Complexity and the Experience of Managing in Public Sector Organizations

Complexity and the Experience of Managing in Public Sector Organizations PDF Author: Ralph Stacey
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134210523
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
A fundamental problem of public sector governance relates to the very way of thinking it reflects; where organization is thought of as a ‘thing’, a system designed to deliver what its designers choose. This volume questions that way of thinking and takes a perspective in which organizations are complex responsive processes of relating between people. Bringing together the work of participants on the Doctor of Management program at Hertfordshire University, this book focuses on the move to marketization and managerialism, paying particular attention to human relationships and group dynamics. The contributors provide narrative accounts of their work addressing questions of management, pressures, accountability, responsiveness and traditional systems perspectives. In considering such questions in terms of their daily experience, they explore how the perspective of complex responsive processes assists them in making sense of experience and developing practice. Including an editors’ commentary which introduces and contextualizes these experiences as well as drawing out key themes for further research, this book will be of value to academics, students and practitioners looking for reflective accounts of real life experiences rather than further prescriptions of what organizational life ought to be.

Complexity and the Experience of Managing in Public Sector Organizations

Complexity and the Experience of Managing in Public Sector Organizations PDF Author: Ralph Stacey
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134210523
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book

Book Description
A fundamental problem of public sector governance relates to the very way of thinking it reflects; where organization is thought of as a ‘thing’, a system designed to deliver what its designers choose. This volume questions that way of thinking and takes a perspective in which organizations are complex responsive processes of relating between people. Bringing together the work of participants on the Doctor of Management program at Hertfordshire University, this book focuses on the move to marketization and managerialism, paying particular attention to human relationships and group dynamics. The contributors provide narrative accounts of their work addressing questions of management, pressures, accountability, responsiveness and traditional systems perspectives. In considering such questions in terms of their daily experience, they explore how the perspective of complex responsive processes assists them in making sense of experience and developing practice. Including an editors’ commentary which introduces and contextualizes these experiences as well as drawing out key themes for further research, this book will be of value to academics, students and practitioners looking for reflective accounts of real life experiences rather than further prescriptions of what organizational life ought to be.

Complexity and the Public Sector

Complexity and the Public Sector PDF Author: Chris Mowles
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000686019
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Since the early 1990s, public sector organisations have been overwhelmed with what has come to be termed New Public Management (NPM) methods. NPM idealises performance, metrics, transparency and marketisation. This book explores some of the tensions which arise in institutions where NPM methods prevail, introduces different ways of thinking about the task of managing for public good and offers a radical challenge to the dominant assumptions regarding why and how professional communities of practice may (or may not) come to change their working practices. In this third book in the Complexity and Management series, the expert authors bring together their experiences to provide vibrant accounts of how to manage in everyday public sector organisational situations using practical judgement. The book includes a brief introduction to complexity and public sector management, real-world narratives illustrating concrete dilemmas in the workplace and a concluding chapter that draws together the practical and theoretical implications of a complexity perspective. With both theoretical grounding and practical insights from senior managers and consultants, the book provides an ideal resource for students on management or executive leadership programmes for the public sector, as well as managers in and consultants to the sector.

Managing Complexity in the Public Services

Managing Complexity in the Public Services PDF Author: Philip Haynes
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131781164X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
The application of complexity theory to management and the social sciences has been a key development in theory and practice over the last decade. This approach questions the possibility of finding universal methods of practice, and proposes a pragmatic and humanistic management style that evolves out of a reflective method. The focus is on practitioners observing patterns of similarity and being adaptable in decision-making. Bringing complexity theory into management reveals the importance of organizational culture and effective communication because people, their values and their objectives are at the heart of this method. Information technology provides a framework for complex communication and knowledge use, but it cannot replace highly developed professional negotiations and cooperation. This book argues that the complexity of the public service world limits the usefulness of classical and rational scientific management approaches such as New Public Management. Excessive marketization threatens a collaborative approach and overly rigid approaches to performance management and strategic management can be dysfunctional. Managing Complexity in the Public Services 2nd Edition advances a method of management practice that copes with the stark realities of the complex and unpredictable public policy world. It develops pragmatic management practices from action research that will be valuable to both academics and practitioners. The result is a new value-based practice for the post-crisis public service world.

Complexity and the Experience of Leading Organizations

Complexity and the Experience of Leading Organizations PDF Author: Douglas Griffin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134211015
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
The contributors to this book are leaders, consultants or managers in organizations who provide narrative accounts of their actual work and daily experience. They explore how the perspective of complex responsive processes assists them to make sense of their experience and so to develop their practice. Offering a different method of making sense of an individual’s experience in a rapidly changing world, this book uses reflective accounts of ordinary everyday life in organizations rather than idealized accounts. The editors’ commentary introduces and contextualizes these experiences as well as drawing out key themes for further research.

