Managing to Improve Public Services

Jean Hartley is Professor of Organizational Analysis at the Institute of Governance and Public Management, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. Cam Donaldson is the Health Foundation Chair in Health Economics and Director of the Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University Business School. Chris Skelcher is Director of Research for the School of Public Policy and Professor of Public Governance at the Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham. Mike Wallace is Professor of Public Management at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University.

'This is an important volume by an impressive collection of UK and international public management scholars, many of them linked to the major AIM Public Services research initiative. It combines a broad overview of current key developments and debates in public management, with valuable in depth chapters covering key topics. Its style is scholarly but clear and will appeal to reflective practitioners and academics alike.' Ewan Ferlie, King's College London

• List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Preface Robin Wensley; 1. The agenda for public service improvement Jean Hartley and Chris Skelcher; Part I. Governance and Accountability: 2. Does governance perform? Concepts, evidence, causalities and research strategies Chris Skelcher; 3. Performativity, management and governance Paul M. Collier; 4. Critical assessment of performance measurement for policy making Michael Pidd; 5. Priority setting in the public sector: turning economics into a management process Cam Donaldson, Angela Bate, Craig Mitton, Stuart Peacock and Danny Ruta; Part II. Performance Metrics: 6. Public service productivity: new approaches to performance measurement in health sectors Mary O'Mahony, Philip Stevens and Lucy Stokes; 7. Performance measurement systems and the criminal justice system: rationales and rationalities Barbara Townley; 8. Valuing public sector outputs Rachel Baker, Helen Mason, Cam Donaldson and Michael Jones-Lee; 9. The use of geodemographics to improve public service delivery Paul A. Longley and Michael Goodchild; Part III. Managing Innovation and Change: 10. The innovation landscape for public service organizations Jean Hartley; 11. Innovation type and organizational performance: an empirical exploration Richard M. Walker and Fariborz Damanpour; 12. Public service failure and turnaround: towards a contingency model George Boyne; 13. Orchestrating complex and programmatic change in the public services Mike Wallace and Michael Fertig; Postscript: 14. Conclusions: current themes and future direction for research Cam Donaldson, Jean Hartley, Chris Skelcher and Mike Wallace; Index.