Several problems plague contemporary thinking about governance. From the multiple definitions that are often vague and confusing, to the assumption that governance strategies, networks and markets represent attempts by weakening states to maintain control. Rethinking Governance questions this view and seeks to clarify how we understand governance. Arguing that it is best understood as 'the strategies used by governments to help govern', the authors counter the view that governments have been decentred. They show that far from receding, states are in fact enhancing their capacity to govern by developing closer ties with non-government sectors. Identifying five 'modes' of government (governance through hierarchy, persuasion, markets and contracts, community engagement, and network associations), Stephen Bell and Andrew Hindmoor use practical examples to explore the strengths and limitations of each. In so doing, they demonstrate how modern states are using a mixture of governance modes to address specific policy problems. This book demonstrates why the argument that states are being 'hollowed out' is overblown.

Compelling and robust, this book provides an analysis of challenges in public service outsourcing and considers how to avoid failure in the future. Crucially, it proposes a governance mechanism where outsourcing public services nurtures less extractive and more sustainable corporate organizations that are oriented towards a productive purpose beyond maximising shareholder value, with implications well beyond public services. Under these proposals, supporting firms that are independently and inclusively governed and use profit to pursue purpose can improve both public services and wider economic organisation. The book examines how barriers to implementing this idea within the existing legal framework for public procurement may be addressed, and it formulates actionable policy proposals.

This document contains papers on the following topics: situating the debate on government reform; coping with change: how public and private organizations read and respond to turbulent external environments; reshaping the management of government: the next steps initiative in the United Kingdom; priorities and potential in reinventing government; experiencing a sea of change in the democratic potential of regulation; and the promise and the problems of reinventing local government.

This book challenges the roots and elements of the existing dominant paradigm of management, which can legitimize artless practices and result in dysfunction, and proposes an alternative based on a different understanding of human nature and social and economic life. This paradigm is designed to bring about the conception of organizations as wholes rather than assemblies of disembodied fragments, with managers as facilitators of the work of others and shapers of culture, with a clear sense of purpose and a moral compass. Such a paradigm would result in a practice of management that is more competent, more purposeful, and more ethical, based on a more accurate and complete comprehension of reality. This book sets forth a more optimistic understanding of human nature and collective life, and the hope that we can be and do better. It is a major contribution to the field of management and will benefit academics, managers, and consultants working in the fields of organizational development and strategic change.

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What do business school graduates learn, and how helpful is it for managing in the everyday, messy reality of organisations? What does it mean to apply 'best practice', or to take up 'evidence-based management' and what kind of thinking does this imply? In Rethinking Management, Chris Mowles argues that many management courses still largely assume a linear and predictable world, when experience tells us that the opposite is the case. He questions some of the more orthodox conceptual assumptions that underpin much management education and instead, encourages leaders and managers to take their everyday experience of working with others seriously. People in organisations co-operate and compete to get things done, and constrain and enable each other in relationships of power. Because of this there are always unintended consequences of our actions - uncertainty is inherent in the everyday. Chris Mowles draws on the complexity sciences, the sciences of uncertainty rather than certainty, and the social sciences to explore more helpful ways to think and talk about our lived reality. He takes concrete examples from contemporary organisations, to argue that understanding the radical implications of uncertainty is central to the task of leading. Rethinking Management explores narrative alternatives to the ubiquitous grids and frameworks that are routinely taught in business schools, and encourages management professionals and educators to recognise the importance of judgement, improvisation and the everyday politics of organisational life.

We have assembled a distinguished international panel of leaders and scholars in management education whose contributions reflect diverse perspectives on management theory and practice. Gerald Ferris and his associates conceptualize political skill to include self and social astuteness, influence and control, networking and building social capital, and genuineness/sincerity. Their chapter describes methods for developing and shaping such skills. Nick Nissley examines how arts-based learning is informing the practice of management education. How artful ways of knowing are being practiced in organizations. Anne McCarthy and associates provide a cutting-edge balanced assessment of both service learning theory and its current practice. Godshalk and Foster-Curtis present four models of online MBA curricula focused on part-time students including curricular issues, technology requirements, and funding and institutional commitment requirements for each model. Sabine Seufert examines eLearning models of web-based education and web education support services. Her chapter offers a breathtaking, panoramic view of six landscapes for eLearning business models and best practices emerging from both the corporate and academic sectors. Eric Dent's chapter is a thought-provoking critique of doctoral education and innovative suggestions for developing doctoral programs more attuned to the learning requirements of executive managers seeking doctoral education. Tom Moore examines competition within the market for executive education and observes how three sets of rivals have enjoyed distinctive market place perceptions. Antonacopoulou penetratingly critiques the confusion of training with learning in management education. Reed examines the processes of globalization and how their effects should be incorporated into management education.

In turbulent global times, your study of this subject is increasingly necessary and urgent. Featuring a new chapter on critical theories, and revised to take a less Eurocentric approach to concepts and case studies, this new edition allows you to tackle global politics' important concepts, debates and problems: -How can theories help us to understand the politics of a global pandemic? -Do we live in a 'post-truth' world of 'fake news' and disinformation? -Does international aid work? -Does the United States remain a global hegemon? -What is the Anthropocene and how does it shape global politics? -Are global politics constrained by a 'North-South' divide? -What are the possible futures of global politics – and the politics of outer space? Delving into topics as diverse as anarchy, intersectionality, Confucianism, and neoconservatism, boxed features give you confidence in political analysis: -Focus on: learn more about the global colour line or the tragedy of the commons -Key figures: discuss the ideas of Hans Morgenthau, Frantz Fanon or bell hooks -Debating: argue whether the United Nations are obsolete, or whether nuclear weapons promote peace -Global politics in action: apply your learning to the migration crisis in Europe or the Arab Spring -Approaches to: consider human rights or the Covid-19 pandemic from the perspective of realist, liberal, postcolonial, Marxist, feminist, constructivist and post-structuralist theory -Global actors: understand the significance of Black Lives Matter, Amnesty International or the International Monetary Fund. Spanning the development of global politics, from the early origins of globalization through to the return of multipolarity in the twenty-first century, this is an essential text for undergraduates studying global politics and international relations.

The report gives a broad description of the shift in governments' focus on e-government development – from a government-centric to a user-centric approach. It gives a comprehensive overview of challenges to user take-up of e-government services in OECD countries and ways of improving them.