Systemic Leadership for Local Governance

Systemic Leadership for Local Governance PDF Author: Catherine Hobbs
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030082806
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Get Book Here

Book Description
“A truly expansive and valuable book that challenges the assumptions and constraints of current leadership thinking... Its focus on integrating theory and practice is particularly helpful in linking its key ideas to current public sector management concerns.”—Gareth Morgan, Author of Images of Organization “While other authors have offered general principles of systemic leadership or given readers single approaches, Hobbs is much more ambitious: she brings together diverse, well-tested theoretical, methodological and practical approaches to provide today's leaders with a multifaceted resource that can aid them in thinking systemically. In this respect, her book is a significant advance on previous offerings, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to leaders, aspiring leaders and leadership academics around the world.”—Gerald Midgley, University of Hull, UK “This is an impressive and innovative work that draws together the disparate strands of complexity theory, systems thinking and operational research to build an adaptive social learning approach for local governance, helping to shift it from a service-led to systemic-deliberative model. This is essential reading for local government actors, students of local policy and for the public policy generalist.”—Robert Geyer, Lancaster University, UK Addressing matters of complexity systemically rather than mechanistically is now an ethical and practical paradigm-changing challenge for public policy. This optimistic book explores how action could be led in a joined-up way, signposting resources to thinking differently. Attention is paid to leading the design of adaptive social learning around what matters, re-connecting with public purpose to enable tailoring towards contemporary needs and constraints. Relevant to postgraduates, academics, local government managers, curious practitioners and the wider public, private and third sectors where there is interest in interpreting leadership via the cognitive capabilities of Systems Science.

Systemic Leadership for Local Governance

Systemic Leadership for Local Governance PDF Author: Catherine Hobbs
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030082806
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Get Book Here

Book Description
“A truly expansive and valuable book that challenges the assumptions and constraints of current leadership thinking... Its focus on integrating theory and practice is particularly helpful in linking its key ideas to current public sector management concerns.”—Gareth Morgan, Author of Images of Organization “While other authors have offered general principles of systemic leadership or given readers single approaches, Hobbs is much more ambitious: she brings together diverse, well-tested theoretical, methodological and practical approaches to provide today's leaders with a multifaceted resource that can aid them in thinking systemically. In this respect, her book is a significant advance on previous offerings, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to leaders, aspiring leaders and leadership academics around the world.”—Gerald Midgley, University of Hull, UK “This is an impressive and innovative work that draws together the disparate strands of complexity theory, systems thinking and operational research to build an adaptive social learning approach for local governance, helping to shift it from a service-led to systemic-deliberative model. This is essential reading for local government actors, students of local policy and for the public policy generalist.”—Robert Geyer, Lancaster University, UK Addressing matters of complexity systemically rather than mechanistically is now an ethical and practical paradigm-changing challenge for public policy. This optimistic book explores how action could be led in a joined-up way, signposting resources to thinking differently. Attention is paid to leading the design of adaptive social learning around what matters, re-connecting with public purpose to enable tailoring towards contemporary needs and constraints. Relevant to postgraduates, academics, local government managers, curious practitioners and the wider public, private and third sectors where there is interest in interpreting leadership via the cognitive capabilities of Systems Science.

Critical Systems Thinking

Critical Systems Thinking PDF Author: Michael C. Jackson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1394203594
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book Here

