Part 1 The public services since 1979 - partial revolutions: reviewing the current managerial ethos - the import of public sector managerial initiatives since 1979; strategic management in public services - towards a comparative framework; managing public services - initiatives, innovation and organizational learning; addressing key challenges for managing public service delivery. Part 2 Issues and cases in modern public service management: the manager faces the consumer; the manager monitored - reviewing for economy, efficiency, effectiveness and equity; the manager as technologist - the rush to implement IT in the public services; management in the National Health Service; strategies for the responsive organization - managing social services in the 1990s; decision-making, management and perceived usefulness of information - the local government experience; police - changing management.

Questions many popular assumptions concerning the nature and role of public sector management. The authors outline the different parameters within which both public and private sector managers operate and argue that the public service manager is often evaluated on inappropriate criteria.