PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND POLICY ADMINISTRATION SERIES Edited by Donald Kettl How should a manager handle different accountability expectations? While a commonplace term in government lexicon, accountability has escaped precise definition, leaving managers at a disadvantage when trying to monitor the performance of their programs. Including more than 300 programs, over 60,000 employees, and a budget of over $400 billion, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is an ideal canvas for starkly illustrating competing accountability demands. With a bird′s-eye view of the agency′s inner workings, Radin tackles big issues such as strategies of centralization and decentralization, coordination with states and localities, leadership, and program design, while using the apt analogy of a juggler to show how managers must keep in the air disparate demands and developments.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND POLICY ADMINISTRATION SERIES Edited by Donald Kettl How should a manager handle different accountability expectations? While a commonplace term in government lexicon, accountability has escaped precise definition, leaving managers at a disadvantage when trying to monitor the performance of their programs. Including more than 300 programs, over 60,000 employees, and a budget of over $400 billion, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is an ideal canvas for starkly illustrating competing accountability demands. With a bird's-eye view of the agency's inner workings, Radin tackles big issues such as strategies of centralization and decentralization, coordination with states and localities, leadership, and program design, while using the apt analogy of a juggler to show how managers must keep in the air disparate demands and developments.

"Kettl′s Politics of the Administrative Process continues to resonate well with students of public administration because it discusses key concepts and theories in a straightforward, cogent, and contemporary manner that both faculty and students appreciate." —Brian Bulla, Appalachian State University Efficient public administration requires a delicate balance—the bureaucracy must be powerful enough to be effective, but also accountable to elected officials and citizens. Donald F. Kettl understands that the push and pull of political forces in a democracy make the functions of bureaucracy contentious, but no less crucial. Politics of the Administrative Process gives students a realistic, relevant, and well-researched view of the field while remaining reader-friendly with engaging vignettes and rich examples. With a unique focus on policymaking and politics, the Eighth Edition continues its strong emphasis on politics, accountability, and performance.

Managing in the public sector requires an understanding of the interaction between three distinct dimensions—administrative structures, organizational cultures, and the skills of individual managers. Public managers must produce results that citizens and their representatives expect from their government while fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities. In Public Management: Thinking and Acting in Three Dimensions, authors Carolyn J. Hill and Laurence E. Lynn, Jr. argue that one-size-fits-all approaches are inadequate for dealing with the distinctive challenges that public managers face. Drawing on both theory and detailed case studies of actual practice, the authors show how public management that is based on applying a three-dimensional analytic framework—structure, culture, and craft—to specific management problems is the most effective way to improve the performance of America’s unique scheme of governance in accordance with the rule of law. The book educates readers to be informed citizens and prepares students to participate as professionals in the world of public management.

Tackling the key topics of reform and modernization, this important new book systematically examines performance in public management systems. The authors present this seminal subject in an informative and accessible manner, tackling some of the most important themes. Performance Management in the Public Sector takes as its point of departure a broad definition of performance to redefine major and basic mechanisms in public administration, both theoretically and in practice. The book: situates performance in some of the current public management debates; discusses the many definitions of ‘performance’ and how it has become one of the contested agendas of public management; examines measurement, incorporation and use of performance information; and explores the challenges and future directions of performance management. A must-read for any student or practitioner of public management, this core text will prove invaluable to anyone wanting to improve their understanding of performance management in the public sector.