This book will provide a synthesis of state-of-the-art thinking amongst leading international academic experts based in the USA, Canada and the UK on managing change to improve the effectiveness of public service provision. The contributors are all leading international researchers, providing an overview of the increasingly complex nature of contemporary public service change in different national contexts. Special reference is made to the fields of education and health, the two largest, most complex and highly professionalized public services. Their reform is a long-term governmental priority in many western countries, which is proving problematic to implement.
The book offers new thinking, supported by research evidence from different services and national contexts, on contemporary public service management. It will inform the work of trainers, advisers and consultants who provide external support to assist with managing change in the public services, and discusses how to manage complex and programmatic change across public services.
List of Contributors
Introduction: Managing Public Service Change or Coping with its Complexity?: Mike Wallace (University of Bath), Michael Fertig (University of Bath) and Eugene Schneller (Arizona State University)
Part I: Exploring the Complexity of the Change Process
1. Coping with Complex and Programmatic Public Service Change: Mike Wallace (University of Bath)
2. Applying Complexity Theory to Public Service Change: Creating Chaos out of Order? Mike Wallace and Michael Fertig (University of Bath)
3. The Emergence of New Organizational Forms: Networks of Integrated Services in Health care: Lise Lamothe and Jean-Louis Denis (Université de Montréal)
4. An Ironic Perspective on Public Service Change: Mike Wallace (University of Bath) and Eric Hoyle (University of Bristol)
Part II: Exploring the Complexity of Policy-Making for Public Service Reform:
5. Managing Complex Change: Bringing Meso-Politics Back in: Karen Seashore Louis (University of Minnesota)
6. The Challenges of Governance, Leadership and Accountability in the Public Services: Paul Thomas (University of Manitoba)
7. Inevitable Tensions in Managing Large-Scale Public Service Reform: Ben Levin (Ontario Ministry of Education)
Part III: Exploring the Complexity of Facilitating Public Service Improvement:
8. Unsystematic Responses to a Chaotic Service Environment: Shaping the Division of Labour in Patient Care: Eugene Schneller (Arizona State University) and Mike Wallace (University of Bath)
9. How is Knowledge Transferred between Organizations Involved in Change? Jean Hartley (University of Warwick) and Lyndsay Rashman (University of Warwick)
10. Learning to Navigate the Noise of Change: Lessons from Complex Health System Contexts: Ann Casebeer (University of Calgary)
11. Orchestration, Coherence, and the Problem of Conflicting Accountabilities: William Firestone (Rutgers University) and Dorothy Shipps (Columbia University)
12. Prospects for Understanding and Improving Complex Public Service Change: Mike Wallace (University of Bath)
Index
