Decentralising Public Service Management

By Christopher Pollitt, et al.
October 1998
Macmillan UK
ISBN: 0333694031 paper: $47.50
ISBN: 0333694023 hardcover: $99.50
224 pages

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'Decentralise authority and let managers manage' has been an almost universal message in UK public services over the last 15 years. But does it really work? Drawing on their own - and a wide range of other research - the authors show that behind the ministerial rhetoric the experiences of NHS trusts, grant maintained schools and housing associations were in practice distinctly mixed. The book offers a sophisticated theoretical analysis of the origins and results of decentralised public management in the UK.

Contents:
Introduction
Theories and Concepts
Reform Doctrines
Roads to Freedom?
Decentralised Management of NHS Trusts
Decentralised Management of Secondary Schools
Decentralised Management of Socially Rented Housing
Freedom, Performance and Accountability
Research Design and Methodology

Author Biographies:
CHRISTOPHER POLLITT is Professor of Government and Co-Director of the Centre for the Evaluation of Public Policy and Practice, Brunel University.

JOHNSTON BIRCHALL is Lecturer in Government, Brunel University. He has published extensively on housing policy and the Co-operative movement.

KEITH PUTMAN is a Research Assistant and school teacher.

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