Book Description
A leading expert explains what government bureaucracies do and why they behave the way they do.
Customer Reviews:
great read for policy people.......2007-05-09
I just finished a masters program in public policy, and though this book was not used in any of my classes, it was recommended reading. I have to say that it provides a great introduction to bureaucracies and why they are the way they are. (Spoiler: it's not, as many believe, because bureacrats are idiots) Coming from a background of small, private-sector organizations, this was especially useful for me.
I appreciate Wilson's taxonomies of various organizations. Every political scientist has to have a 2x2 matrix to divide the world, but one of Wilson's, that divides organizations into "production," "coping," "craft," and "procedural" is particularly useful. If you are planning a career in public service, you'd do well to take some time to match your personality to the type of organization you're thinking of joining.
This book is NOT a sociological examination of bureaucracy .......2007-03-10
Though the author does name drop Max Weber twice, this book is far from a concise sociological understanding of the concept bureaucracy. So reading it from this standpoint, the material would appear a bit long winded and inconcise. I would not recommend this book if you are interested in understanding bureaucracy from a sociological perspective. The focus is strictly government bureaucracy (mostly if not entirely a United States bureacracy analysis). "Search inside this book" and you can see how the author breaks up this focus. ( Don't be fooled by reading the paged provided to you by Amazon, the rest of the book isn't at all like those few beginning pages. The book gets more uninteresting as you read the following chapters.) In my opinion the book is overloaded with example that, as reader, you kind of lose focus as to what the points of those examples are. And it's almost as though these "examples" that the author provides are really suppose to be stand alone "stories of interest" The book was written in 1989 so all the examples are dated in that respect so if you purchase this book now in 2007, these examples may not be of any interest in and of themselves like I believe the author intended them to be. For 25 plus dollars I would say that this book really isn't worth a purchase but if money is not an issue or if you can get this book for less then whatever you know. It not even a very good book on government bureaucracy either in my opinion because the author really isn't very insightful in his analysis. Just read the review by Tansu Demir found in the review section and save your money.
Good book.......2007-02-15
This is a book used for my public management class and I have to say, it is pretty interesting. I feel that there is some overlap in chapters, but overall it's a good book.
Student Review.......2006-07-09
Overall good book offering the student of Bureaucratic Behavior a unique insight into the wide variety of personality traits that are commonly found in today's bureacracies as well as an in-depth vew of how the US form of Governemnt operates in a sometimes difficult arena of these personalities. I do believe chapter summaries could have been better developed and in some cases there was too much in the examples and in some there was too little. Overall a good book on the subject.
Wonderfully written.......2005-04-20
Wilson, as usual, writes amazingly well in this comprehensive book covering bureaucracies, how they operate, and why bureaucrats act the way they do.
He discusses the different organizational features that persist across all bureaucracies, and why it is that once a bureaucracy is created it's almost impossible to get rid of. This may pique your interest if you've been following the recent attempts to solve our intelligence problems by adding more layers of bureaucrats, as if that will somehow solve the problem.
Highly recommended to all students of American politics.
Amazon.com
British businessman and dedicated angler Paul Torday has found a way to combine a novel about fishing and all that it means with a satire involving politics, bureaucrats, the Middle East, the war in Iraq, and a sheikh who is really a mystic. Torday makes it all work in a most convincing way using memos, interviews, e-mails, and letters in clever juxtaposition.
Dr. Alfred Jones is a fisheries scientist in Great Britain who is called upon to find a way to introduce salmon into the desert in Yemen. The Yemeni sheikh will spare no expense to see this happen. He says:
It would be a miracle of God if it happened. I know it... If God wills it, the summer rains will fill the wadis... and the salmon will run the river. And then my countrymen... all classes and manner of men--will stand side by side and fish for the salmon. And their natures, too, will be changed. They will feel the enchantment of this silver fish... and then when talk turns to what this tribe said or that tribe did... then someone will say, "Let us arise, and go fishing."
Such is the sheikh's vision. He tells Alfred: "Without faith, there is no hope. Without faith, there is no love." Alfred has no religious faith and has been mired in a loveless marriage for twenty years, so these words seem fantastic to him.
Alfred and Sheikh Muhammad connect immediately through their mutual love of fishing, despite Alfred's misgivings about the viability of the project. The Prime Minister's flack man tells Alfred that he must persevere and succeed because Great Britain needs some positive connection to the Middle East, something other than a failing, flailing war. These kinds of political alliances are always shaky at best, and when things start to go sideways, allies have a way of disappearing. Alfred soldiers on, with the help of the lovely Harriet, Sheikh Muhammad's land agent, and the project is readied for opening day, when the Sheikh and the Prime Minister will have a 20-minute photo op.
