The economic order is currently undergoing a transformation stimulated by the Information Revolution, which will ultimately effect changes of great magnitude in the state and its institutions. This volume is designed to meet four objectives: to define public management as a disciplinary field in a new way, thereby promoting a better understanding of the field and of how it differs from business management; to explain recent trends in public management; to clarify some basic ideas for improving public service; and to show how public organizations can be renewed to make them more responsive and productive.


The first chapter defines public management and addresses a second question: what should public management researchers study? Other chapters describe steps in the process of institutional renewal, including restructuring, work process engineering, reinvention, realignment, and rethinking. Chapter 8 concentrates on a key aspect of institutional renewal: improving the utilization of information. This chapter completes the body of analysis and advice offered to public officials and managers as the challenges of the twenty-first century are addressed.