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 The Price of Government:
Getting the Results We Need in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis
by David Osborne and Peter Hutchinson
(published by Perseus Books Group, 2004)
In their book, PSG partners David Osborne and Peter Hutchinson propose a radically different approach to budgeting as a solution to the fiscal difficulties currently dominating the public sector. Rather than relying on traditional approaches put forward by leaders on the right and the left, the authors assert that governments can save money and increase their effectiveness by focusing on buying the results that citizens expect from public agencies.
Available in hardcover and paperback.
More about The Price of Government...
Order this book from the Basic Books web site.
 Vitality: Igniting Your Organization's Spirit
by Chuck Lofy, Mary Mead Lofy, John Lofy
(published by Crisp Publications, 2003)
PSGers Chuck and Mary Lofy have just completed a book, Vitality . Subtitled Igniting Your Organization's Spirit, this book gives leaders at all levels the tools to build a more spirited, vigorous, and successful organization. It is endorsed by William Bridges who says, "Vitality is a terrific book -- highly recommended!"
Order here.
Confessions of a Civil Servant: Lessons in Changing America's Government and Military
by Bob Stone
(published by Rowman and Littlefield, 2003)
Confessions of a Civil Servant is filled with lessons on leading change in government and the military. Bob Stone based the book on 30 years as a revolutionary in government.
Confessions tackles fourteen overarching themes in government, developed through entertaining stories of Stone's own experiences as a civil servant. Among the topics Stone covers are 'tackling a job when you haven't a clue,' 'organizing for the mission,' 'dealing with difficult bosses,' and 'getting past the barriers to change.' For more information on the book and its author, visit Bob's Web site.
Order here.
The Reinventor's Fieldbook: Tools for Transforming Your Government
by David Osborne & Peter Plastrik
(published by Jossey-Bass, 2000)
This encyclopedia of practical tools, from best-selling author David Osborne, offers a variety of indispensable lessons for managers in any government position -- from the schoolhouse to the state house.
Presenting more than 70 tools, this text includes hundreds of practical 'lessons learned,' 'do's and don'ts,' 'steps to take,' and 'pitfalls to avoid' in public management and governance. Contains guidelines, lessons, and resources for revitalizing schools, public services, and government agencies at all levels. Softcover. DLC: Administrative agencies--Management.
Order here from Amazon.
 Banishing Bureaucracy
by David Osborne & Peter Plastrik
(published by Addison Wesley, 1997)
The author of the 1992 bestseller "Reinventing Government" goes a step further, focusing on strategic levers for changing public systems and organizations on a permanent basis to achieve dynamic increases in effectiveness, efficiency, adaptability, and capacity to innovate. A hands-on guide for making the concepts of reinventing government a practical reality, this book provides the tactical details for making entrepreneurial government actually work, from the town hall to the Pentagon.
Order here.
Reinventing Government
by David Osborne & Ted Gaebler
(published by Addison Wesley, 1992)
A revolt is stirring in America. People are angry at governments that spend more but deliver less, frustrated with bureaucracies that give them no control, and tired of politicians who raise taxes and cut services but fail to solve the problems we face. Reinventing Government is both a call to arms in the revolt against bureaucratic malaise and a guide to those who want to build something better. It shows that there is a third way: that the options are not simply liberal or conservative, but that our systems of governance can be fundamentally reframed; that a caring government can still function as efficiently as the best-run businesses.
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Breaking Through Bureaucracy
by Michael Barzelay & Babak Armajani
(published by University of California Press, 1992)
This book attacks the conventional wisdom that bureaucrats are bunglers and the system can't be changed. Michael Barzelay and Babak Armajani trace the source of much poor performance in government to the persistent influence of what they call the bureaucratic paradigm - a theory built on such notions as central control, economy and efficiency, and rigid adherence to rules. Rarely questioned, the bureaucratic paradigm leads competent and faithful public servants - as well as politicians - unwittingly to impair government's ability to serve citizens by weakening, misplacing, and misdirecting accountability.
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Laboratories of Democracy
by David Osborne
(published by Harvard Business School Press, 1988)
This book is out of print, but some copies may be available from Amazon.
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