Book Description
CRITICAL SYSTEMSTHINKING Understand the full range of systems approaches and how to use them with this innovative overview. Leaders and managers face increasing complexity and uncertainty because technical, organizational, socio-cultural, political, and environmental issues have become intensely interconnected. Systems thinking is recognized as the essential competence for managing complexity. As the demand for systems thinking grows, however, the fragmentation of the field into different methodologies has become a potential liability. Critical systems thinking (CST) shows how this diversity can be a strength rather than a weakness by revealing how different systems methodologies address various aspects of complexity and how they can be used in combination to resolve the messiest of wicked problems. Critical Systems Thinking offers, in a single volume, an account of the value of systems thinking and CST in the modern world, an explanation of the pragmatic philosophy and expansion in mindset necessary to embrace CST, and detailed instructions on how to undertake critical systems practice (CSP) using the variety of systems approaches to navigate multi-dimensional complexity. Readers will find: An accessible introduction to systems thinking and CST. A description and critique of the best-known systems methodologies. A guide to the mindset changes, the steps required, and the toolkit necessary to undertake successful CSP. Case studies and examples of CSP. A discussion of the nature of systemic leadership. Critical Systems Thinking is ideal for leaders and managers in government, business, the public sector, the professions, and beyond who want to understand the potential of systems thinking and use it in their work. It is essential for systems researchers and practitioners who want a deeper understanding of the field.

Local Government in South Africa Since 1994

Local Government in South Africa Since 1994 PDF Author: Alexius Amtaika
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781611630909
Category : Civil service
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
This uniquely written and enterprising book reasons that local authorities are created to play two essential roles, namely: (i) service rendering, which is a utilitarian consideration, and (ii) democracy, which is a civic consideration. The utilitarian dimension entails the efficient and effective rendering of services to citizens. It has a bias for recipient-citizens, but also recognizes the fact that citizens, in turn, have an obligation to pay for these services. The civic consideration deals with the values of participation, representation, local autonomy, responsiveness, and fairness. It entails commitment and participation of citizens in the decision-making processes of local government--or contribution of ideas. In this book, Alexius Amtaika develops a compelling form of growing body of knowledge and literature which contend that an effective local government is vital for the provision of goods and services, in partnership with communities, in order to allow the communities themselves to lead healthier and happier lives. He tailors together conceptual issues, classical historical facts, various legislations and empirical data into a single coherent argument, and stresses that the challenges facing local government in South Africa today are historical and systemic, embedded in, and inherited, from the British colonial government's Westminster Model, which was first introduced into South Africa in 1806 and passed on to, and adopted by, various governments in South Africa. He stresses that the changes that took place in South Africa in 1994 were structural changes, and that these change altered fundamentally the structures of old the apartheid government, but maintained the Westminster Model System of governance and government, which has been in place since the beginning of the 19th Century. His case is animated by provocative discussions of topical issues, such as freedom, equality, order, nation-building, democracy, development, leadership, elections, and service delivery. This book is part of the African World Series, edited by Toyin Falola, Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, University of Texas at Austin. "Amtaika takes a critical, yet exploratory view in providing a strong argument for the establishment and existence of local government as a distinct sphere in the post-apartheid state ... It is a good example of how an academic book should be writtin: well-researched, well-organised and well-written." -- Barry R. Hanyane, Journal of Public Administration 51(3.1)

Leadership in Independent Africa, Six Decades On

Leadership in Independent Africa, Six Decades On PDF Author: Kofi Anani
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350379697
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Get Book Here

Book Description
Africa needs fresh thinking on its leadership and governance challenges, particularly when it comes to the disconnects between traditional leadership models and governance structures within the modern state. In this open access book, Kofi Anani finds ways forward through the Blended Representation Principle (BRP), which stipulates that power be shared between leaders selected on the basis of Western-democratic ideals and leaders chosen on the basis of traditional African norms and conventions. Drawing on his research and professional experience, Anani shows how incorporating the BRP into African leadership and governance thinking would encourage more voluntary public participation in politics, guarantee transparency and accountability in decision-making, particularly when it comes to the use of public resources, and ultimately encourage more public confidence in leaders. Anani also provides concrete suggestions for how to achieve all this, not through quick fixes, but rather through educational campaigns directed at public officials and through new communities of learning and practice designed to champion the BRP in villages, schools, workplaces, places of worship, and other social organizations. This book is a must-read for all scholars and students of postcolonial governance and leadership, and it is of keen interest to anyone concerned with how Western-style state-making might ultimately find a balance with other, indigenous modes of social organization. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Bloomsbury Open Collections Library Collective.