All of the faith and good will in the world cannot overcome the forces ranged against them, bringing tragedy to everyone involved. Despite all, Alfred's interior life is changed immeasurably. He says in the end: "I believe in it, because it is impossible." --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
Dr. Alfred Jones is a henpecked, slightly pompous middle-aged scientist at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence in London when he is approached by a mysterious sheikh about an outlandish plan to introduce the sport of salmon fishing into the Yemen. Dr. Jones refuses, but the project, however scientifically absurd, catches the eye of British politicians, who pressure him to work on it. His diaries of the Yemen Salmon Project, from beginning to glorious, tragic end, form the narrative backbone of this novel; interspersed throughout are government memos, e-mails, letters, and interview transcripts that deftly capture the absurdity of bureaucratic dysfunction.
With a wickedly wonderful cast of characters—including a weasel-like spin doctor, a missing soldier and his intrepid fiancée, and Dr. Jones’s own devilish wife—Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is the whimsical story of an unlikely hero who discovers true love, finds himself first a pawn and then a victim of political spin, and learns to believe in the impossible.
Customer Reviews:
Writing Style Reminds Me of Kingsley Amis -- Another Oxford Master.......2007-10-17
This book delivers a writing style which is both new and rejuvenating.
Classically loyal to the concept of bureaucratic ploy, the plot of the book delivers a contradictory premise: evidencing a government bureaucracy becoming involved and fulfilling a "dead at arrival" concept of infusing salmon (a cold water fish) to the hot arid lands of Yemen.
Conscripted by his government to aid in the development of a sheikh's passion to deliver fish of the northern hemisphere to his equatorial land, the protagonist, Dr. Alfred Jones, initially eschews the requests demanded of him. It is preposterous, he thinks -as does anyone else. To be called upon to deliver an act which would ordinarily be deemed an exclusive right for the almighty, Dr. Jones understands that he needs to keep his job and thereupon surveys the concept and architects the impossible dream. And, does it become realty? You will have to read it to find out.
The writing style is what makes this book both comical and seemingly relevant. It includes: numerous e-mails between Jones and his career-driven Oxford educated (he is too) wife who leaves his home for an opportunity to make even more money than he does (a fact she too often reminds him about in their e-mail correspondence); journal entries by the protagonist; articles from various newspapers; transcripts of television accounts; transcripts of interrogations relating to criminal and other acts; intergovernmental memoranda; intergovernmental e-mails; and (my favorite), transcripts of Parliamentary sessions which involve the salmon issue as well as lost soldier Robert - whose betrothed works with Dr. Jones.
The prose often delivers other delicious items. The dialogue of the rogue fishing-bitten sheikh displays enormously talented diplomatic statements which only trained diplomats or monarchs would recite - flawlessly and seemingly effortlessly.
As the book evolves, the characters dive deeper and deeper into bitter sweet alliances, trysts and victories. And, you just have to continue as the writer lures you to see "if it all works out."
For anyone wanting a quick and delightful read, I recommend this book.
I loved this book.......2007-10-07
As I read the previous reviews, I find that I share some of the criticisms of the people who hated the book. And from the reviews, it appears you either love or hate this book. I was intially put off by the style, that is that the book is told in emails, diary entries, etc. I find that unnerving and disjointed, and it causes the reader to have to constantly switch gears, so to speak, and I find that much more difficult to read than a straight narrative. By opening the book with emails, with all that to/from/what time information, I think the writer violated that first of all literary commands: Hook 'em from the beginning. ("It was a dark and stormy night...")
However, there is a point at which you do get hooked, if you can slog through the beginning. So it seems to me that the people who hated the book do so on issues of style. The people who love the book, including me, do so on issues of content.
There is a great deal of humor in the book, not always subtle as one reviewer suggested. The Quiz Show scenario, in which a Yemeni citizen wins a dishwasher to take to his non-existent, bombed-out, electricity-free village, is an example. But the rest of the humor is the kind that makes you smile, rather than laugh out loud.
Ultimately, the book does a stunning job of bringing home the point that none of us know what will happen tomorrow. We live, love, dream, and make plans based on hope that we will be there to see the dreams and plans come to pass. But if we don't, the life lived with those hopes and dreams is reward in itself. The book has an unexpected climax that is quite shattering. And uplifting at the same time. So...read this book. Go for content. Style is the author's perogative.
