In Pursuit of Performance: Management Systems in State and Local Government

by Patricia W. Ingraham (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801891939
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	04/15/2007
Series:	Johns Hopkins Studies in Governance and Public Management
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Patricia W. Ingraham is Founding Dean at the College of Community and Public Affairs, Binghamton University. She is the author of The Foundation of Merit: Public Service in American Democracy and coauthor of Government Performance: Why Management Matters, both published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1. Studying State and Local Management Systems: Why We Need to Do It
Chapter 2. Putting Money Where the Need Is: Managing the Finances of State and Local Governments
Chapter 3. Underpinning Government: Capital and Infrastructure Management in State and Local Government
Chapter 4. Government's Largest Investment: Human Resource Management in States, Counties, and Cities
Chapter 5. The Performance Challenge: Information Technology Management in States, Counties, and Cities
Chapter 6. The Reality of Results: Managing for Results in State and Local Government
Chapter 7. Integration of Management Systems in State and Local Government
Chapter 8. Learning to Build Capacity: Applying the GPP Model to Other Governments
Chapter 9. Counting the Ways Management Matters to Performance
Appendix A: The Analytical Model for the GPP
Appendix B: Criteria Used by GPP Analysts
Appendix C: Governments Evaluated by the GPP
List of Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

Hal G. Rainey

An important and valuable report about an important and valuable project. The information and statistics about procedural variations in governments around the nation and the status of their management systems have never been compiled and presented before with anywhere near this level of detail and analytical rigor.

— Hal G. Rainey, University of Georgia, author of Understanding and Managing Public Organizations, 3rd ed., and Modernizing Human Resource Management in the Federal Government

From the Publisher

An important and valuable report about an important and valuable project. The information and statistics about procedural variations in governments around the nation and the status of their management systems have never been compiled and presented before with anywhere near this level of detail and analytical rigor.
—Hal G. Rainey, University of Georgia, author of Understanding and Managing Public Organizations, 3rd ed., and Modernizing Human Resource Management in the Federal Government