Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> Public Affairs & Administration

Public authorities are an increasingly important form of government in the United States. Every year, various public policies are entrusted to public authorities for implementation in the manner of a private firm but for the public interest. This edited collection presents an in-depth examination of the theory and practice of public authority administration and the current issues confronting public authorities in general. Cases are provided to invite discussion about the uses of authorities in different policy areas.

The book begins with an introduction that reviews the premises that...

This study provides an analytic framework---a theory of knowledge than identifies the kinds of structures and processes required for directing human action and the criteria for evaluating them. Eugene Meehan applies his theories empirically to the real world and provides normative approaches for his generalizations about governmental and individual policies. This theoretical study builds on his earlier works and is intended for political and social scientists and graduate students.

The book opens with a description of the the author's theory of knowledgement, and then identifies how to...

This is one of the very first studies by Chinese and Western experts to examine the current picture of public administration in China. Mills and Nagel provide a general background into the nature of public administration in China, specific reforms in government agencies, personnel administration and compensation, and administrative law. Insiders and frequent visitors evaluate the state of public administration today for scholars, students, and practitioners in public administration and political science.

This unique appraisal opens with a general discussion of public administration in...

Representing the leading scholars in the field, Professionalism and Public Service assesses the state of public administration in Canada while also moving the discipline forward both as a profession and an academic discipline.

The contributors to this volume trace the evolution of public administration institutions and explore issues such as the protection and improvement of the public service, recent innovations in the area of service delivery, and how this has created increased legitimacy and recognition from citizens. The various chapters also examine the importance of...

While European reconstruction after World War II followed the pluralistic Marshall Plan that grounded social order in individual interests and interdependence, the roots of dirigiste planning in South Asia, as in the rest of the Third World, lie mainly in the line of deterministic theories represented by Positivism and Marxism. Despite a national commitment to dirigiste planning, however, India retains substantial interstitial pluralism--pluralism within an overall centralized system--that varies from state to state. This variation is directly reflected in interstate variations in...

The first comprehensive analysis of the design and effects of tax and expenditure limitations (TELs), "The Control of Municipal Budgets"shows how limitation measures have worked and offers practical guidelines for analyzing and designing such programs under current economic and political conditions. Looking first at the characteristics of different types of TELs, Merriman discusses the various ways in which limitations may be imposed. He next reviews the history and current status of TELs, beginning with control efforts imposed more than a century ago, and comments on the long-range...

Public sector human service organizations have unique problems of employee motivation and productivity, both on the professional and direct service levels. Martin examines these problems in detail and offers practical solutions based on his own extensive personal experience in the field. Written for professional, supervisory, and administrative practitioners in the human services field, the book offers thorough, straightforward coverage of motivation to work, job satisfaction and commitment, work attitudes and barriers to productivity, motivational problems associated with decertification,...

Cutback management is a way of life for most public and private sector organizations today, and the factors leading to its presence are expected to be felt well into the 1990's and beyond. At the same time, organizations are being faced with a changed internal culture where employees want and need to be involved in decisions that affect them. The author, who has been at the forefront of assisting organizations in effectively managing both external and internal change, explores the trends impacting state and local governments in the next decade and beyond, describes the cutback management...

As increasing numbers of women enter the workforce, it has become more and more common to find husbands and wives who are both committed to careers in the public sector. This book offers the first detailed analysis of this important new segment of the workforce. Based on extensive surveys, it presents a comprehensive profile of public sector career couples and explores solutions to common problems faced by human resource managers in this field.

The authors first examine dual-career couples as a segment of the workforce, the lifestyles of these couples, and the challenges they face in...

This book focuses on the training, education, and assistance needs of municipal governments as they prepare to face the challenges of the 21st century. These crises include increased citizen demands, dwindling financial support, technological advances, and demographic trends which result in the additional layering of diversity in the work force. The authors argue that an investment in training represents a commitment to the future of the municipal organization as well as the community itself. An important resource for public administrators and academics.

Balk argues that most professionals in government agencies are underutilized. He proposes an operational approach, called public agency democracy, that should help reduce costly and disconcerting errors. The book will interest those who wish to better understand the frustrations of public service and how to turn these to motivate change.

Well over two million very qualified individuals mediate between high-level managers and other members of public agencies. These grossly underutilized intermediary professionals must become more empowered to reduce waste, malfeasance and other costly...

This book explores how the theories and practices of public management have evolved. It covers themes such as political, judicial, and cultural environments. It reviews the influential theoretical developments that represent the intellectual heritage of public administration from Woodrow Wilson and the classics to current schools such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and the drive for reinventing government. The author identifies and explains critical managerial functions such as decisionmaking, communication, leadership, performance evaluation, and the constant search for reform and...

Managing for Results is a model of organizational reform that utilizes performance indicators, strategic planning, and benchmarks. The model focuses on linking these systems to improve performance and public accountability. This book studies the implementation of Managing for Results on six states identified by the U.S. General Accounting Office as leaders of internal reinvention efforts. Government and business practitioners, as well as scholars and researchers of public administration and policy, will find this book useful in assessment, selection, and measurement of state-level reform...

A public manager herself and successful consultant in the public sector, Camaron Thomas argues for a whole new way of being a public manager. She introduces a new paradigm for how the public sector should work: a collaborative, functional environment in which fast-paced, purposeful change, civility, and initiative are actually the norm. Real, positive change is part of every employee's job; control in the public sector must be replaced with shared responsibility, and for her new paradigm to be realized it must be understood and internalized by managers one at a time.

This book argues...

Among the most intractable problems in the public sector is how to train effective administrators. Nagel and the contributors to this wide-ranging investigation show how worldwide the training problem is, and how critical is the need to solve it. Included here are discussions of, among other issues, how to motivate, reward, promote, and sanction new and experienced hires, and also how to deal with them fairly and productively in other ways. They explore ways to provide training courses in colleges, government agencies, and private sector training facilities, how to teach specific subjects,...

Well-traveled throughout China and well-published on its political, cultural, and business aspects, the editors of this unusual new book and their contributing authors give a systematic analysis of public sector management--as it is now and as it is emerging--in a country of massive size, now in retreat from a centrally planned economy. Many features of the new reforms parallel the movement toward new public management in the West. Functions have been transferred away from China's public sector, including the government, and into the private sector, and many of the managerial tools common...

The Minnesota Commission of Administration and Finance, 1925-1939 was first published in 1964. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.