"It was such fun to be going off to fish for our country.".......2007-09-23
(4.5 stars) One of the most delightful and original satires I've read in ages, this debut novel pokes fun at every aspect of British society, from government spin-meisters and crass politicians to marriages of convenience, TV interview programs, consumerism, and the belief that many of the world's problems would be solved if only other people were "more like us." This satire is particularly refreshing, however, since the author writes it with a smile on his face, preferring to prick balloons with his witty needling, rather than wield a rapier in a slashing attack.
The absurdity begins on the first page, when mild-mannered and unimaginative Dr. Alfred Jones, a fisheries specialist, receives a letter asking for his participation in a project to introduce Scottish salmon and the sport of salmon fishing into the wadis of the Yemen during the yearly rains. Alfred finds the whole idea ludicrous and ignores the letter, until the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and eventually the prime minister weigh in. The PM's office favors this effort for its "environmental message," the new links it will forge to a Middle Eastern country, and not incidentally, the huge, positive news story that may push stories of Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia off the front page.
Through letters, e-mails, memos, diary entries, newspaper articles, records of the House of Commons, interviews, and even intercepted al-Qaeda e-mail traffic, the story of Alfred's efforts to create a suitable environment for salmon in the mountains of western Yemen unfolds. Gradually, Alfred becomes intrigued with the research possibilities of the project, and his contact with His Excellency Sheikh Muhammad ibn Zaidi bani Tihama, an avid salmon-fisherman who lives part of the year on a Scottish estate, broadens his vision and stimulates his imagination.
Within the framework that includes the salmon project, Alfred's love life (or lack of love life, since his wife lives in Geneva), and the sheikh's broad vision of a more peaceful world achieved through fishing, the author pokes fun at modern life--government officials who take credit for all Alfred's work, foreign policy which reflects the belief that the Middle Eastern poor hate the British because they do not have TV and material benefits, and even a communications expert who proposes a "Voice of Britain" TV channel with a quiz show in which poor Iraqi contestants can win dishwashers. Not even the British army's "Bereavement Management Center" escapes the author's sharp eye.
As Alfred accepts the sheikh's "belief in belief," he grows emotionally, and when the prime minister insists on going to the Yemen for the first release of ten thousand young salmon into the wadi, the scene is set for a grand finale. Filled with timely observations, an entertaining cast of characters, and a unique and well-developed story line (though the conclusion is a bit weak), this novel breaks new ground. There are not many satires that can be called "charming," and there may be even fewer novels about salmon fishing that can completely captivate those of us who have never climbed into a set of waders. Mary Whipple
I enjoyed the questions for discussion at the end of the book more than the book itself!, .......2007-09-09
I got used to the story being in the form of letters, e-mails, interviews and diary entries and it seemed to get easier to read as the story moved along. However there were sections I skim read that I found plain boring.
Although I could see the political satire in the story I would have to question the description that it's a `...feelgood comedy...' as suggested on the back cover.
The intelligent conversation and observation came mainly from Sheikh Muhammad who was a likable and respected figure. I liked his observations on the class snobbery in Britain...maybe that WAS the comedy ;)
When we first meet Dr Jones (Fred) he has `...moved on from religion...' and gives talks on 'Why God cannot exist'. As the story develops he learns about faith from both the Sheikh and the Yemen project. However, although I appreciated his personal journey, I never got to really like him, I just felt sorry for him.
All in all it was 'okay'. A little dull, but readable.
Thankfully though, there are plenty more books on the shelf ;)
.....east meets west, or vica versa.......2007-09-08
....mr torday has clearly seen the disconnect between the thought patterns of east and west and wittyly puts the two together in a funny story. as yemen is a low literacy society however he doesn't manage to match up the "behind the scenes" communications there as he does in the antiquated empire-remnant british segements of the book. a nice read but not compelling, more so if you've ever visited yemen and can visualise the ironies, or been involved in the bureaucratic niceties of modern britain.
Book Description
Famous "Work-Out" change-management tool explained by the people who helped develop it.
GE's legendary Work-Out program played a key role in the company's phenomenal success over the past decade and has been implemented in many other organizations. Now three executives and consultants who developed the original Work-Out approach at GEoften working directly with CEO Jack Welchdiscuss the inner workings of Work-Out and their experiences at successfully implementing the program at GE.
Filled with effective assessment and decisionmaking tools, The GE Work-Out provides concrete and realistic guidance for anyone who wants to implement Work-Out and break down bureaucracy and hierarchy within an organization.
