Includes bibliographical references and index.

The agenda for public service improvement / Jean Hartley and Chris Skelcher -- Does governance perform? Concepts, evidence, causalities, and research strategies / Chris Skelcher -- Performativity, management and governance / Paul M. Collier -- Critical assessment of performance measurement for policy making / Michael Pidd -- Priority setting in the public sector : turning economics into a management process / Cam Donaldson... [et al.] -- Public service productivity : new approaches to performance measurement in health sectors / Mary O'Mahony, Philip Stevens, and Lucy Stokes -- Performance measurement systems and the criminal justice system : rationales and rationalities / Barbara Townley -- Valuing public sector outputs / Rachel Baker... [et al.] -- The use of geodemographics to improve public service delivery / Paul A. Longley and Michael Goodchild -- The innovation landscape for public service organizations / Jean Hartley -- Innovation type and organizational performance : an empirical exploration / Richard M. Walker and Fariborz Damanpour -- Public service failure and turnaround : towards a contingency model / George Boyne -- Orchestrating complex and programmatic change in the public services / Mike Wallace and Michael Fertig -- Conclusions : current themes and future direction for research / Cam Donaldson... [et al.].