Download or read book Managing Complexity in the Public Services written by Philip Haynes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-03-24 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Complexity and the Experience of Managing in Public Sector Organizations written by Ralph Stacey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-05-07 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Managing Chaos and Complexity in Government written by L. Douglas Kiel and published by Jossey-Bass. This book was released on 1994-09-20 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To keep government operating smoothly, changes in public managementpolicy and strategy usually follow the old rule of change--that itmust evolve in a systematic and incremental fashion. But in today'sunpredictable world of shrinking budgets, demands for betterservice, and greater accountability, playing by the old rules justdoesn't make sense. In this book, L. Douglas Kiel presents a framework that addressesthe new chaotic reality of public management and the need forresponsive change and innovation. By acknowledging the potentialfor positive change and renewal that can arise from uncertainty andinstability, Kiel offers managers a paradigm for transforminggovernment performance. In easy to understand terms, the author offers an overview of theconcepts of chaos theory and the science of complexity and hedemonstrates how public administrators can apply these concepts tocreate a new vision of organizational change. The book presents arange of both traditional and innovative managementtechniquesshaping organizational cultures, flattening hierarchies,and re-engineering work--and evaluates their capacity to alloworganizational systems to respond to change. Written for public administrators and the faculty and students ofpublic management, this book describes the importance of disorder,instability, and change and examines how new chaos theories areapplied to public management. Drawing on data from the author'scase studies, the book is filled with charts, graphs, and practicalcomputer spreadsheet exercises designed to give public managers andstudents of public management hands-on experience to meet thechallenges of organizational change.

Download or read book Managing Complexity Insights Concepts Applications written by Dirk Helbing and published by Springer. This book was released on 2007-10-13 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays and lectures collected in this book center around knowledge transfer from the complex-system sciences to applications in business, industry and society, as viewed from a broad perspective. The contributions aim to raise awareness across the spectrum to meet the increasing need to integrate lessons from complexity research into everyday planning, decision making, logistics or optimization procedures and forecasting. The writing has been largely kept non-technical.

Download or read book Managing Complexity and Creating Innovation through Design written by Satu Miettinen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-04-18 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coping with complexities is an everyday reality for private, public and third sectors that face intricate, overlapping, obscuring and ever-changing challenges. Developments in technology and systems of value creation are driving a new need to understand, facilitate and manage complexity. The book proposes design and design research as a solution to respond to the complexities associated with the intensifying and rapid changes in societies, technological fields and environments. A four-step design process for managing complexities is introduced in the four parts of this book, spanning from design research in the field to practice-based contexts. This publication collates high-level research and the latest scholarship on this topic, while many of the case studies described herein draw on rich experiences and applications in practice. The ways designers work to overcome complexities through design, and the methods and frameworks presented in the chapters, provide critical insights and form an important scholarly contribution in this subject area.

Download or read book Complexity and the Experience of Managing in Public Sector Organizations written by Ralph Stacey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-05-07 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Complexity Theory in Public Administration written by Elizabeth Anne Eppel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-05-21 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reframes theoretical, methodological and practical approaches to public administration by drawing on complexity theory concepts. It aims to provide alternative perspectives on the theory, research and practice of public administration, avoiding assumptions of traditional theory-building. The contributors explain both how ongoing non-linear interactions result in macro patterns becoming established in a complexity-informed world view, and the implications of these dynamics. Complexity theory explains the way in which many repeated non-linear interactions among elements within a whole can result in processes and patterns emerging without design or direction, thus necessitating a reconsideration of the predictability and controllability of many aspects of public administration. As well as illustrating how complexity theory informs new research methods for studying this field, the book also shines a light on the different practices required of public administrators to cope with the complexity encountered in the public policy and public management fields. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Public Management Review journal.

Download or read book Social Work Management and Leadership written by John Lawler and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-10-16 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Management and leadership are increasingly important within the organisation and delivery of social care services and now form part of the post qualification framework for social workers. Yet, whilst there is a relatively broad understanding of management concepts and their application in social care, their foundations often go unchallenged both by students and managers. Furthermore, leadership is open to a wide range of interpretations and is often ill-defined with the expectation that we share a common understanding of the term. This text promotes an appreciation of the development of management and leadership thinking and the different themes which inform current ideas. It considers these topics from a range of theoretical standpoints in order to stimulate readers to consider their own experience and expectations of management and leadership. It then demonstrates how these standpoints might promote innovative approaches to management and leadership within social care organisations and ways in which such organisations might then develop. The aim of this challenging text is to encourage critical and informed reflection on current practice. Social Work Management and Leadership is essential reading for students of management and leadership in social care as well as being an invaluable resource for managers who simply wish to consider new approaches to their practice.

Download or read book Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity written by Michael C. Jackson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-03-15 with total page 728 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world has become increasingly networked and unpredictable. Decision makers at all levels are required to manage the consequences of complexity every day. They must deal with problems that arise unexpectedly, generate uncertainty, are characterised by interconnectivity, and spread across traditional boundaries. Simple solutions to complex problems are usually inadequate and risk exacerbating the original issues. Leaders of international bodies such as the UN, OECD, UNESCO and WHO — and of major business, public sector, charitable, and professional organizations — have all declared that systems thinking is an essential leadership skill for managing the complexity of the economic, social and environmental issues that confront decision makers. Systems thinking must be implemented more generally, and on a wider scale, to address these issues. An evaluation of different systems methodologies suggests that they concentrate on different aspects of complexity. To be in the best position to deal with complexity, decision makers must understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches and learn how to employ them in combination. This is called critical systems thinking. Making use of over 25 case studies, the book offers an account of the development of systems thinking and of major efforts to apply the approach in real-world interventions. Further, it encourages the widespread use of critical systems practice as a means of ensuring responsible leadership in a complex world. Comments on a previous version of the book: Russ Ackoff: ‘the book is the best overview of the field I have seen’ JP van Gigch: ‘Jackson does a masterful job. The book is lucid ...well written and eminently readable’ Professional Manager (Journal of the Chartered Management Institute): ‘Provides an excellent guide and introduction to systems thinking for students of management’

Download or read book Managing Complex Networks written by Walter J M Kickert and published by SAGE. This book was released on 1997-06-28 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the concept of policy networks is now well-established in the field, most research has to content itself with description and analysis of their contribution to policy failure. This book goes further. It accepts policy networks as a fundamental characteristic of modern societies and presents an overview of the strategies for the management of these networks, as well as illustrating the various strategies for intervention.