Download Description
GE's legendary Work-Out program played a key role in the company's phenomenal success over the past decade and has been implemented in many other organizations. Now three executives and consultants who developed the original Work-Out approach at GE often working directly with CEO Jack Welch discuss the inner workings of Work-Out and their experiences at successfully implementing the program at GE.
Customer Reviews:
Sound advice for delivering speed, simplicity, and solutions.......2005-01-07
'Work-Out' is the famous organizational process that General Electric, the greatest industrial firm in the world, used to bust bureaucracy - fast.
At its core, Work-Out is a simple, straightforward concept for cutting out bureaucracy and solving organizational problems - fast. Large groups of employees and managers - from different levels and functions of the organization - come together to address issues that they identify or that senior management has raised as concerns. In small teams, people challenge prevailing assumptions about "the way we've always done things" and come up with recommendations for dramatic improvements in organizational processes. The Work-Out teams present their recommendations to a senior manager in a "town meeting", where the manager engages the entire group in a dialogue about the recommendations and then makes yes-or-no decisions on the spot. Recommendations for changing the organization are assigned to "owners" who have volunteered to carry them out and follow through to get results. That's Work-Out in a nutshell.
Work-Out can be applied to almost any type of problem. It was first used at GE to harvest the low-hanging fruit of OVERGROWN BUREAUCRACY by getting unnecessary and unproductive work out of the organizational system - e.g. reduce meetings, reports, and approval levels. They asked what procedures didn't make sense? Where were they wasting time? What activities seemed to add little value? Some of the bureaucratic procedures were expense reimbursements, making travel arrangements, obtaining office supplies, updating personnel data, taking education courses, upgrading software, and more. But also in the core functions, bureaucracy was found: filling out forms for deals, preparing presentations for approval meetings, keeping track of customer data, obtaining approval for materials purchasing, overwhelming amounts of extra analysis to justify various investments or initiatives. Some of the results were e.g. that expense accounts did not need multiple approvals, people could purchase approved software without going through the IT department, and a pre-deal process was established to see if deals were worth pursuing before going through all the analytics.
Work-Out has been successfully adapted to any type of organization - public or private, commercial or non-profit, large or small. In all of these organizations, no matter what the issue, the process remains much the same.
1. Bring together the people from the organization who know the issues best
2. Challenge them to develop creative solutions
3. Decide on the solutions immediately in a public forum
4. Empower people to carry them out
Despite its massive impact on GE and other firms, Work-Out is not a snake oil or magic elixir. It is a simple set of concepts, tools, and experiences. When stripped to its essence, Work-Out allows people to get some obstacles out of the way so they can do their work better. In many firms, that alone would be a significant gain.
The real merit of this book is the practical approach. If you are - as I am - struggling with the challenges of continually keeping our organizations lean, then this book can help you. It contains many inspiring worksheets, action plans, tools, and hands-on case studies.
The authors of this book helped GE create Work-Out. So don't expect theoretical contributions. Only sound advice.
Co-author Dave Ulrich is one of my favourite HR experts. I can recommend many of his books, e.g. `Results-Based Leadership' and `Delivering Results'. To him, HR is about delivering business performance and organizational capabilities. Cause if you don't, you'll soon be out of business. The tricky part is balancing the soft and hard part of HR. Dave Ulrich has many good concepts to make that happen. This book is not a bad place to start, if you'd like to pick his brains...
Peter Leerskov,
M.Sc. in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business
Packed Wiyh Knowledge!.......2004-05-02
There's no denying the effectiveness of the Work-Out system at General Electric (GE). This book is a straightforward and comprehensive introduction to what Work-Oout means and how it helped GE achieve such astonishing results under Jack Welch, who introduced it. This clear, well-organized book makes it possible for any executive or manager to apply at least some elements of the work-out program in any organizational context. We do caution you, however, that the Work-Out program as portrayed here demands a great deal of commitment and moral fortitude from leaders. Empowerment may be effective, but it is rarely comfortable for the powers that be. Just ask "Neutron Jack."
Good Idea - Bad Book.......2003-12-19
I completely agree with the reader who said that this book could have been written much more effectively. It is nearly 400 pages and should have been no more than 25 to 50. Most issues or thoughts in this book while being solid are explained in far far too painful of detail with a great deal of redundancy. This made reading the book extremely wasteful of my time.
Perhaps the authors should have a "Work Out" on improvement of their materials.
