In pursuit of performance
Subtitle: management systems in state and local government
By: edited by Patricia W. Ingraham
Contributors: Ingraham, Patricia W; Government Performance Project (U.S.)
Series: Johns Hopkins studies in governance and public management
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9780801885686; 9780801872273; 9780801872280
Subjects: Government productivity -- United States; Management information systems -- United States; United States -- Politics and government
Description: Based on five years of extensive research by the Government Performance Project, this volume offers a comprehensive analysis of how government managers and elected officials use management and management systems to improve performance. Drawing on data from across the nation, it examines the performance of state, county, and city governments between 1997 and 2002 within the framework of basic management systems: financial information, human resources, capital and infrastructure, and results evaluation. Key issues addressed: • How governments strategically select elements of management to emphasize the role of leadership • How those governments that aim to improve performance differ from those that do not • What “effective management” looks like Through this careful, in-depth investigation, the contributors conclude that the most effective governments are not those with the most resources, but those that use the resources available to them most carefully and strategically. In Pursuit of Performance is an invaluable tool for government leaders and the scholars who study them.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index
Table of contents: title: Studying state and local management systems / Patricia W. Ingraham; title: Putting money where the need is / Yilin Hou; title: Underpinning government / Carol Ebdon; title: Government's largest investment / Sally Coleman Selden and Willow Jacobson; title: The performance challenge / B.J. Reed, Lyn Holley, and Donna Dufner; title: The reality of results / Donald P. Moynihan; title: Integration of management systems in state and local government / Ora-Orn Poocharoen and Patricia W. Ingraham; title: Learning to build capacity / Dale Jones and Dana Michael Harsell; title: Counting the ways management matters to performance / Patricia W. Ingraham and Donald P. Moynihan