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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Gathering some of the latest research in the field, the original essays collected here 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.

The experienced leaders, consultants and managers contributing to this book provide an alternative way of making sense of experience in a rapidly changing world, using reflective rather than idealized accounts of everyday life in organizations.