Managing Public Organizations: Lessons from Contemporary European Experience

European governments are putting a new emphasis on improving the performance of public organizations. This collection, written by some of the leading scholars of public management in Western Europe, provides a major review of the progress of new management initiative in the European public sphere and examines the role of the public manager and the organization of public bodies. How should public organizations be structured? What is the role of the public manager? What special problems arise from public accountability and political control? Using real-life examples the authors delineate major problems, demonstrate the potential for change, and give us an innovative view of public management.