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Public Management
Thinking and Acting in Three Dimensions

Second Edition


October 2015 | 528 pages | CQ Press
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.  
 

 
PART I: ANALYZING PUBLIC MANAGEMENT’S CHALLENGES
Introduction to Part I: Analyzing Public Management’s Challenges: The Fundamentals

 
 
CHAPTER 1: PUBLIC MANAGEMENT’S THREE DIMENSIONS: STRUCTURE, CULTURE, CRAFT
Public Managers and the Domain of Public Management

 
Historical Origins of Public Management

 
Public and Private Management: How Similar? How Different?

 
Eight Distinctive Challenges of Public Management

 
Meeting the Distinctive Challenges of Public Management

 
Organization of the Book

 
Case Analysis: Could “The System” Have Saved The Children of Banita Jacks?

 
 
CHAPTER 2: FIRST PRINCIPLES: MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE RULE OF LAW
Introduction

 
What Is Meant By “The Rule of Law”?

 
Practicing Lawful Public Management

 
What Is Meant by “Accountability”?

 
Thinking Institutionally

 
Case Analysis: The Rule of Law in Action: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. the Environmental Protection Agency

 
 
CHAPTER 3: NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY SURVEILLANCE: REFLECTING SOCIETY’S VALUES, PERFORMING EFFECTIVELY, EARNING TRUST?
Introduction

 
A Leak, A Crisis

 
National Security Agency Surveillance: The Building Blocks

 
Revelations of U.S. Surveillance Unfold

 
Public Management Analysis

 
 
PART II: STRUCTURES: THE CONCRETE EXPRESSIONS OF PUBLIC POLICY
Introduction to Part II: Structures: The Concrete Expressions of Public Policy

 
 
CHAPTER 4: STRUCTURES OF GOVERNMENT: JAMES MADISON’S LEGACIES
Introduction

 
Case: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010: How Madisonian Democracy Works

 
Separation of Powers

 
Checks and Balances

 
Federalism

 
At the Apex of Power: The People

 
A Logic of Constitutional Governance

 
Case Analysis: Austin Energy

 
 
CHAPTER 5: STRUCTURES OF GOVERNMENT: THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE
Introduction

 
Case: The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement

 
Madisonian Politics and the Administrative State: The Politics of Bureaucratic Structure

 
Direct Government Control: The Bureaucracy

 
Financial Structures: Budgets and Budgeting

 
Public Personnel Systems: Protection, Performance, Control

 
Alternatives to Direct Government

 
Case Analysis: State of Missouri’s Reform of its Juvenile Justice System

 
 
CHAPTER 6: STRUCTURES OF GOVERNMENT: TOOLS FOR PUBLIC MANAGERS
Introduction

 
Case: Reorganizing U.S. Foreign Assistance Programs

 
Confronting Public Management’s Challenges: Analytical Tools

 
Organizational Structure

 
Case Analysis: Managing the Rollout of HealthCare.gov

 
 
CHAPTER 7: STRUCTURES OF GOVERNMENT: RULES AND REGULATIONS
Introduction

 
Case: The Financial Crisis of 2008

 
Why Regulate?

 
How Does Federal Regulation Happen?

 
Enforceability and Enforcement

 
The Politics of Regulation

 
Case Analysis: Gas Pains: Fracking Regulation

 
 
PART III: THE CULTURE DIMENSION
Introduction to Part III: Culture: Norms, Values, and Institutions

 
 
CHAPTER 8: CULTURE: THE BUILDING BLOCKS
Introduction

 
Case: Home Visiting in Early Head Start

 
The Building Blocks of Culture: Historical Perspective

 
Ethics

 
Values

 
Motives

 
Professions and Professional Training

 
Case Analysis: Pay in Public Organizations

 
 
CHAPTER 9: CULTURE: INSTITUTIONALIZED VALUES
Introduction

 
Case: The Space Shuttle Columbia Accident

 
What are Institutionalized Values?