Download or read book Complexity and the Public Sector written by Chris Mowles and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-10-10 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the early 1990s, public sector organisations have been overwhelmed with what has come to be termed New Public Management (NPM) methods. NPM idealises performance, metrics, transparency and marketisation. This book explores some of the tensions which arise in institutions where NPM methods prevail, introduces different ways of thinking about the task of managing for public good and offers a radical challenge to the dominant assumptions regarding why and how professional communities of practice may (or may not) come to change their working practices. In this third book in the Complexity and Management series, the expert authors bring together their experiences to provide vibrant accounts of how to manage in everyday public sector organisational situations using practical judgement. The book includes a brief introduction to complexity and public sector management, real-world narratives illustrating concrete dilemmas in the workplace and a concluding chapter that draws together the practical and theoretical implications of a complexity perspective. With both theoretical grounding and practical insights from senior managers and consultants, the book provides an ideal resource for students on management or executive leadership programmes for the public sector, as well as managers in and consultants to the sector.

Download or read book Managing Change in the Public Services written by Mike Wallace and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-02-09 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the management of change to improve publicservice effectiveness. It breaks new ground in addressing whypublic service change is becoming increasingly complex to manage,how people cope with this new complexity, what implications arisefor improving policy and practice, and which avenues for furtherresearch and theory-building look particularly promising. The contributors are all leading researchers from the USA,Canada and the UK. Together they provide a synthesis ofstate-of-the-art thinking on the complex change process inAnglo-American contexts, policy-making for public service reformthat generates managerial complexity, and practice in serviceorganizations to improve provision. Special reference is made toeducation and health: the largest and most complex of the publicservices. The analysis has wider relevance for other publicservices and national contexts. Managing Change in the Public Services is essentialreading for all concerned with public service improvement - leadersand managers in service organizations, administrators, trainers,advisers and consultants who support the management of change,policy-makers and public servants, and advanced course students andacademics. The book also offers general insights for the theory andpractice of managing organizational and systemic change.

Download or read book Public Management and Complexity Theory written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Complexity in Social Work written by Rick Hood and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2018-02-26 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Complexity lies at the heart of social work practice and this book is designed to help students and newly-qualified social workers plan for and manage complex cases in an increasingly complex environment. Split into two parts, this book reflects the journey of qualifying social work students from preparation for practice in an educational context to learning ‘on the job’ through working with service users in practice settings, and eventually assuming a more senior role in management, administration and training. Key topics covered in the chapters include managing volatility and uncertainty, making judgements and decisions, building and maintaining relationships, using reflection and supervision, working interprofessionally, managing risk, exploring cause and effect.

Download or read book New Public Management in Africa written by Robert E. Hinson and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-10-25 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyses and evaluates the accomplishments, challenges, and approaches associated with the New Public Management (NPM) in Africa towards establishing context-specific interventions for public sector institutions' performance. Taking the reader through various business and management approaches, including leadership in the public sector, digitalisation, market orientation and trust building, this book provides an understanding of the key issues facing public sector organisations in Africa and offers novel ways of approaching public management in a changing socio-economic landscape to drive improved performance of public institutions. The book offers students, practitioners and researchers important insights on NPM and public sector institutions in Africa. The recommendations of the book will help government and policymakers implement appropriate public sector management policies for strengthening public sector service delivery in Africa.

Download or read book Public Management and Complexity Theory written by Mary Lee Rhodes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-10-04 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: That public services exhibit unpredictability, novelty and, on occasion, chaos, is an observation with which even a casual observer would agree. Existing theoretical frameworks in public management fail to address these features, relying more heavily on attempts to eliminate unpredictability through increased reliance on measurable performance objectives, improved financial and human resource management techniques, decentralisation of authority and accountability and resolving principal-agent behaviour pathologies. Essentially, these are all attempts to improve the ‘steering’ capacity of public sector managers and policy makers. By adopting a Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) approach to public services, this book shifts the focus from developing steering techniques to identifying patterns of behaviour of the participants with the ultimate objective of increasing policy-makers’ and practitioners’ understanding of the factors that may enable more effective public service decision-making and provision. The authors apply a CAS framework to a series of case studies in public sector management to generate new insights into the issues, processes and participants in public service domains.

Download or read book Handbook on Complexity and Public Policy written by Robert Geyer and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2015-05-29 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Over recent years Complexity Science has revealed to us new limits to our possible knowledge and control in social, cultural and economic systems. Instead of supposing that past statistics and patterns will give us predictable outcomes for possible actions, we now know the world is, and will always be, creative and surprising. Continuous structural evolution within such systems may change the mechanisms, descriptors, problems and opportunities, often negating policy aims. We therefore need to redevelop our thinking about interventions, policies and policy making, moving perhaps to a humbler, more 'learning' approach. In this Handbook, leading thinkers in multiple domains set out these new ideas and allow us to understand how these new ideas are changing policymaking and policies in this new era.' - Peter M Allen, Cranfield University, UK