High-performance Government: Structure, Leadership, Incentives

Front Cover
Robert E. Klitgaard
Rand Corporation, 2005 - 490 pages
In one of the most important critiques of U.S. government in more than a decade, the 2003 report of the Volcker Commission pulled no punches in describing an underperforming, dysfunctional U.S. government. The commission's report urged improvements in reorganization, leadership, and performance, but stopped short of specifying how to put its recommendations into practice.

In High-Performace Government: Structure, Leadership, Incentives experts from the RAND Corporation offer practical ways to reorganize and restructure, enhance leadership, and create flexible, performance-driven agencies. Edited by Robert Klitgaard, Dean and Ford Distinguished Professor of International Development and Security at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and Paul C. Light, Founding Director of the Center for Public Service at the Brookings Institution and Senior Adviser to the Volcker Commission, this new book presents an innovative approach for rethinking government. This book looks at examples of successful reforms and examines what can be learned from them to improve the way our government works.

High-Performance Government includes an opening discussion by Robert Klitgaards, the full text of the Volcker Commission report, and a dozen chapters by senior RAND researchers. These chapters discuss how to confront the challenges posed by the changing role and increasing uncertainty of government; restructure under the constraints of structural politics; reorganize the national security apparatus; tailor public-private partnerships to particular needs; reform the system of presidential appointments; enhance leadership and incentives in the civil service; and much more.

From inside the book

Contents

Introduction by Robert Klitgaard
1
Urgent Business for America Revitalizing the Federal Government for the 21st Century by National Commission on the Public Service the Volcker C...
9
Governing the Market State by Gregory F Treverton
84
HighPerformance Government in an Uncertain World by Robert J Lempert and Steven
108
Organizing for Reorganizing by Susan M Gates
134
Four Ways to Restructure National Security in the US Government by Lynn E Davis
156
Using PublicPrivate Partnerships Successfully in the Federal Setting by Frank Camm
174
Improving Government Processes From Velocity Management to Presidential Appointments by John Demond and Rick Eden
212
Broadening Public Leadership in a Globalized World by Gregory F Treverton
276
The Economic Complexities of Incentive Reforms by Beth J Asch
304
Measuring Performance by Jacob Alex Klerman
338
Lessons from Performance Measurement in Education by Laura Hamilton
376
Choosing and Using Performance Criteria by Robert Klitgaard Johannes Fedderke and Kamil Akramov
402
Bibliography
442
About the Editors and About the Authors
482
Copyright

Developing Leadership Emulating the Military Model by Al Robbert
250

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