 
Historical Perspective

 
Culture as Support (or Impediment) for Rules and Routines

 
Reform

 
Case Analysis: “Corrosive Culture” in the Veterans Administration

 
 
PART IV: THE CRAFT DIMENSION
 
Introduction to Part IV: Craft: Public Managers as Creators
 
CHAPTER 10: MANAGERIAL STYLES
Introduction

 
Case: The Contrasting Craft of Two Cabinet Secretaries

 
How Temperament and Personality Affect Craft

 
Leadership

 
Case Analysis: Kate Maehr and the Greater Chicago Food Depository

 
 
CHAPTER 11: MANAGERIAL HEURISTICS
Introduction

 
Case: Michelle Rhee and DC Public School Reform

 
Decision Making

 
How Public Managers Can Learn

 
Being Strategic

 
Case Analysis: Paul Vallas: CEO, Superintendent

 
 
PART V: MULTI-DIMENSIONAL PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
Introduction to Part V: Managing in Three Dimensions: Reflecting Society’s Values, Performing Effectively, Earning Trust

 
 
CHAPTER 12: 3D PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: STRUCTURE, CULTURE, CRAFT
Introduction

 
Case: CompStat in 3D

 
Distinctive Challenges of Public Management: Managing in 3D

 
Conundrums of Three-Dimensional Management

 
The Rule of Law in 3D

 
Case Analysis: The Space Shuttle Columbia Accident in 3D

 
 
APPENDIX A: THE USE OF ARGUMENT

“Carolyn Hill and Larry Lynn skillfully tackle the complexities and inherent tensions of managing in the public sector.  Using organizational expressions of structure and culture and employing tools to master the craft of management, the authors create a cogent, integrated, and lucid narrative on the state of public management. They successfully blend the power of the rule of law, the role of historical precedent, the influence of research and theory, and the experience of practice to discuss the basic tenets of public management and successful approaches to its practice. This book is a winner for those of us who teach, practice and study public management.”

Angela Evans
Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs at University of Texas at Austin and former deputy director of the Congressional Research Service

“Hill and Lynn’s Public Management: Thinking and Acting in Three Dimensions is a highly relevant and sophisticated analytical framework shaped by theory, grounded in evidence, and directed at strengthening performance of public organizations. This book focuses on effective public management by bridging the gap between policy design and implementation.”

David M. Van Slyke, Ph.D.
Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business-Government Policy, Syracuse University

“I have used Public Management: Thinking and Acting in Three Dimensions as the primary textbook for my Introduction to Public Management class since it was first released, and will be delighted to use this new edition.  Hill and Lynn are unique in integrating relevant social science with accessible case studies to engage in discussions of public values, while offering students memorable and useful analytical frames to address public sector challenges.  A strength of the first edition is the strong reliance on contemporary examples and research, and the new edition reestablishes this text as the best in the field.”

Donald Moynihan
Professor, Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs University of Wisconsin-Madison
Key features

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

  • NEW grouping of chapters into Parts that summarize themes, content, and key questions
  • NEW content: 
    • Regulation (Chapter 7)
    • National Security Agency surveillance case study (Chapter 3)
    • Updated examples throughout the text
    • Enhanced material on topics such as budgeting, federalism, and human capital
    • Extended cases at the beginning and end of each chapter 
      • Cases address health care reform, regulation of greenhouse gases, local energy management, financial crises, public school reform, and other topics
      • Opening cases frame the chapter’s ideas and concepts
      • Closing cases, with discussion questions, provide structured practice for public management analysis
  • Streamlined text and formatting for improved readability and engagement
  • Reorganized and enhanced chapter structure to better align with academic semester syllabi
  • The Part introductions link the component chapters to the overall framework, and sustain continuity by linking back to a common example

KEY FEATURES:

Four unique features underline the book’s approach and reinforce practical learning: 

  • The three-dimensional approach and a model deliberative process provide a framework for analyzing public management’s distinctive challenges
  • Real-world examples and extended case material in every chapter illustrates the relevance and immediacy of public management analysis at local, state, and federal levels
  • End-of-chapter cases and discussion questions engage readers with each chapter’s ideas
  • The practical skills of public management analysis are developed within the contexts of the rule of law, of historical developments in the field, and of theories and concepts from the social sciences
 

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1


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