Public Management and Performance: Research Directions

by Edited by Richard M. Walker , George A. Boyne , Gene A. Brewer

• ISBN13: 9780521116633
• ISBN10: 0521116635
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-29
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Public services touch the majority of people in advanced and developing economies on a daily basis: children require schooling, the elderly need personal care and assistance, rubbish needs collecting, water must be safe to drink and the streets need policing. In short, there is practically no area of our lives that isn't touched in some way by public services. As such, knowledge about strategies to improve their performance is central to the good of society. In this book, a group of leading scholars examine some of the most pressing issues in public administration, political science and public policy by undertaking a systematic review of the research literature on public management and the performance of public agencies. It is an important resource for public management researchers, policy-makers and practitioners who wish to understand the current state of the field and the challenges that lie ahead.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. vii
List of tables	p. viii
Notes on contributors	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Extending goal ambiguity research in government: from organizational goal ambiguity to programme goal ambiguity	p. 34
Budgets and financial management	p. 60
Organizational structure and public service performance	p. 89
Red tape: the bane of public organizations?	p. 110
Managerial networking, managing the environment, and programme performance: a summary of findings and an agenda	p. 127
Public service motivation and performance	p. 152
Organizational diversity and public service performance	p. 178
Performance management: does it work?	p. 207
Strategy: which strategic stances matter?	p. 227
Methods	p. 253
Conclusion: enriching the field	p. 268
Index	p. 282
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