Understanding and Managing Public Organizations, 4th Edition

by Hal Rainey

Understanding and Managing Public Organizations provides a comprehensive analysis of research and practice on public organizations and management. In this fourth edition of his award-winning best seller, Hal Rainey reviews topics including organizational goals and performance, decision making and strategy, leadership, motivation, organizational structure and design, organizational change, and others. He analyzes effective and ineffective practices, with suggestions for managing contemporary and classic challenges in public organizations, and with illustrative vignettes and examples. Carefully revised and updated, this edition of Understanding and Managing Public Organizations extends previous editions with deeper coverage of collaboration and networks, public values, public service motivation, managerial strategy, performance assessment, innovation and organizational change, and recent trends in public sector management.

Praise for the Previous Editions
"The third edition of the classic text provides a comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of research on public organizations and management. Drawing on a review of the most current research about government organizations and managers, this important source offers specific suggestions for managing these challenges in today's public organizations."
? Abstracts of Public Administration

"A masterful textbook, as well as an important and original contribution to the public organization theory literature ? both comprehensive in its treatment of organization theory and decidedly 'public' in its perspective."
?Public Administration Review

"A tremendous contribution to the field. Rainey's ability to synthesize research streams from a variety of fields?such as political science, public administration, public policy, business administration, psychology, sociology, and others?is outstanding."
?Jeffrey L. Brudney, Albert A. Levin Chair of Urban Studies and Public Service, Cleveland State University

524 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Laura]

This book is a thorough, articulate, comprehensive summary of the most worthless crap possible.

Sorry, but I'm totally prejudiced against social science. Every section details a theory, and then ends with one of two conclusions:

A) But this theory has never been tested in any way, ever.
B) This theory has been extensively tested and the results are inconclusive.

Well gee thanks, I'm glad we went through that effort then.

I do apologize to the author for my harsh review. It's just what happens when I use my endless master's degree required reading to help reach my Goodreads annual goal. (Hey, reading is reading, right?)