on actual situations faced by real public health leaders
• encompass all of the core disciplines in public health
• are geographically diverse, and include international content, and
• provide substantial detail that immerses the student in meaningful decisional simulations.

The situations presented by each case are vivid and provide not only a basis for practicing professional public health judgements but also provide a lasting impression that aids in retention of the lessons learned.

As academic disciplines, public administration and public policy programs have struggled to link theoretical and conceptual grounding with practical application. Students often have discrete courses in human resources, finance, organizational behavior, policy analysis, and planning, but rarely are they offered an opportunity to pursue these through actual cases and problems facing public managers.

The Public Manager Case Book is a collection of eight public administration cases that allows students to practice the decision-making skills they will need in their jobs as public managers. Each case focuses on the local administrative issues managers most often face in their day-to-day responsibilities, and each encourages students to collaborate with others in order to gain the necessary cooperation and information. The cases are multi-dimensional and challenge students and professors to draw from a variety of knowledge areas to develop alternative recommendations, decisions, or actions.

An instructor's manual is available for useful background material, references, theoretical and conceptual framework, and teaching tips.

About the Editor

Terrel L. Rhodes is Professor of Public Administration and Vice Provost for Curriculum and Undergraduate Studies at Portland State University.