Great. Lots of first-hand tips to turnaround a large company.......2003-03-28
Unlike other books on Six Sigma that focus on variation reduction, statistics and other tools, this book is full of practical examples of techniques and implementation tips. The focal point of the book is on the process of generating the turnaround in a large conglomerate such as GE. In this case the aspects of organizational behavior constitute THE critical success factor (rather than statistical/other tools). Workout has undoubtedly been fundamental for generating the cultural transformation in GE. This book is addressing these organizational behavior aspects in a pragmatic manner presenting a detailed road-map from planning all the way through implementation.
Most examples deal with administration/bureaucracy and I would have expected to read more on operational aspects such as value chain improvement in a Production/Logistics environment.
This book is a must for top managers that search for a generic methodology to translate their vision into reality.
Very Bad Buy.......2002-12-05
This is one of the worst books I've ever purchased. The ideas in this book could be fully explained in no more than two or three pages. I bought it relying on the CV's of the authors but it turned out to be a true dud. It rehashes the same ideas over and over and over and over. It's for the braindead.
Book Description
The underlying theme of the book examines the relationship of administrative agencies to democracy, in particular, how the law attempts to keep daily practices of government agencies accountable.
The book includes discussions of bureaucracy and democracy; agency discretion and the requirement of fairness; delegation; agency rulemaking, investigations and information collection; agency adjudications; and accountability through reviewability, accessibility, and liability.
For professionals practicing law, and those in the political science community.
Book Description
"Elaine Kamarck shows us what we can expect if we want to go beyond the tired rhetoric of left and right to create a government capable of dealing with all the new challenges of this new century. She has had more practical experience with this challenge...than anyone else in the world."
--Al Gore
"This important book examines how bureaucracy can be updated to deal with the quickly evolving demands of the twenty-first century and also uses real-world examples to help us understand how new alternatives can best be applied."
--Richard W. Waterman, University of Kentucky
"Kamarck properly emphasizes the crucial importance of implementation for achieving results and makes clear that there are alternatives to creating yet another bureaucracy, shuffling the boxes on the organization chart, or creating another layer of management. Any member of Congress who takes congressional oversight seriously--and shouldn't they all?--would certainly benefit from reading this book."
--James Davis, Washington University in St. Louis
In the last decades of the twentieth century, many political leaders declared that government was, in the words of Ronald Reagan, "the problem, not the solution." But on closer inspection, argues Elaine Kamarck, the revolt against "government" was and is a revolt against bureaucracy--a revolt that has taken place in first world, developing, and avowedly communist countries alike.
To some, this looks like the end of government. Kamarck, however, counters that what we are seeing is the replacement of the traditional bureaucratic approach with new models more in keeping with the information age economy. The End of Government explores the emerging contours of this new, postbureaucratic state--the sequel to government as we know it--considering: What forms will it take? Will it work in all policy arenas? Will it serve democratic ideals more effectively than did the bureaucratic state of the previous century? Perhaps most significantly, how will leadership be redefined in these new circumstances?
Kamarck's provocative work makes it clear that, in addition to figuring out what to do, today's government leaders face an unprecedented number of options when it comes to how to do things. The challenge of government increasingly will be to choose an implementation mode, match it to a policy problem, and manage it well in the postbureaucratic world.
Customer Reviews:
A plain-spoken, serious-minded plethora of twenty-first century solutions.......2007-07-09
Written by Elaine C. Kamarck, a former senior policy advisor to the Clinton administration, The End of Government...As We Know It: Making Public Policy Work is a nonpartisan examination of the failings of bureaucratic government models with newer, leaner, and more creative approaches in keeping with the fast-paced and ever-changing information age. Chapters address the problem of homeland security and why bureaucratic thinking has failed to solve it, tools for reinventing the public sector such as waivers, applying the reinvention of government to the problem of welfare dependence (one such positive example is the use of an electronic benefit card to supplant food stamps - since food stamps can be used like cash and are thus more susceptible to corruption) and much more. A plain-spoken, serious-minded plethora of twenty-first century solutions to problems compounded by bureaucratic quagmires left over from the twentieth century. Highly recommended, especially for anyone active in local, state, or federal government.
Customer Reviews:
Great!.......2007-02-17
The book is in excellent condition and the delivery time was quite brief. Great service and great product!
A deep insight into the politics of foreign aid and economic.......1999-11-16
I was referred to this book by my lecturer in applied athropology. Reading it caused me to rethink and rewrite my assignment. Fergusson can be a bit irritating but he certainly has researched his field well and shows a great insight into the politics of foreign aid and economic development in the 3rd World.
