Managing Public and Nonprofit Organizations
Managing Public and Nonprofit Organizations approaches public manage -ment learning in a unique way, examining more than 100 high-profile and little-known administrative failure and success stories to explore how failures happen, how they can be prevented, and how to replicate successes in other jurisdictions. Organized to complement a standard public manage -ment or organizational behavior textbook structure, and to satisfy NASPAA accreditation requirements, this book explores both traditional public-administration functions (performance management, financial man -age ment, human-resource management, procurement management, policy-making, capital management, and information-technology management) and organizational concepts (organizational structure and organizational culture). Unlike a traditional casebook, the accompanying stories do not stop in the middle to ask the readers what they would do; instead readers are asked to consider how the events illuminate what public management means and how to make it most effective. The stories ground and give meaning to the books review of principles and best practices.
Stories include both well-known and highly reported stories of success and failure including Wikileaks, the Boston Marathon bombing, bank -ruptcy of Detroit, British Petroleum oil spill, 9/11 World Trade Center attack, decision to invade Iraq, Affordable Care Act website rollout, Bridgegate scandal, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard killings. The stories do not pass judgment on governments and nonprofits as institutions, but rather teach students and practitioners best management practices by example. Discussion questions are included at the end of each chapter to prompt classroom discussion.
Charles Coe is Professor Emeritus of Public Management in the School of Public and International Affairs at North Carolina State University, USA.
By linking familiar and unfamiliar stories of government and nonprofit success and failure to fundamental management concepts, abstract concepts come to life in Managing Public and Nonprofit Organizations. Charles Coe has found a formula sure to spark lively classroom debate.
David Ammons
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Managing Public and Nonprofit Organizations offers students a unique and valuable combination. They get a comprehensive review of major topics in public management illuminated by a wide range of stories that highlight successes and failures in organizations. Together, students will have a grasp of principles and practices and appreciate why good management matters.
James H. Svara
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
First published 2018
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The right of Charles Coe to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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ISBN: 978-1-138-06485-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-06486-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-16014-6 (ebk)
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This book is dedicated to Mac McGee, a peerless editor and long-time friend.
This book is a capstone of my over 50-year career in governments and nonprofits. I began my career quite unceremoniously. In 1963, on the cusp of flunking out of college, I dropped out instead to spare my family and myself the embarrassment. Totally adrift, I had no plan, but my dad did. Within weeks, I still remember the resounding clank as the gate closed when I entered the Navy at the Great Lakes Naval Station. After training, I served on an icebreaker and on an oil tanker in the North Atlantic.
After 2 years in the Navy, I went back to college and managed to graduate. Wanting to help the poor, my wife, Marty, and I joined Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) in 1967. Assigned to the city of Atlanta, I had the great fortune to work for Dan Sweat, Executive Assistant to Mayor Ivan Allen, the only southern elected official to support the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
After a year in Atlanta, I was excited about the prospect of helping others and trying to make a difference. Dan Sweat advised me to get a Master's Degree in Public Administration (MPA), which was a degree I never heard mentioned at my Ivy League college. To this day, I feel so very fortunate to have serendipitously stumbled on to a career in public service. Attaining an MPA, I served as administrative assistant to the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan and then as Budget Officer. Next, I worked as a management consultant at the Institute of Government, University of Georgia. Finally, for over 30 years I was a Professor of Public Administration at North Carolina State University where I also had the opportunity to train state employees in the Certified Public Manager Program and police officers in the Administrative Officers Program.
Over my career, my overriding goal has been to help public and nonprofit managers serve the public better. I have focused my research on urban services, performance management, nonprofit financial management, and governmental financial management. More broadly, this book discusses best practices in nine management areas: organizational structure, organizational culture, performance management, financial management, human-resource management, procurement management, policymaking, capital management, and information-technology management.
Throughout my career, one question has served me well: What can go wrong? In others words, what is the worst-case scenario? Whether in a budget report to council, a handbook or text, a consulting report, or an article to a refereed journal, as public service professionals we are called to anticipate and prevent failure. Although, we obviously learn from others' successes, we learn more from failure than success. To that end, the book discusses 100 publicized failures that governments and nonprofits have experienced. They serve as cautionary tales. The hope is that they will not be replicated.
Because of the book's topical breadth, I relied heavily on feedback from a host of generous colleagues at NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill including: Jim Swiss, Jim Svara, David Ammons, Dennis Daley, Dave Garson, Jeff Diebold, and Jim Brunet. Great thanks go to Jerrell Coggburn and Dick Mahoney who provided me space to work. Appreciation also goes to Mac McGee for his peerless editing assistance and to Lincoln Coe for his technical assistance.
