Mission Mystique: Belief Systems in Public Agencies

In an era filled with mistrust for big government and big business, Charles Goodsell goes against this grain to draw attention to public agencies admired for what they do and how well they do it. In his groundbreaking new book, Goodsell places renewed focus on organizational mission and its potential to be a strong energizing force in government-one that animates a workforce internally and attracts admiration and talent externally.#xA0; He offers a normative template for the mystique that underlies this phenomenon and highlights-in six rich case studies-a driving sense of purpose, a cultural and motivational richness, and a capacity for tolerating dissent while still innovating and learning. Analyzing what works best (and what doesn#x19;t), Goodsell provides a metric through which agency mystique can be evaluated and modeled. Goodsell#x19;s fresh take on public agencies not only defines good public administration in terms of ethical conduct, constitutional accountability, and performance effectiveness, but argues that the field must add the crucial standard of institutional vitality.

Charles T. Goodsell is professor emeritus at the Center for Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His other books include The American Statehouse: Interpreting Democracy's Temples; Public Administration Illuminated and Inspired by the Arts, coedited with Nancy Murray; The Social Meaning of Civic Space: Studying Political Authority through Architecture; and The Case for Bureaucracy: A Public Administration Polemic, 4th Edition.