A dose of realism.......1999-09-09
Ferguson's study of development projects in Lesotho brings a much needed dose of reality to the subject of modernization and aid. While others might stress the need for appropriate technology or bog the reader down in economic formulae, Ferguson examines the ways in which local and global politics influence the success of even the most carefully planned and well-meaning of projects. A must-read for anyone interested in the development business.
Customer Reviews:
Street-level Bureaucrats as Policy Makers.......2002-01-11
In this book, Lipsky examines the critical role of street-level bureaucrats in the policy-making and/or policy implementation process. The traditional model of public policy theory assumes that policy choices are made by the elected political executives and the implementation of those choices are left to the jurisdiction of bureaucrats. Lipsky challenges this line of argument/belief on the basis that since street level bureaucrats have a wide area of "discretion" when they perform their jobs they must be seen as the persons who actually make the policy choices rather than only implement those choices.
Public service workers who interact directly with citizens in the course of their jobs, and who have substantial discretion in the execution of their work are called street-level bureaucrats (p. 3). And, public service agencies that employ a significant number of street-level bureaucrats in proportion to their work force are called street-level bureaucracies (p. 3). Teachers, police officers, intake workers in social security offices are some examples of street-level bureaucrats.
Based on the acceptance that those officials, so-called street-level bureaucrats, have a great autonomy from organizational control and the resources to resist any kind of top-down control/pressure (with the help of civil service laws that make it very difficult, if not impossible, to fire any worker) the author focuses his attention on how these human service workers behave under the conditions of their work context. The conditions of the work in which street-level bureaucrats find themselves surrounded are characterized with as follows:
1. Resources are chronically inadequate relative to the tasks workers are asked to perform.
2. The demand for services tends to increase to meet the supply.
3. Goal expectations for the agencies in which they work tend to be ambiguous, vague or conflicting.
4. Performance oriented toward goal achievement tends to be difficult if not impossible to measure.
5. Clients are typically non-voluntary; partly as a result, clients for the most part do not serve as primary bureaucratic reference groups. (pp. 27-8).
The above-enumerated conditions are of critical importance because they affect largely the policy formation (not formulation) in "reality". The first two conditions force the street-level workers to "ration" services in such a way so as to reduce the excessive demand on services that increase with the increase in supply, a very similar rationing mechanism to that of being assured by the "price" mechanism in the profit sector. With this rationing in mind, discrimination becomes an inseparable part of the job of street-level bureaucrats in that since the resources available for distribution are not limitless, some clients are or should be served at the expense of exclusion of others. The third condition forces the street-level bureaucrats to define their jobs in such a way that reduces the role conflict for them and provides a foundation on which to define their mission. The last two conditions make it very difficult for street-level bureaucrats to change their behavior patterns in the short run-the fourth condition allow street-level bureaucrats to avoid any allegation regarding their performance and the fifth condition helps them to shut their eyes to the demands of clients, because clients have "nowhere" to go if they are unsatisfied with the service they receive. This is the general framework of the book.
Having demonstrated how street-level bureaucrats behave, Lipsky concentrates his attention on the reform propositions. First of all, the author tries to explain why reforms that bring new performance measurement/control devices for street-level bureaucracies are highly subject to failure. Lipsky demonstrates how street-level bureaucrats change their behaviors in order to satisfy new performance criteria although not necessarily to the benefit of policy objectives, mainly based on Peter Blau's (1955) analysis. What Lipsky offers, instead, is that the structure and context of the work must be changed or reformed in order to produce expected results. Also, strengthening the citizens (setting the conditions that will make the citizens one of the reference groups for street-level bureaucrats, rather than clients to be processed) is one of the considerable offers of the author.
Published originally in 1980, this book has received a great deal of attention in the field. Some authors, for example C. Goodsell (1983), attacked on the arguments of Lipsky, especially on those related to the alleged "discrimination" made by street-level bureaucrats. It should be kept in mind that Lipsky does not attack on the street-level bureaucracy and bureaucrats, but he tries to explain the "background" that motivates the behavior patterns of street-level bureaucrats. I found the arguments very coherent and, having compared the theory with my own experiences, I agreed in many points with the author.
Whether you would agree or not with the line of arguments of the author, I believe this book is worthy of reading, especially for students and practitioners of the public policy. Highly recommended.
