Managing to Improve Public Services

Cambridge University Press, 11/20/2008
EAN 9780521708272, ISBN10: 0521708273

Paperback, 316 pages, 24.7 x 17.4 x 1.8 cm
Language: English

How are public service organizations governed? How can their performance be measured, managed and improved? Public services play a central role in the well-being, sustainability and growth of communities, cities and nations. Managing to Improve Public Services shows how management can be harnessed to improve a range of public services (e.g. policing, health, local government) by examining them through different theoretical lenses (e.g. governance, innovation and change, performance metrics and management). It advances both theory and practice, beyond traditional public administration and 'new public management', by considering the interrelationships between governance and public management. The book is written by a group of leading social science and management specialists, who were awarded the prestigious ESRC/EPSRC Public Service Fellow awards as part of the Advanced Institute of Management Research initiative. It will be of interest to graduate students, academics and policy makers involved in public service management and performance measurement.

List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Preface Robin Wensley
1. The agenda for public service improvement Jean Hartley and Chris Skelcher
Part I. Governance and Accountability
2. Does governance perform? Concepts, evidence, causalities and research strategies Chris Skelcher
3. Performativity, management and governance Paul M. Collier
4. Critical assessment of performance measurement for policy making Michael Pidd
5. Priority setting in the public sector
turning economics into a management process Cam Donaldson, Angela Bate, Craig Mitton, Stuart Peacock and Danny Ruta
Part II. Performance Metrics
6. Public service productivity
new approaches to performance measurement in health sectors Mary O'Mahony, Philip Stevens and Lucy Stokes
7. Performance measurement systems and the criminal justice system
rationales and rationalities Barbara Townley
8. Valuing public sector outputs Rachel Baker, Helen Mason, Cam Donaldson and Michael Jones-Lee
9. The use of geodemographics to improve public service delivery Paul A. Longley and Michael Goodchild
Part III. Managing Innovation and Change
10. The innovation landscape for public service organizations Jean Hartley
11. Innovation type and organizational performance
an empirical exploration Richard M. Walker and Fariborz Damanpour
12. Public service failure and turnaround
towards a contingency model George Boyne
13. Orchestrating complex and programmatic change in the public services Mike Wallace and Michael Fertig
Postscript
14. Conclusions
current themes and future direction for research Cam Donaldson, Jean Hartley, Chris Skelcher and Mike Wallace
Index.

'This is an important volume by an impressive collection of UK and international public management scholars, many of them linked to the major AIM Public Services research initiative. It combines a broad overview of current key developments and debates in public management, with valuable in depth chapters covering key topics. Its style is scholarly but clear and will appeal to reflective practitioners and academics alike.' Ewan Ferlie, King's College London