Strategy Formation And Policy Making In Government

This book explores goal-oriented action and describes the variety of options offered by strategic management in guiding public organisations. The book is based on the idea that planning is only one option in orienting the functioning of public organisations and applies resource-based and network studies to the public sector. Whilst most of the existing literature on strategic management relates to local government, this book examines developments within central governments and public agencies external to government hierarchies. The book also addresses the strategic distinction between politics and administration often neglected by existing research, and illustrates the connection between goal setting and actual performance of government organisations.

Strategic management is widely seen as essential to the public services, leading to better performance and better outcomes for the public. In fact, the private sector idea of strategic management has become so powerful in the public sector that politicians and policy makers have begun to talk about the importance of the modern state being strategic – and we may be witnessing the emergence of the Strategic State. Strategic Management for the Public Sector draws on experience and research from a range of countries and provides a theoretical understanding of strategic management that is grounded in the public sector. Drawing on the latest theory and research this text provides a fresh look at foresight, analysis, strategic choice, implementation and evaluation. This book also offers original and detailed case studies based on up to date evidence from different public sector settings, helping the reader to build on their understanding of theories and concepts presented earlier in the book. Strategic Management for the Public Sector has been written specially for managers and students taking postgraduate courses such as MBAs and MPAs. It will also appeal to individual managers and civil servants in the public sector looking for an accessible book to read as part of their own independent personal development.

Policy formulation relies upon the interplay of knowledge-based analysis of issues with power-based considerations, such as the political assessment of the costs and benefits of proposed actions, and its effects on the partisan and electoral concerns of governments. Policy scholars have long been interested in how governments successfully create, deploy and utilise policy instruments, but the literature on policy formulation has, until now, remained fragmented. This comprehensive Handbook unites original scholarship on policy tools and design, with contributions examining policy actors and the roles they play in the formulation process.

Uniting theoretical bases and advancements in practice, the Routledge Handbook of Policy Design brings together leading experts in the academic field of policy design in a pioneering effort of scholarship. Each chapter provides a multi-topic overview of the state of knowledge on how, why, where or when policies are designed and how such designs can be improved. These experts address how a new emphasis on effective policy design has re-emerged ​in public policy studies in recent years ​and ​clarify the role of historical policy decisions, policy capacities and government intentions in promoting a design orientation towards ​policy formulation and policy-making more generally. They examine many previously unexplored aspects of policy designs and designing activities, which focus upon analyzing and improving the sets of policy tools adopted by governments to correct policy problems. Ranging from the fundamentals of policy design and its place in greater policy studies, to new questions regarding policy design content and ​effectiveness, to contemporary design trends such as the use of digital tools and big data, the Routledge Handbook of Policy Design is a comprehensive reference for students and scholars of public policy, public administration and public management, government and business.

The key difference between success and failure for most governance systems is adaptation, specifically the ability to resolve the existing social, cultural, economic and environmental challenges that constrain adaptation. Local, regional and national systems differ in how they are designed to organize effective participation and create innovative ideas for missions, goals, strategies and actions. They also differ in how they build the effective coalitions needed to adopt, guide and protect strategies and actions during implementation, and how to build competence and knowledge to sustain implementation. This book presents the strategic foundations for government’s role in fostering and adapting to societal transformation in a volatile world. It shifts the focus of the discipline from an overtly retrospective analysis to a prospective analysis, incorporating the role of foresight techniques and instruments. Above all, it stimulates debate about the practical implications of governance as an emergent future-oriented framework of public management. This challenging book aims to facilitate dialogue and discussion between academics and practitioners, and encourage advanced students to take a new perspective on Public Management during these volatile times.

Fully revised for a second edition, this essential guide provides a concise and accessible overview of the public policy process: agenda-setting, policy formulation, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation. The book provides an introduction to the key policy functions, the challenges they entail, and how the challenges may be addressed by policy actors. Written from a comparative perspective, the authors include examples from a diverse range of countries at different stages of development, highlighting key principles and practices through which policy actors can effectively manage their policy processes and outcomes. Key features of the second edition: fully updated and revised content throughout; expanded references and further reading; more guidance towards understanding the key concepts in public policy. This important tool offers students of public policy and policy practitioners guidance on how to make, implement, and evaluate public policies in ways that improve citizens' lives.

Strategic Management in Public Services Organizations takes a comparative and international view on the appropriate use of strategic management models that are affecting the way public services organizations are managed. In an era of New and post New Public Management reforms, public managers at all levels are expected to respond to these new approaches, which profoundly affect their work practices, skills, and knowledge bases. Choosing a promising strategic management model and implementing it in a way that works for the organization or inter-organizational network in question also depends on an understanding of local politico-administrative and cultural contexts: this book helps the readers identify how to successfully tailor strategic management approaches to their specific circumstances and needs. This second edition builds upon the successes of the well-received first edition. Thoroughly updated to help public managers meet the challenges of a new decade, it has a refreshed collection of mini-cases and now includes chapter summaries. It also includes a new chapter on collaborative strategy and co-creation, in response to the growth of interest in more open forms of public policymaking. This is an advanced textbook aimed at the postgraduate level, particularly students on MPAs and MBAs with a public sector option or MScs in public policy and public management.

This brief text identifies the issues, resources, actors, and institutions involved in public policy making and traces the dynamics of the policymaking process, including the triggering of issue awareness, the emergence of an issue on the public agenda, the formation of a policy commitment, and the implementation process that translates policy into practice. Throughout the text, which has been revised and updated, Gerston brings his analysis to life with abundant examples from the most recent and emblematic cases of public policy making. At the same time, with well-chosen references, he places policy analysis in the context of political science and deftly orients readers to the classics of public policy studies. Each chapter ends with discussion questions and suggestions for further reading.