Street-Level Bureaucracy.......1998-08-07
The book "Street-Level Bureaucracy" describes the process whereby lower ranking employees of human service agencies utilize some level of discretion to determine actual public policy. Lipsky calls such workers "street level bureaucrats" and defines them as "those who directly interact with the public and have substantial discretion in the execution of their work" (Lipsky, pp. 3). They would include teachers, police officers, social workers, judges, public interest lawyers, unemployment counselors, and some health workers. Lipsky argues that these relatively low-level employees ought to be viewed as policy makers, rather than implementers of policy. As Lipsky puts it, the "decisions of street level bureaucrats, the routines they establish, and the devices they invent to cope with pressure, effectively become the public policy they carry out" (ibid., pp. xii). The quality of street-level bureaucracy-as operationalized below-is thus dependent upon the somewhat complicated interplay of eleven general factors. The (simplified) causal chain consequently looks something like this: (not available here) 1. Level of employee Discretion 2. Resources for Resistance 3. Budgetary Resources 4. Agency Goals 5. Personal (employee) Goals 6. Measurement Criterion 7. Relationship to Clients 8. Current Political Climate 9. Client Demand for Services 10. Political Power of Clients 11. Estimated Probability that Clients will benefit from Services
Quality of street-level bureaucracy Client Satisfaction with the Service Fairness of Service Decisions Openness of Service Decisions Efficiency of Service The Bureaucrat's job
With the above independent variables, Lipsky endeavors to explain why current human service agencies tend to experience (1) extremely low levels of client satisfaction, (2) high levels of (wrongful) bias in decision making such as favoritism and/or stereotyping, (3) low levels of accountability, (4) high levels of inefficiency, and (5) high levels of employee burnout. Several of the factors which contribute to-or are related to-the problem are not of the sort that Lipsky would recommend addressing. Rather, he holds that the most important source of problem is the structure of street-level bureaucrat's work. The scientific validity of this approach, Lipsky explains, "can only be tested in seeking to understand whether what seem to be common features of the work lead to common behavioral outcomes" (ibid., pp. xvi). In this respect, 14 of the main reforms that Lipsky suggests are as follows: 1. agencies must know what they want workers to do (ibid. pp. 161) 2. agencies must know how to measure worker performance (ibid. pp. 161) 3. agencies must be able to compare workers to one another (ibid. pp. 161) 4. agencies should have incentives and sanctions to discipline workers (ibid. pp. 161) 5. client autonomy must be increased (ibid. pp. 193) 6. street-level bureaucracies must be made more accountable to clients (ibid. pp. 195) 7. clients must be encouraged to organize and obtain control over service provision (ibid. pp. 196) 8. job-discretion that leads to discriminatory treatment of clients must be eliminated (ibid. pp. 197) 9. current budgetary resources must be maintained (ibid. pp. 200) 10. street-level bureaucrats must be provided with assistance in job problem solving (ibid. pp. 200) 11. street-level bureaucrats must be provided adequate salaries (ibid. pp. 205) 12. peer support mechanisms must be developed and encouraged (ibid. pp. 207) 13. management must be committed to "the new orientation" (ibid. pp. 209) 14. there must be a broad (societal) movement for social and economic justice (ibid. pp. 210)
In his conclusion, Lipsky asserts that "the quality of street-level practice will change only when an effective coalition develops that harnesses public concerns for service costs and effectiveness, respects clients involvement in service procedures, and recognizes the needs of the work place, where the fate of innovation will ultimately be decided" (ibid., pp. 210-211). Finally, given the reality of American politics, Lipsky predicts that any successful reform will take place "agency by agency and issue by issue" (ibid., pp. 211).
Book Description
Distressing, disturbing, devastatingly detailed--this stunning examination of how modern laws are diminishing America exposes the drawbacks of rule-bound government, tells why nothing gets done, reveals the phony pretensions of law, and shows why well-intentioned laws have actually devalued rights. In short, The Death of Common Sense demonstrates how the buck never stops and how ell-meaning laws are creating a nation of enemies. (Poltics/Current Events)
Customer Reviews:
We reap what we sow........2007-10-10
This book says the things we all have thought when we have heard of nonsensical law suits and the lack of common sense in our society. An easy read, this book intends to put a fire under people.
