Managers, Part of the Problem?: Changing How the Public Sector Works

A public manager herself and successful consultant in the public sector, Camaron Thomas argues for a whole new way of being a public manager. She introduces a new paradigm for how the public sector should work: a collaborative, functional environment in which fast-paced, purposeful change, civility, and initiative are actually the norm. Real, positive change is part of every employee’s job; control in the public sector must be replaced with shared responsibility, and for her new paradigm to be realized it must be understood and internalized by managers one at a time.

This book argues for a whole new way of being a public manager, one that affects what managers do, how they do it, and who they are as people. It replaces the concept of agencies and control with shared responsibility, and tests the idea in the arena of public sector budgeting. Most importantly, it recognizes that it is managers themselves who must change, if the profession is ever going to improve. This book is written for the 19 million plus current public sector managers, who grind through every day. It’s also written for their successors, for whom the task only promises to be more difficult.