Synopses & Reviews
The public sector continues to play a strategic role across the world. The last thirty years have seen major shifts in approaches to public sector management in many countries. There is also a fierce debate across academic disciplines about contemporary public administration/management: some advocate the use of more managerialist approaches; while others see managerialism as undermining democratic institutions. New roles have arisen, such as programme evaluation, management consulting, and reliance on NGOs and partnerships, which require new assessments. There is an intensified need for an analysis of contemporary public sector organisations, which are changing rapidly before our eyes.
It is thus time for an authoritative treatment of the major trends in public management, embracing both their intended and unintended consequences. This Handbook brings together leading international scholars to comment on key current issues. The individual chapters include broad overviews, in depth explorations of particular thematic areas and analyses of different theoretical perspectives such as political science, management, sociology and economics. The authors have space to develop their distinctive arguments. The editors provide an overall concluding chapter. The Handbook combines scholarly rigour, engaging writing and high policy relevance. It will be invaluable to advanced students, researchers and reflective public sector practitioners.
About the Series
Oxford Handbooks in Business and Management bring together the world's leading scholars on the subject to discuss current research and the latest thinking in a range of interrelated topics including Strategy, Organizational Behavior, Public Management, International Business, and many others. Containing completely new essays with extensive referencing to further reading and key ideas, the volumes, in hardback or paperback, serve as both a thorough introduction to a topic and a useful desk reference for scholars and advanced students alike.
Review
"The book is a success. It meets the aims set out at the beginning and does so in a way that is erudite, but accessible, comprehensive, but not overly complex. It deserves its place on the reading list and the library shelves."--Journal of Public Administration, Vol.84, No.4, 2006
"It will merit its place on the library shelves for you and for your students for a good few years."--Local Government Studies
"The Oxford Handbook of Public Management is an invaluable source for anyone interested in public management scholarship. The chapters provide an excellent starting point for researchers interested in specific areas. Many of its chapters are suitable for public management graduate courses and, in some cases, offer the most polished overview of a specific topic I have read."--Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory
Synopsis
The public sector continues to play a strategic role across the world. The last thirty years have seen major shifts in approaches to public sector management in many countries. There is also a fierce debate across academic disciplines about contemporary public administration/management: some advocate the use of more managerialist approaches; while others see managerialism as undermining democratic institutions. New roles have arisen, such as programme evaluation, management consulting, and reliance on NGOs and partnerships, which require new assessments. There is an intensified need for an analysis of contemporary public sector organisations, which are changing rapidly before our eyes.
It is thus time for an authoritative treatment of the major trends in public management, embracing both their intended and unintended consequences. This Handbook brings together leading international scholars to comment on key current issues. The individual chapters include broad overviews, in depth explorations of particular thematic areas and analyses of different theoretical perspectives such as political science, management, sociology and economics. The authors have space to develop their distinctive arguments. The editors provide an overall concluding chapter. The Handbook combines scholarly rigour, engaging writing and high policy relevance. It will be invaluable to advanced students, researchers and reflective public sector practitioners.
About the Series
Oxford Handbooks in Business and Management bring together the world's leading scholars on the subject to discuss current research and the latest thinking in a range of interrelated topics including Strategy, Organizational Behavior, Public Management, International Business, and many others. Containing completely new essays with extensive referencing to further reading and key ideas, the volumes, in hardback or paperback, serve as both a thorough introduction to a topic and a useful desk reference for scholars and advanced students alike.
About the Author
Ewan Ferlie has previously worked at the Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Kent (1979-1986) and then the Centre for Corporate Strategy and Change, Warwick Business School (1986-1997), University of Warwick. He was awarded a personal chair there in 1996. Between 1997 and 2003, he was a Professor at Imperial College Business School, London, and joined the School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London as Professor and Head of Department in autumn 2003. He is also Director of the Centre of Public Services Organisations there. He has also been a non executive member on Warwickshire Health Authority.
Laurence E. Lynn Jr. graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, after which he undertook doctoral study at Yale University, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in economics, and a stint in the U.S. Army, Lynn held various policy making and budgeting positions in the U.S. Federal Government, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Director of Program Analysis at the National Security Council, Assistant Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and Assistant Secretary of Interior. His academic career has included positions at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration and Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, where he is the Sydney Stein, Jr. Professor of Public Management Emeritus.
Christopher Pollitt began his working life as a civil servant in Whitehall, where he worked in policy divisions and as a private secretary to two ministers. Subsequently pursued an academic career, including periods at the Open University (1975-1990) and as Head of Department and Dean at Brunel University, West London (1990-1999). He is now BOF/ZAP Research Professor of Public Management at the Public Management Institute of the University of Leuven. Pollitt has also served as Editor of the international journal Public Administration (1980-1989), President of the European Evaluation Society (1996-98) and Scientific Director of the Netherlands Institute of Government (since 2004). He has carried out consultancy and advice work for many governmental organizations, including the European Commission, the OECD and the World Bank. His special research interests lie in comparative public management and in programme evaluation and performance audit.
Table of Contents
Introductory Remarks, Ewan Ferlie, Laurence E. Lynn Jr., and Christopher Pollitt
Section I: Basic Frameworks
1. Public Management: The Word, The Movement, The Science, Christopher Hood
2. Public Management: A Concise History of the Field, Laurence E. Lynn Jr.
3. Bureaucracy in the 21st Century, Kenneth J. Meier
4. Public and Private Management Compared, Hal G. Rainey and Young Han Chun
5. Public Management, Democracy, and Politics, Linda deLeon
Section II: Theoretical and Disciplinary Perspectives
6. Law and Public Administration, Anthony Bertelli
7. Public Management as Ethics, J. Patrick Dobel
8. Public Accountability, Mark Bovens
9. Economic Perspectives on Public Organizations, Aidan R. Vining and David L. Weimer
10. Postmodern Public Administration, Peter Bogason
11. Networks and Interorganizational Management: Challenging, Steering, Evaluation, and the Role of Public Actors in Public Management, Erik-Hans Klijn
12. Whatever Happened to Public Administration? Governance, Governance Everywhere?, H. George Frederickson
13. Virtual Organizations, Helen Margetts
14. The Audit Explosion, Michael Power
Section III: Exploring Current Public Policy and Management Themes
15. Public-Private Partnerships and Hybridity, Chris Skelcher
16. Decentralization: A Central Concept in Contemporary Public Management, Christopher Pollitt
17. E-Government: A Challenge for Public Management, Ignace Snellen
18. Professionals in Public Services Organizations: Implications for Public Sector 'Reforming', Ewan Ferlie and Keith J. Geraghty
19. Rethinking Leadership in Public Organizations, Jean-Louis Denis, Ann Langley, and Linda Rouleau
20. Organizational Cultures in the Public Services, Robert Dingwall and Tim Strangleman
21. Performance, Chris Talbot
Section IV: Functional Areas
22. Striving for Balance: Reforms in Human Resource Management, Patricia W. Ingraham
23. Public Service Quality, John Ovretveit
24. Nidget and Accounting Reforms, Irene Rubin and Joanne Kelly
25. NGOs and Contracting, Steven Rathgeb Smith
26. Evaluation and Public Management, Peter Dahler-Larsen
Section V: National and International Comparisons
27. International Public Management, David Mathiasen
28. Management Consultancy, Denis Saint Martin
29. Change and Continuity in the Continental Tradition of Public Management, Isabella Proeller and Kuno Schedler
Afterword, Ewan Ferlie, Laurence E. Lynn Jr., and Christopher Pollitt