Deflecting responsibility from his own profession.......2007-07-07
The anecdotes are indeed maddening; of course the law and bureaucratic process can be described as "inefficient". However, over and again, Howard says, "Anyone can accuse anyone of anything," which is true, but he acts like the ability to accuse someone is the same as rendering judgment, and therefore our right to call someone to task in a court of law should be abridged. He neglects the fact that, once in the court of law, it is up to the lawyers and judges, and juries when appropriate, to dismiss cases that have no merit. If that is not being done, it is not the problem of us American citizens "having too many rights" but that his slimy profession is without any moral compass. And his book, while thought-provoking and entertaining, is at heart a call for less oversight of those in power, because those without power are slowing them down. I expect he's very happy with Bush and Cheney and their dismantling of so many of our inconvenient "rights". Read it, but with a pile of salt.
Death of Common Sense.......2007-01-14
Well-written and well-researched book that presents the frightening picture of the beast that law in America has become. The author provides good historical background for the reader to appreciate the insidious development of what has become our current laws, how these laws have actually become impediments for progress and justice, and good discussions regarding the challenges facing any rational correction of this quagmire.
Very worthwhile and insightful reading.
It's okay.......2006-03-17
Not bad, but just too obvious. I suppose as an introduction to someone recovering from a desire for Government regulation it mayh be helpful.
An Abdication of Responsibility.......2005-09-21
Rarely do books become more important years after they have been published.
That is the fate of Philip K. Howard's "The Death of Common Sense".
This short book details how America has deviated from being a bastion of freedom to being a nation subjugated by laws.
Mr. Howard presents a wonderful case against government-induced regulation---laws so far removed from reality, so unworkable in practice and so disastrous for productivity.
It would not be difficult countering some of his arguments, however I would deem it unlikely to rebut his central thesis which is that until Americans retain responsibility for their decisions instead of looking to arcane rulebooks, we should not expect the buck to stop anywhere.
Hence the reason this book is more important now. As we look at the Sarbanes-Oakley act, a reaction to the Enron scandal, and the McCain-Feingold bill for campaign finance reform, we have to ask ourselves if the pill is not worse than the pain. Inherent in finely written law is the ability to subvert them, as was seen during the 2004 elections. Why should we citizens take the risk?
The chapter "A Nation of Enemies" was illuminating. Quoting Isaiah Berlin, "Liberty for the wolves is death for the lambs," he advances the claim, which some deem legimitate, that enumerated rights can be antithetical to each other. Others definitely would argue to the contrary.
Therein lies its beauty: the ability to teach without hectoring, to dispute without hurling invectives.
Read this highly educative book and discover why "Relying on ourselves is...commonsense."
Book Description
The theory of public administration has long been based on the notions of hierarchy and authority. However, the way managers actually manage has increasingly become at odds with the theory. The growing gap between theory and practice poses enormous challenges for managers in determining how best to work -- and for American government in determining how best to hold public administrators accountable for effectively doing their jobs.
In the quest to improve the practice of public administration, Kettl explains, political scientists and other scholars have tried a number of approaches, including formal modeling, implementation studies, a public management perspective, and even institutional choice. This book offers a new framework for reconciling effective administration with the requirements of democratic government. Instead of thinking in terms of organizational structure and management, Kettl suggests, administrators and theorists need to focus on "governance,"or links between government and its broader environment -- political, social, and administrative. Government is the collection of institutions that act with authority and create formal obligations;governance is the set of processes and institutions, formal and informal, through which social action occurs. Linking government and governance, Kettl concludes, is the foundation for understanding the theory and practice of government in twenty-first century America -- for making public programs work better and for securing the values on which the American republic has been built.
Customer Reviews:
Go Team Bush.......2005-06-25
This is the guy who brought us the fawning page-turner, Team Bush. No research in here, no grounding in reality, mostly recycling of past work. He's written this book, what?, ten or twelve times over the past two decades. Enough already.
Book Description
The laws that legislatures adopt provide a crucial opportunity for elected politicians to define public policy. But the ways politicians use laws to shape policy vary considerably across polities. In some cases, legislatures adopt detailed and specific laws in an effort to micromanage policymaking processes. In others, they adopt general and vague laws that leave the executive and bureaucrats substantial discretion to fill in the policy details. What explains these differences across political systems, and how do they matter? The authors address these issues by developing and testing a comparative theory of how laws shape bureaucratic autonomy. Drawing on a range of evidence from advanced parliamentary democracies and the U.S. States, they argue that particular institutional forms--such as the nature of electoral laws, the structure of the legal system, and the professionalism of the legislature--have a systematic and predictable effect on how politicians use laws to shape the policymaking process.
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Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (2nd Edition)
Classics of Public Administration
Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (Longman Classics Edition) (2nd Edition)
The Case for Bureaucracy: A Public Administration Polemic
Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, Revised Edition
