Tools Innovators Public Sector

Today's public administrators must be more than effective managers of their agencies' internal operations. In order to thrive in the complex interorganizational relationships spanning governments, nonprofit organizations, and private firms in a global economy, public managers and their organizations must be capable of great flexibility and innovation to be truly effective. Today's public managers must move beyond competence to become creative innovators and agents of change.

Tools for Innovators introduces public managers to the tools that today's most innovative leaders are using to bring about change in their organizations. Steven Cohen and William Eimicke distinguish tools for innovation from traditional functional tools such as budgeting, human resource management, and organizational structure. The six key innovation tools they examine are:

• Strategic Planning
• Reengineering
• Total Quality Management
• Benchmarking, Performance Measurement and Management
• Team Management
• Privatization

The creative public manager must continually look for new tools and new approaches. Tools for Innovators will help in this search, enabling managers to meet the challenges of a changing public sector.

Today's public administrators must be more than effective managers of their agencies' internal operations. In order to thrive in the complex interorganizational relationships spanning governments, nonprofit organizations, and private firms in a global economy, public managers and their organizations must be capable of great flexibility and innovation to be truly effective. Today's public managers must move beyond competence to become creative innovators and agents of change.Tools for Innovators introduces public managers to the tools that today's most innovative leaders are using to bring about change in their organizations. Steven Cohen and William Eimicke distinguish tools for innovation from traditional functional tools such as budgeting, human resource management, and organizational structure. The six key innovation tools they examine are:

• Strategic Planning

• Reengineering

• Total Quality Management

• Benchmarking, Performance Measurement and Management

• Team Management

• Privatization

They show what the innovation tools are all about , how to use them, their costs and benefits and perhaps most critically, how to use them together showing how to integrate them into a single framework of management innovation. Concrete case examples of successful innovation efforts drawn from the authors' own experiences provide examples of the challenges managers face as they attempt to innovate. These cases discuss how innovations are introduced and adjusted to the specific needs of real-world situations.The creative public manager must continually look for new tools and new approaches. Tools for Innovators will help in this search, enabling managers to meet the challenges of a changing public sector.

Booknews

The authors introduce public managers to six innovation tools: strategic planning; reengineering; Total Quality Management; benchmarking, performance measurement, and management; team management; and privatization. They show what the tools are about, how to use them, their costs and benefits, and how to integrate them into a single framework of management innovation. Case examples demonstrate some of the challenges managers face. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

STEVEN COHEN is Associate Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and director of Columbia University's Graduate Program in Public Policy and Administration. WILLIAM EIMICKE is the director of the SIPA's Public Management Training Center and Program in Politics and Public Policy.