Focusing on change as a constant factor in the management of any organization, this informative book helps the student and practitioner to develop the skills and knowledge they require to underpin the work of a modern service manager in rapidly-changing public sector organizations - whether publicly owned, privately managed or sub-contracted. Taking a distinctive approach, emphasizing management and organizational learning as keys to organizational success, this introductory text is solidly practical and is supported by strong pedagogical features including: case studies review questions illustrative vignettes. This comprehensive text has been specifically designed and developed to meet the needs of students studying public services management at undergraduate, certificate diploma and postgraduate level. It allows the reader to develop transferable skills in thinking and learning as they work through the book and gives greater awareness of the benefits of continuous learning for staff and managers.

The work of a manager in a service organisation is not the same as the work of a manager in an organisation that manufactures goods. Managing Public Services, Implementing Changes – A Thoughtful Approach 2e, is for students and managers who intend to work in a service organisation whether it is owned publicly of privately. This book concentrates on how managers can change things for the better and explains ‘why’ as well as ‘how’. The second edition has been fully updated to address challenges facing public services with new material on managing cuts, managing risk, managing innovation, producing funding applications, Lean Management and process review. A new chapter on managing social enterprise and generating social capital has also been added. This text is both solidly practical and theoretically challenging and is supported by strong pedagogical features including: case studies and illustrative vignettes from public service managers working in Europe, Asia, Australia and the US; exercises and review questions. Students will develop learning skills that enable them to transfer their learning from one situation to another and thinking skills that enable them adapt the way that they apply their learning as circumstances change. This comprehensive text has been specifically designed and developed to meet the needs of students studying public services management at undergraduate and postgraduate level. It allows the reader to develop transferable skills in thinking and learning as they work through the book and gives greater awareness of the benefits of continuous learning for staff and managers.

The ability to manage change-management processes depends on individual skills and organisational culture. These skills have to be increased and practiced; in this perspective, the reading and analysis of this casebook can generate mental training about innovation. In order to look for common problems and solutions for implementing managerial development, a rich portfolio of European cases, with at least one representative for every European component, is presented. Typically comparative works select different countries according to criteria such as English speaking, countries from the same region or industrialised countries. This book looks at comparative differences but also has sufficient cultural, social, political and economic homogeneity. Comparisons are more useful and easier to understand due to common implementation difficulties and possible change strategies. A general introduction leads on to some theoretical background, which presents the Editors’ thinking about strategy, change management and the strategic approach to change management, representing the framework at the core of the book. A guide through the European examples introduces the cases themselves. Teaching notes on how to position the case, learning objectives, question discussion, case analysis and further reference are provided in order to show teachers and trainers how to use each individual case. This book is a tool for discussion and a framework to structure a debate about the evaluation of managerial evolution, providing trainers, students and practitioners with an instrument to understand how to face the difficulties each change management process is affected by.

Forming part of the Understanding Organizational Change series, Managing Organizational Change in Public Services focuses on the organizational dimension of change management in public services. Combining aspects of change management theory with ‘real life’ practice in the form of organizational cases from different regions and sectors, this edited collection identifies and analyzes significant issues regarding the development, implementation and evaluation of public service change initiatives. Featuring contributions from leading authors in the field, this text provides an overview of organizational change management with a focus on leadership, management, and strategies for change. Looking at cases from Europe and North America, Managing Organizational Change in Public Services offers both a global, as well as a cross-sector analysis of this complex and challenging process. Different sectors that are examined include: Transport Health Education This book offers an excellent introduction to change management and how it works within the public service organizations internationally. It will be vital reading for all those engaged with the study or practice of this dynamic subject.

The context and environment of public services is becoming increasingly complex and the management of change and innovation is now a core task for the successful public manager. This text aims to provide its readers with the skills necessary to understand, manage and sustain change and innovation in public service organizations. Key features include: the use of figures, tables and boxes to highlight ideas and concepts of central importance a dedicated case study to serve as a focus for discussion and learning, and to marry theory with practice clear learning objectives for each chapter with suggestions for further reading. Providing future and current public managers with the understanding and skills required to manage change and innovation, this groundbreaking text is essential reading for all those studying public management, public administration and public policy.

This book covers all the major aspects of change management for those working in public sector and not-for-profit organisations. It summarises key theories and approaches to change management and includes detailed, worked descriptions of key techniques used in change management processes and programmes, with extensive reference to case studies drawn from a range of public sector, not-for-profit organisations and other environments. - Written by a highly knowledgeable and well-respected practitioner in the field - Draws on the author's wide-ranging practical experience of major organizational development and change management in a wide range of situation Applies as well as describes theory - Provides practical and realistic solutions to real-world problems

This book is an authoritative account of the establishment of the Next Steps agencies, the greatest change in the UK civil service of recent years. The saga is told superbly from the author s vantage point as a leading participant in helping to shape the change. She reveals the pressures on, and inside, the civil service both for and against reform. She illuminates the relationships between politicians and civil servants. Her wise advice on how they can collaborate constructively to deliver public services also draws on her worldwide experience as a consultant about governance in developing countries, and is especially relevant to current concerns about reform of public services. G.W. Jones, Emeritus Professor of Government, LSE, UK This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why governments fail to deliver what they promise. It is the authoritative insider s account of the Next Steps initiative under Mrs Thatcher by someone who was central to it. Her analysis is uncomfortable but her insights, spiced with some nice anecdotes, are as wise and relevant as ever. Her message for politicians and senior officials alike is uncompromising: look at the job first and equip yourselves to do it properly, or you will fail and the rest of us suffer. Thank goodness she has written it all down. No one can say they weren t told. Lord Wilson of Dinton, former Cabinet Secretary and now Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge The continued failure to provide public services both to agreed standards and electorate expectations is one of the major problems of modern government. Drawing on the experience of government in the UK and beyond, this book considers the ways in which public institutions have tried to adapt to meet new demands. The author argues that there is a common inability to connect ideas and decisions between politicians and those responsible for managing public sector organisations, and discusses in detail the initiatives launched in the UK to establish a new approach to management, particularly Next Steps and Executive Agencies . By analysing public sector management in a number of countries since the reforms of the 1980s, this valuable book examines past problems and suggests future improvements to the ways in which public services should be managed, including the development of relations between politicians and officials and ways to improve decision taking and management for government. As a senior official in Mrs Thatcher s government, the author describes in detail and from the inside the process of planning and introducing executive agencies , a major change in one of the largest governments in the world. She emphasises the intense difficulty involved in getting agreement to change and to implement decisions, discussing the problems of conflicting objectives between politicians and officials in dealing with the practicalities of managing large public sector institutions. The UK experience of executive agencies has been influential across the world and in many countries. This book describes how the UK system was devised and introduced. This book will appeal to an international spectrum of academics and students, especially those involved in public sector reform and public sector management, and political decision taking. It will also be of great interest to contemporary historians of the Thatcher period and beyond, as well as politicians and commentators concerned with government reform, public sector management and the role of politicians.