Organizational Assessment And Improvement In The Public Sector Workbook

Public agencies at the federal, state, and local levels are realizing just how important it is to assess and improve their current performance and to convey information on their achievements and opportunities to staff, leaders, and decision makers as well as externally to constituents. Organizational Assessment and Improvement in the Public Sector

Calls for performance measures and metrics sound good, but public sector organizations often lack the tools required to assess the organization as a whole and create true change.In order to implement an integrated cycle of assessment, planning, and improvement, government agencies at all levels need a usable framework for organizational assessment that speaks to their unique needs. Organizational Assessment and Improvement in the Public Sector provides that framework, an understanding of assessment itself, and a methodology for assessment focused on the public sector. The book introduces the concept of organizational assessment, its importance, and its significance in public sector organizations. It addresses the organizational theory that underlies assessment, including change management, organizational and individual learning, and organizational development. Building on this, the author focuses on the processes and demonstrates how the communication that results from an assessment process can create a widely accepted case for change. She presents a model grounded in the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program criteria but adapted for the culture of government organizations. She also addresses the criteria that form the basis for assessment and implementation and provides examples and best practices. Facing decreasing budgets and an increasing demand for services, government agencies must increase their capabilities, maximize their available fiscal and human resources, and increase their effectiveness and efficiency. They often operate in an atmosphere that prizes effectiveness but measures it in silos assigned to individual programs and a structure that encourages people to do more with less while systematically discouraging efficiency. Stressing the significant and important differences between a business and a government, this book supplies the knowledge and tools necessary to create a culture of assessment in government organizations at all levels.

Organizational Assessment: A framework for improving performance

The performance of public services is a matter of concern in many countries. Issues of public service efficiency, cost, and effectiveness have moved to the forefront of political debate. This book applies the latest thinking from Management and Organization Studies to public organizations to examine how the public sector can perform better.

Confronted with rising citizen discontent, the Reinventing Government movement, and new technological challenges, public organizations everywhere are seeking means of improving their performance. Their quest is not new, rather, the concern with improving the performance of government organizations has existed since the Scientific Management Movement. Public Sector Performance brings together in a single volume the classic, enduring principles and processes that have defined the field of public sector performance, as written in the words of leading practitioners and scholars. Taken as a whole, this volume provides a performance compass for today's public managers, helping them to reconstruct the public's confidence in, and support of, government.Defined here as managing public organizations for outcomes, performance is examined in all its varied dimensions: organizing work, managing workers, measuring performance, and overcoming resistance to performance-enhancing innovations. The selected articles are interesting, thought provoking, and instructive. They are classics in that they have been widely cited in the scholarly literature and have enduring value to public managers who seek to understand the many dimensions of performance. The book is organized into three sections: Performance Foundations, Performance Strategies, and Performance Measurement. Excerpts from additional selected articles feature special topics and wisdom from performance experts.

This transformational tool offers leaders a critical resource for better understanding their organizations and themselves, honing their skills to become accomplished long-range planners and strategic thinkers. By working through the Participant Workbook, leaders will gain the insight needed to plan for results, learn from customers and clients, and ascertain how to achieve extraordinary levels of performance. The Participant Workbook draws on Peter F. Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions and is grounded in his management philosophies that address the critical aspects that make organizations viable and valuable entities. When leaders answer these questions thoughtfully and address them with purpose, these questions take one down a path to organizational transformation and enlightenment. By leveraging these essential questions, the Participant Workbook challenges leaders to take a close look at the very heart of their organization and what drives it, giving them a means to assess: how to be and how to develop quality, character, mind-set, values, and courage. Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions lead to spirited discussions and action, inspiring positive change and renewed focus. Designed for today's busy professionals, this concise, clear, and accessible workbook for social sector, nonprofit, and socially minded business and government leaders can be used as preparation for a workshop, organizational self-assessment, or as a stand-alone leadership development tool for individuals looking to develop themselves and their organizations. Praise for the Participant Workbook Self-Assessment Tool "Time and again Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions have proven to be the most effective way for nonprofit organizations to conduct self-assessment and develop plans that will help them achieve real and lasting results." —Cathey Brown, founder and CEO, Rainbow Days, Inc., and 2001 Frances Hesselbein Community Innovation Fellow "The Five Most Important Questions Self-Assessment Tool is a gift to the social leadership sector from the late management guru, Peter Drucker, and the Leader to Leader Institute. It makes incredible sense, it is easy to use, and lays the foundation for strategic planning." —Irv Katz, president and CEO, National Human Services Assembly "A must-read for social entrepreneurs who are seeking to dramatically grow their organization's impact without losing sight of the heart of their mission." —Iris Y. Chen, president and CEO, "I Have A Dream" Foundation "High-performing organizations and individuals know that self-assessment through Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions is the starting point for defining today and making tomorrow." —Lee H. Igel, assistant professor, New York University, and president, Peter F. Drucker Society of New York City "This nuts-and-bolts guide has become my compass for urging leaders and managers to ask the right questions, to look beyond what they thought they knew, and to focus on being relevant tomorrow rather than resting on yesterday's achievements." —Lieutenant Commander Carla J. Grantham [U.S. Coast Guard, Retired], Congressional Liaison for Diversity Recruitment and Talent Management, U.S. Coast Guard

This book provides administrators in public and non-profit organizations with direction and a framework from which to lead their organizations effectively. Taking a global approach to the issues administrators need to examine when managing a group of employees at any level (including budgeting and expenditures, forecasting, policy creation and execution, communication and reporting), this book explores the driving forces in organizational decision making. Author Nick Valcik takes a holistic view on organizational management, beginning with the core aspects of public organizations and the leadership competencies necessary to manage an organization successfully. Designed to be used on undergraduate and graduate courses in public administration and in public affairs programs, the book discusses the basics of organizational structure, delves into risk management issues, and offers a set of tools that can be used by administrators to make informed decisions based on actual data or documented processes. Throughout the book, real world case studies provide students and practitioners with a clear understanding of how exactly the right decision tool may be applied when facing a particular decision in any organization.

This book defines organizational development (OD) and discusses the philosophy of OD in terms of its assumptions and values. It addresses the issue of change in organizations and deals with groups and group processes since they are the forerunners of teams in organizations.