Leadership and Change in Public Sector Organizations

Leadership and Change in Public Sector Organizations PDF Author: James D. Ward
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351806181
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Successful change in the public sector can be supported or hindered by political and administrative leadership, individual and group motivation, and the public’s perception of the effectiveness of public officials and government structures. But do the very characteristics of public sector organizations present obstacles to successful transformative change? This book assesses the current state of the literature on leadership and change in government and public policy, and introduces the reader to innovative new ways to demonstrate leadership in times of change. Contributions from accomplished scholars in the field cover the traditional public administration areas of performance and management, as well as the diversity of issues that surround public leadership and change, both domestic and global. Chapters on public sector innovation, performance leadership, governance networks, complexity in disaster management, change initiatives in educational systems and local government, citizen advisory bodies, and gender and race equality, to name but a few, provide important case studies throughout the volume. Leadership and Change in Public Sector Organizations will be required reading for upper level undergraduate and graduate courses in public administration/management, leadership, and public policy analysis.

Managing Complex Networks

Managing Complex Networks PDF Author: Walter J M Kickert
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780761955481
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Although the concept of policy networks is now well-established in the field, most research has to content itself with description and analysis of their contribution to policy failure. This book goes further. It accepts policy networks as a fundamental characteristic of modern societies and presents an overview of the strategies for the management of these networks, as well as illustrating the various strategies for intervention.

Organizational Social Irresponsibility

Organizational Social Irresponsibility PDF Author: Agata Stachowicz-Stanusch
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1681237601
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
In the book Organizational Social Irresponsibility: tools and theoretical insights we focus both on theoretical and practical aspects of organizational social irresponsibility and hope to provide a contribution to the contemporary state of knowledge about its causes and results. The book is divided into three parts: first titled “Organizational Social Irresponsibility: Practices and experiences”, second: “The thousand faces of dark side of business” and third: “Social, cultural and institutional dimensions”. The book is written by a range of authors from all over the world. They provide us with examples of some irregularity in social organizational activity. There were included some theoretical and practical contributions into the topic of organizational social irresponsibility, from different sectors (e.g. pharmaceutical or manufacturing industry as well as public administration) and various organizational processes (such as marketing, training, innovation and knowledge management). We hope it will be a worthy inspiration for struggling with dark sides of organizational existence.

Managing Complex Governance Systems

Managing Complex Governance Systems PDF Author: Geert Teisman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135235295
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
Advances in public management sciences have long indicated the empirical finding that the normal state of public management systems is complex and that its dynamics are non-linear. Complex systems are subject to system pressures, system shocks, chance events, path-dependency and self-organisation. Arguing that complexity is an ever-present characteristic of our developed societies and governance systems that should be accepted, understood and adopted into management strategies, the original essays collected in this book aim to increase our understanding of complex governance processes and to propose new strategies for how public managers can deal with complexity in order to achieve high-quality research. The authors collected here use theoretical frameworks grounded in empirical research to analyze and explain how non-linear dynamics, self-organisation of many agents and the co-evolution of processes combine to generate the evolution of governance processes, especially for public urban and metropolitan investments. Managing Complex Governance Systems: Dynamics, Self-Organization and Coevolution in Public Investments offers readers an increased understanding of the main objective of public management in complexity--namely complex process system--and a strategy for accepting and dealing with complexity based on the idea of dual thinking and dual action strategies satisfying the desires of controlling processes and the need to adjust to changes simultaneously.

Understanding and Managing Public Organizations

Understanding and Managing Public Organizations PDF Author: Hal G. Rainey
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118584465
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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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

Strangling Aunty: Perilous Times for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Strangling Aunty: Perilous Times for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation PDF Author: Virginia Small
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811607761
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 1113

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Book Description
Drawing on a wealth of academic research, statistics and interviews with key Australian media people including present and former Australian Broadcasting Corporation staffers, this book explores the transitions of the ABC under various types of organisational re-strategising, governance and political shifts. The book provides the reader with an authoritative narrative as to how the ABC has lost its iconic status in Australian society, and unfolds how the ABC has strayed from its respected public charter which endowed the ABC with a distinctive and important role in informing, educating and entertaining the Australian public. Successive federal government funding cuts have shrunk staffing levels and services while it has pursued a corporatist model that mimics the trappings and practices of commercial media. In that process it has become politicised and trivialised, thereby threatening its demise. The book is a unique and timely contribution at a time of dwindling interest for the funding of public assets everywhere. There is no other book in the market that addresses the decline of the organisation (the ABC) and analyses the reasons for its demise within an organisational theoretical framework. The book is written for an educated general audience, with academics and media practitioners specifically in mind, and has everyday applications for business organisations operating in the public sector by bringing together important findings of public funding, budgets, management and organisational strategies and evolution.