Auditing Practices in Local Governments

Auditing Practices in Local Governments PDF Author: Laurence Ferry
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1801170851
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
Through a comparative analysis of the development of auditing practices in governments across the globe, Auditing Practices in Local Governments: An International Comparison provides a contemporary overview of public sector auditing practices at both local and state level.

Kittens are Evil II

Kittens are Evil II PDF Author: Charlotte Pell
Publisher: Triarchy Press
ISBN: 1911193791
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 108

Get Book Here

Book Description
Ten 'heretics', all leading thinkers and practitioners in their professional fields, explain the disastrous effects of New Public Management across a range of public services

The Search for Leadership

The Search for Leadership PDF Author: William Tate
Publisher: Triarchy Press
ISBN: 1911193260
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 331

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why and how to apply Systems Thinking to the design, structure and day-to-day running of your organisation.

The Oxford Handbook of Political Leadership

The Oxford Handbook of Political Leadership PDF Author: R. A. W. Rhodes
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191645869
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 905

Get Book Here

Book Description
Political leadership has made a comeback. It was studied intensively not only by political scientists but also by political sociologists and psychologists, Sovietologists, political anthropologists, and by scholars in comparative and development studies from the 1940s to the 1970s. Thereafter, the field lost its way with the rise of structuralism, neo-institutionalism, and rational choice approaches to the study of politics, government, and governance. Recently, however, students of politics have returned to studying the role of individual leaders and the exercise of leadership to explain political outcomes. The list of topics is nigh endless: elections, conflict management, public policy, government popularity, development, governance networks, and regional integration. In the media age, leaders are presented and stage-managed--spun--DDLas the solution to almost every social problem. Through the mass media and the Internet, citizens and professional observers follow the rise, impact, and fall of senior political officeholders at closer quarters than ever before. This Handbook encapsulates the resurgence by asking, where are we today? It orders the multidisciplinary field by identifying the distinct and distinctive contributions of the disciplines. It meets the urgent need to take stock. It brings together scholars from around the world, encouraging a comparative perspective, to provide a comprehensive coverage of all the major disciplines, methods, and regions. It showcases both the normative and empirical traditions in political leadership studies, and juxtaposes behavioural, institutional, and interpretive approaches. It covers formal, office-based as well as informal, emergent political leadership, and in both democratic and undemocratic polities.

Leadership At The Apex

Leadership At The Apex PDF Author: Poul Erik Mouritzen
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre
ISBN: 0822972352
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book Here

Book Description
Although the relationship between elected officials and appointed executives has often been viewed as a struggle between master and servant—with disagreements as to which individuals occupy which roles—Poul Erik Mouritzen's and James Svara's comparison of city governments in fourteen countries reveals more interdependence and shared influence than conflict over control.Mouritzen and Svara bring local government to the forefront, emphasizing the sophisticated level of city management in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Their findings lead to a revision of the general view concerning the boundaries of public administration. Leadership at the Apex illustrates in practical ways how the democratic control of government and professional administration can coexist without undermining the logic or integrity of each other.

Harnessing Complexity for Better Outcomes in Public and Non-Profit Services

Harnessing Complexity for Better Outcomes in Public and Non-Profit Services PDF Author: Max French
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447364112
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Get Book Here

Book Description
ePDF and ePUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. How can public services and social interventions create and sustain good outcomes for the populations they serve? Building on research in public health, social epidemiology and the social determinants of health, this book presents complexity theory as an alternative basis for an outcome-oriented public management praxis. It takes a critical approach towards New Public Management and provides new conceptual inroads for reappraising public management in theory and practice. It advances two practical approaches: Human Learning Systems (a model for public service reform) and Learning Partnerships (a model for research and academic engagement in complex settings). With up-to-date and extensive discussions on public service reform, this book provides practical and action-oriented guidance for a radical change of course in management and governance.