Public Management : As Art, Science and Profession

This work asserts that public servants are influential enough, in theory and in practice, to justify public management as an organized discipline for scholarship and teaching.

Describing public managers as the "human capital of the government executive capacity", it argues for establishing intellectual foundations for advising them in their work, which is vital for democracy and for the credibility of democratic institutions.

The book offers an analysis of the relationship between theory and practice in public management and the role of universities in creating and sustaining that relationship.

It asks under what circumstances, and how, executives make a difference to the success of public policy and public agencies, and argues that success requires both a value-laden and an analytical approach.