What Middle Managers Do in Local Government: Stewardship of the Public Trust and the Limits of Reinventing Government

Understanding Local Government Cooperation in Urban Regions

“…This includes middle managers (Considine & Lewis, 1999;Morgan, Bacon, Bunch, Cameron, & Deis, 1996) and street-level bureaucrats (Lipsky, 1980) as well as top management. These roles are particularly salient in complex situations in which the issues quickly outstrip the time, experience, and expertise of elected officials to master them.…”

Challenging the new penology: A case-study analysis of correctional management, interstate inmate transfers, and administrative intent

“…Critics argue that this form of public administration places a higher priority on economic efficiency in government than the individualized or collective needs of the community (Morgan, 1994;Sarabi & Bender, 2000;Yeoman, 2000;Shichor & Sechrest, 2002;Welch & Turner, 2004;Welch, 2005;Jones & Newburn, 2005;See: Anti-privatization Advocacy Coalition in Culp. 2005, Pp.…”

“…On the other hand, some correctional practitioners implicitly argue that IITs serve a constitutive purpose -a purpose best described as one directly related to traditional theories of democratic governance and constitutional norms, and in which administrative power is exercised in response to the broader needs of the community and not merely for narrow, self-serving personal or organizational purposes (Rohr, 1989;Morgan, 1994;Cook, 1996). Simply stated, some correctional managers have argued that the IIT tool allows them to better serve the interests of society because it gives them more flexibility in balancing the needs of individual inmates and the management needs of their institutions ("Warden A", personal communication, June 9, 2008;"Warden B", personal communication, June 24, 2008).…”

“…150) and articulates a contrary "reformative" notion of public administration than that expressed previously by New Public Administration scholars. The New Public Management perspective is, in many ways, anti-public administration in that it normatively links an idea of appropriate public administration reform to a general business ox private market model (Morgan, 1994;Goodsell, 2004) (See: Osborne & Gaebler, 1993; and Al Gore's NPR: National Performance Review and "reinventing government"). Although this model again elevates bureaucratic efficiency concerns over individualized justice, it also incorporates a "profit and/or budget maximizing" element in its notion of efficiency.…”

The structuration of managing for results : a practice perspective on middle managers in the Dutch central government

“…Furthermore, one of the chief differences between middle managers in the public versus private sectors is the role public middle 93 managers play in dealing with a variety of accountability issues. Consequently, it is astounding that so little serious attention has been given to what middle managers actually are seen to do, especially within the public sector (Morgan, Bacon, Bunch, Cameron, & Deis 1996). Also, the National Performance Review neglected middle management as, for instance, there were no middle managers appointed to the National Partnership Council (Qiao & Thai 2002).…”