Understanding and Managing Public Organizations, 5th Edition

Book description

UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS, FIFTH EDITION

"This is the definitive place for all serious students of public administration to start. It is the most comprehensive book in the field. It is required reading for MPA students, Ph.D. students, and all scholars in the field."

—Kenneth J. Meier, Charles H. Gregory Chair in Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University

"This is the bible for public management scholarship. It is the first place to turn when looking for an accessible but rigorous analysis of research on basic aspects of organizational life in the public sector, such as how culture, leadership, and motivation matter. The interdisciplinary array of research on public management has become so voluminous as to seem overwhelming at times. Rainey's extraordinary curatorial prowess allows him to turn these fragments of work into a coherent and insightful body of knowledge. Anyone interested in how research can inform governance should start with this book."

—Donald Moynihan, professor of public affairs, Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin—Madison

"This is the Encyclopedia Britannica of public management; if you want to find out what has been written, and what is collectively said about the practice and theory of public management, look no further than Rainey's updated and comprehensive fifth edition."

—Richard M. Walker, chair professor of public management and associate dean, City University of Hong Kong

"For more than a decade, Rainey's book has been a must-read for everyone in the community of public management in Korea, just like in many places all over the world. Undoubtedly, it provides a valuable resource for researchers and students who are interested in public management and applications of organization theory to public organizations. It is quite simply the best investigation of public organization and management that I've read."

—Young Han Chun, associate dean, Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Figures, Tables, and Exhibits
  6. Preface
  7. The Author
  8. Part One: The Dynamic Context of Public Organizations
    1. Chapter One: The Challenge of Effective Public Organization and Management
      1. Toward Improved Understanding and Management of Public Organizations
      2. General Management and Public Management
      3. Ineffective Public Management?
      4. Effective Public Management
      5. The Challenge of Sustained Attention and Analysis
      6. Organizations: A Definition and a Conceptual Framework
      7. Notes
    2. Chapter Two: Understanding the Study of Organizations
      1. The Systems Metaphor
      2. Classical Approaches to Understanding Organizations
      3. Reactions, Critiques, and New Developments
      4. The Quiet Controversy Over the Distinctiveness of Public Organizations and Management in Organization Theory
    3. Chapter Three: What Makes Public Organizations Distinctive
      1. Public Versus Private: A Dangerous Distinction?
      2. Public Organizations: An Essential Distinction
      3. Problems and Approaches in Public-Private Comparisons
      4. Common Assertions About Public Organizations and Public Management
    4. Chapter Four: Analyzing the Environment of Public Organizations
      1. General Dimensions of Organizational Environments
      2. Research on Environmental Variations
      3. Recent Trends in Research on Organizational Environments
      4. The Political and Institutional Environments of Public Organizations
    5. Chapter Five: The Impact of Political Power and Public Policy
      1. Public Organizations and the Public
      2. Media Power: Obvious and Mysterious
      3. Interest Groups, Clients, and Constituencies
      4. Legislative Bodies
      5. The Chief Executive
      6. The Courts
      7. Other Government Agencies as Overseers, Allies, and Competitors
      8. Public Managers’ Perceptions of the Political Environment
      9. The Public Policy Process
  9. Part Two: Key Dimensions of Organizing and Managing
    1. Chapter Six: Organizational Goals and Effectiveness
      1. General Organizational Goals
      2. Goals of Public Organizations
      3. Models for Assessing Organizational Effectiveness
      4. Toward Diverse, Conflicting Criteria
      5. The Competing Values Approach
      6. The Balanced Scorecard
      7. Effectiveness in Organizational Networks
      8. Managing Goals and Effectiveness
      9. Effectiveness of Public Organizations
    2. Chapter Seven: Formulating and Achieving Purpose
      1. Power and Politics Inside Organizations
      2. Decision Making in Organizations
      3. Strategic Management
      4. The Miles and Snow Typology
      5. Issues for Managers and Researchers
    3. Chapter Eight: Organizational Structure, Design, Technology, Information Technology, and Social Media
      1. Do Public Organizations Have Distinctive Structural Characteristics?
      2. The Development of Research on Structure
      3. Structural Dimensions and Influences
      4. Organizational Design
      5. Organizational Structures in Public Organizations
      6. Information Technology and Public Organizations
      7. Social Media and Public Management
    4. Chapter Nine: Understanding People in Public Organizations
      1. Motivation and Public Management
      2. The Context of Motivation in Public Organizations
      3. The Concept of Work Motivation
      4. Theories of Work Motivation
      5. Motivation Practice and Techniques
      6. Incentive Structures and Reward Expectancies in Public Organizations
      7. Self-Reported Motivation Among Public Employees
    5. Chapter Ten: Understanding People in Public Organizations
      1. Attempts to Specify Needs, Values, and Incentives
      2. Other Work-Related Attitudes
      3. Motivation-Related Variables in Public Organizations
      4. The Challenge of Stimulating Motivation and Positive Work Attitudes in Public Organizations
    6. Chapter Eleven: Leadership, Managerial Roles, and Organizational Culture
      1. Leadership Theories in Management and Organizational Behavior
      2. The Nature of Managerial Work and Roles
      3. Transformational Leadership
      4. Charismatic Leadership
      5. Leadership and Organizational Culture
      6. Leading Cultural Development
      7. Leadership and Management in Public Organizations
      8. Does Context Affect Performance and Behavior?
      9. Effective Leadership in Government
      10. Modeling and Measuring Public Management
      11. Practical Lessons for Public Managers
    7. Chapter Twelve: Teamwork
      1. Groups in Organizations
      2. Communication in Organizations
      3. Conflict in Organizations
      4. Managing Groups, Communication, and Conflict in Organizations
      5. Special Considerations for Public Organizations
  10. Part Three: Strategies for Managing and Improving Public Organizations
    1. Chapter Thirteen: Managing Organizational Change and Development
      1. Relatively Natural Change: Organizational Life Cycles
      2. Large-Scale Planned Change
      3. Organization Development
      4. Success and Failure in Large-Scale, Planned Organizational Change
    2. Chapter Fourteen: Advancing Effective Management in the Public Sector
      1. The Performance of Public Organizations
      2. Profiles of Corporate Excellence
      3. Research on Effective Public Organizations
      4. Trends and Developments in the Pursuit of Effective Public Management
      5. Performance Measurement and the PART
      6. Managing Major Initiatives and Priorities: Privatization and Contracting Out
      7. Conclusion
      8. Note
  11. References
  12. Additional Reference Materials
  13. Name Index
  14. Subject Index

Product information

  • Title: Understanding and Managing Public Organizations, 5th Edition
  • Author(s): Hal Rainey
  • Release date: February 2014
  • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
  • ISBN: 9781118583715