Industry Profiles - General & Miscellaneous, Change Management, U.S. Politics - Public Affairs & Administration

Administrative Renewal

Name: Administrative Renewal
Author: Ronald C. Moe
ISBN: 9780761825432

by Ronald C. Moe

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Overview

The intent of Administrative Renewal is to study the evolution of executive branch organization during the recently completed 20th century. The approach selected for the exercise is to review the "landmark commissions," such as the Hoover Commissions of mid-century, to determine how and why they were created and what they accomplished. The objective is to study each of the commissions to determine how they interpreted their mission and what others concluded about their successes and failures.

Synopsis

In Administrative Renewal, the periodic efforts to reorganize the executive branch during the 20th century are examined and analyzed. Receiving special attention are the landmark commissions, such as the Hoover Commissions of mid-century, to determine how they influenced the theory and practice of democratic administration.

About the Author, Ronald C. Moe

Ronald C. Moe is a Fellow at the Center for the Study of American Government, Johns Hopkins University.

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Editorials

James Pfiffner

Ronald Moe has summed up a career of careful scholarship on the organization and management of the executive branch in this concise volume on the major landmark commissions of the 20th century. Moe has not been a bystander on these issues; from his perch at the Congressional Research Service, he has participated in the deliberations surrounding the adoption or rejection of many of the proposals he analyzes. Reorganizing the executive branch is not for amateurs; anyone interested in understanding the structure of the executive ranch or in reforming it, should begin with Moe's dissection of the theory and implementation of past reorganization commissions. 'Administrative Renewal' is an impressive accomplishment that should be read by anyone contemplating changes in executive branch structure.

Donald F. Kettl

Americans are inveterate tinkerers. That's as true for the management of the federal government as anywhere in American society. In this terrific study Moe charts the course of a long parade of commissions that, thought the 20th century, sought to increase government's efficiency and reduce its costs. The result is not only an invaluable survey of the thinking behind reform ideas, successful and not. It's also a guidebook on how to think about making government work better—and what steps are most likely to work. The book is must reading for anyone who cares about where we've been and where we need to go.