Understanding and Managing Public Organizations - Paperback

by Hal G. Rainey (Author), Sergio Fernandez (Author), Deanna Malatesta (Author)

Discover the latest insights in organization theory from a comprehensive and masterful volume

Understanding and Managing Public Organizations, 6th Edition provides readers with an authoritative reference for scholars, masters, and doctoral students in public management and public affairs programs in the United States and other nations.

The 6th Edition of Understanding and Managing Public Organizations presents the latest research and insights from organization and management theory and their application to public organizations and the people in them. The book expands coverage from previous editions about organizational goals, performance and effectiveness, strategy, decision-making, structure and design, organizational change, operating environments, individuals and groups, motivation and work-related attitudes, leadership, teamwork, and more.

Authors and professors Hal Rainey, Sergio Fernandez, and Deanna Malatesta provide new and expanded coverage of such topics as

• The context and distinctive character of public and nonprofit organizations, including expanded coverage of "publicness" and of the legal context including "state action"
• Performance management, measurement, organizational effectiveness, and managing for high performance
• Representative bureaucracy, workforce diversity, and performance
• Communication and information technology
• Employee engagement and empowerment, intrinsic motivation, self-determination theory, public service motivation, and positive organizational behavior--resilience, self-efficacy, optimism, and hope
• Recent developments in theory and thought on leadership, including authentic leadership, shared leadership, servant leadership, and integrated leadership
• Design and process topics including red tape and green tape, administrative burdens, and organizational routines
• Theoretical perspectives such as behavioral theory of decision making, resource dependence theory, and others, and their implications for public and nonprofit organizations
• Advances in theory and practice about rapid developments in collaborative governance, organizational networks, partnerships, and contracting
• Since the book is used in courses for students in numerous public affairs programs, this new edition updates the Instructor's Guide, with new and revised PowerPoint slides, cases, exercises, and discussion and examination questions
• These materials, with the topics in the chapters, are designed to address the learning outcomes required by NASPAA accreditation requirements

Belonging on the shelf of scholars and students in public affairs, as well as anyone interested in public management or organization theory, this new edition of Understanding and Managing Public Organizations provides an advanced and comprehensive enhancement to a widely used and compelling series of previous editions.

Front Jacket

UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS, SIXTH EDITION

"The best keeps getting better. This is the definitive place for all serious students of public administration to start--the most comprehensive book in the field, and required reading for MPA students, PhD students, and all scholars on the topic."
--Kenneth J. Meier, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, American University

"A must-read for everyone in the community of public management in Korea, as in many places all over the world. This edition with Fernandez and Malatesta updates this book's contributions and provides the best investigation of public organization and management that I have read."
--Young Han Chun, Professor of Public Administration and Director of the Center for Organizational Diagnosis and Evaluations, Seoul National University

"This is the bible for public management scholarship, and the first place to turn for an accessible but rigorous analysis of research on organizational life in the public sector. It provides an extraordinary curatorial task and presents a coherent and insightful body of knowledge. Anyone interested in how research can inform governance should start with this book."
--Donald Moynihan, McCourt Chair, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University

"Just when you think this book on public management could not get any better, Rainey, Fernandez, and Malatesta deliver a new edition that covers all of the topics that you would expect, and more! Here is a true treasure trove for students of public administration around the globe."
--Sandra van Thiel, Professor of Public Management at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands

"The revised edition of Understanding and Managing Public Organizations remains the Encyclopedia Britannica of public management; if you want to find out about the practice and theory of public management, look no further than the Rainey, Fernandez, and Malatesta Sixth Edition."
--Richard M. Walker, Chan Hon Pun Professor of Behavioural and Policy Sciences, Chair Professor of Public Management, and Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong

"This Sixth Edition of Understanding and Managing Public Organizations masterfully connects classical concepts of public management with the latest evolving theories and research on managing organizations. The book is indispensable for students and scholars of public administration."
--Carolyn J. Heinrich, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Public Policy, Education and Economics, Vanderbilt University

Author Biography

HAL G. RAINEY is the Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Public Administration and Policy, in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia, where he teaches public administration and organization theory and behavior. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

SERGIO FERNANDEZ is Professor of Public Administration and Management at the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Bloomington and Extraordinary Professor at the School of Public Management and Administration at the University of Pretoria. His research focuses on employee empowerment, representative bureaucracy in the U.S. and South Africa, organizational change and innovation, public sector leadership, and government outsourcing.

DEANNA MALATESTA is Associate Professor of Public Administration and Management at the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Bloomington. Her research focuses on contracting, governance, and cross-sector collaboration.