Managing to Improve Public Services

Jean Hartley, Cam Donaldson, Chris Skelcher, Mike Wallace

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780521866415
• eBook ISBN: 9780511500657
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Preface
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 The agenda for public service improvement
• Part I Governance and accountability
• Part II Performance metrics
• Part III Managing innovation and change
• Postcript
• Index