Managing Change in the Public Services

by Wallace, Mike; Fertig, Michael; Schneller, Eugene

• ISBN13: 9781405135481
• ISBN10: 1405135484
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-01-05
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This book will provide a synthesis of state-of-the-art thinking amongst leading international academic experts based in the USA, Canada and the UK on managing change to improve the effectiveness of public service provision. The contributors are all leading international researchers, providing an overview of the increasingly complex nature of contemporary public service change in different national contexts. Special reference is made to the fields of education and health, the two largest, most complex and highly professionalized public services. Their reform is a long-term governmental priority in many western countries, which is proving problematic to implement. The book offers new thinking, supported by research evidence from different services and national contexts, on contemporary public service management. It will inform the work of trainers, advisers and consultants who provide external support to assist with managing change in the public services, and discusses how to manage complex and programmatic change across public services.

Author Biography

Mike Wallace is a Professor of Public Management at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University. He researches the management of complex and programmatic public service change in a context of high accountability and permanent reform.

Michael Fertig is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Bath.

Eugene Schneller is a Professor at the School of Health Management and Policy, W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors

Introduction: Managing Public Service Change or Coping with its Complexity?

Exploring the Complexity of the Change Process

Coping with Complex and Programmatic Public Service Change

Applying Complexity Theory to Public Service Change: Creating Chaos out of Order?

The Emergence of New Organizational Forms: Networks of Integrated Services in Health care

An Ironic Perspective on Public Service Change

Exploring the Complexity of Policy-Making for Public Service Reform

Managing Complex Change: Bringing Meso-Politics Back in

The Challenges of Governance, Leadership and Accountability in the Public Services

Inevitable Tensions in Managing Large-Scale Public Service Reform

Exploring the Complexity of Facilitating Public Service Improvement

Unsystematic Responses to a Chaotic Service Environment: Shaping the Division of Labour in Patient Care

How is Knowledge Transferred between Organizations Involved in Change?

Learning to Navigate the Noise of Change: Lessons from Complex Health System Contexts

Orchestration, Coherence, and the Problem of Conflicting Accountabilities

Prospects for Understanding and Improving Complex Public Service Change

Index

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