Harnessing Complexity for Better Outcomes in Public and Non-profit Services

Harnessing Complexity for Better Outcomes in Public and Non-profit Services

Author: Max French

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2023-02-23

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 1447364120

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ePDF and ePUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. How can public services and social interventions create and sustain good outcomes for the populations they serve? Building on research in public health, social epidemiology and the social determinants of health, this book presents complexity theory as an alternative basis for an outcome-oriented public management praxis. It takes a critical approach towards New Public Management and provides new conceptual inroads for reappraising public management in theory and practice. It advances two practical approaches: Human Learning Systems (a model for public service reform) and Learning Partnerships (a model for research and academic engagement in complex settings). With up-to-date and extensive discussions on public service reform, this book provides practical and action-oriented guidance for a radical change of course in management and governance.


Harnessing Complexity for Better Outcomes in Public and Non-Profit Services

Harnessing Complexity for Better Outcomes in Public and Non-Profit Services

Author: Max French

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2023-02-23

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 1447364112

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ePDF and ePUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. How can public services and social interventions create and sustain good outcomes for the populations they serve? Building on research in public health, social epidemiology and the social determinants of health, this book presents complexity theory as an alternative basis for an outcome-oriented public management praxis. It takes a critical approach towards New Public Management and provides new conceptual inroads for reappraising public management in theory and practice. It advances two practical approaches: Human Learning Systems (a model for public service reform) and Learning Partnerships (a model for research and academic engagement in complex settings). With up-to-date and extensive discussions on public service reform, this book provides practical and action-oriented guidance for a radical change of course in management and governance.


Systems Complexity in Child Protection and Welfare

Systems Complexity in Child Protection and Welfare

Author: Aisling Gillen

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-12-03

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1040266258

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This book examines systems complexity theory and specifically, system and dynamic characteristics of complexity, with a key focus on self/organisation/emergence/adaptation; path-dependence; and bifurcation. Exploring systems complexity at the heart of child protection and welfare policymaking, leadership, practice, and evaluation and implications for policymakers, leaders, practitioners and evaluators in managing its impact, it proposes a systems complexity evaluation framework to assist identification, accommodation and decision-making in child protection and welfare practice, services, and systems. Using national case studies, practice, and research examples, it illustrates how adopting a complexity focus to Child Protection Work in any jurisdiction can augment decision-making and critical analysis acumen at all levels in practice, services, and systems. This book will be of interest to all scholars and students of social work, child protection, family support, education, nursing and criminology.


Co-creation in Public Services for Innovation and Social Justice

Co-creation in Public Services for Innovation and Social Justice

Author: Sue Baines

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2024-06-25

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1447367170

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Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book examines the idea and practice of co-creation in public services. Informed by practical action, lived experience and research from 10 countries across Europe, including the UK, it shines new light on the theory and reality of co-creation by conceptualising it in terms of human rights, social justice and social innovation. Focusing on human dimensions, the book presents real life examples in public services as diverse as social care, health, work activation, housing and criminal justice. It also highlights the ways digital technologies can accelerate or hinder co-creation. The book confronts a paradox at the heart of co-creation: standardisation and inflexibility in planning and resourcing, or ‘concrete-ness’, counters the ‘elasticity’ required to sustain co-creation in complex contexts.


Putting Civil Society in Its Place

Putting Civil Society in Its Place

Author: Jessop, Bob

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2020-09-23

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1447354958

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Renowned social and political theorist Bob Jessop explores the idea of civil society as a mode of governance in this bold challenge to current thinking. Developing theories of governance failure and metagovernance, the book analyses the limits and failures of economic and social policy in various styles of governance. Reviewing the principles of self-emancipation and self-responsibilisation it considers the struggle to integrate civil society into governance, and the power of social networks and solidarity within civil society. With case studies of mobilisations to tackle economic and social problems, this is a comprehensive review of the factors that influence their success and identifies lessons for future social innovation.


Harnessing Complexity

Harnessing Complexity

Author: Robert Axelrod

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2008-08-01

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0786723440

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Harnessing Complexity will be indispensable to anyone who wants to better comprehend how people and organizations can adapt effectively in the information age. This book is a step-by-step guide to understanding the processes of variation, interaction, and selection that are at work in all organizations. The authors show how to use their own paradigm of "bottom up" management, the Complex Adaptive System-whether in science, public policy, or private commerce. This simple model of how people work together will change forever how we think about getting things done in a group. "Harnessing Complexity distills the managerial essence of current research on complexity. "A very valuable contribution to the emerging theory of competition and competitive advantage."-C.K. Prahalad, University of Michigan, coauthor of Competing for the Future "A brilliant exposition that demystifies both the theory and use of Complex Adaptive Systems."-John Seely Brown, Xerox Corporation and Palo Alto Research Center


Reconsidering Policy

Reconsidering Policy

Author: Crowley, Kate

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2021-08-11

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1447333160

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For nation-states, the contexts for developing and implementing policy have become more complex and demanding. Yet policy studies have not fully responded to the challenges and opportunities represented by these developments. Governance literature has drawn attention to a globalising and network-based policy world, but politics and the role of the state have been de-emphasised. This book addresses this imbalance by reconsidering traditional policy-analytic concepts, and re-developing and extending new ones, in a melded approach defined as systemic institutionalism. This links policy with governance and the state and suggests how real-world issues might be substantively addressed.


Punching Clouds

Punching Clouds

Author: Lasse Gerrits

Publisher: Isce Pub

Published: 2013-01-01

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 9781938158070

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Why is it that many large public projects run out of control in terms of scope, budget and time? How can it be explained that urban regeneration programs are highly successful in one neighborhood but fail to deliver in an adjacent neighborhood? Why is it that public policies can return unexpected and sometimes even unwanted outcomes, despite meticulous planning? Why is public decision-making such a complex affair? The world is an erratic place, full of surprises, some of which are wanted and others are unwanted. Public decision-making in this world is like punching clouds: considerable energy is put into the punching but the cloud goes its own way, despite the punches. Recent ideas and insights from the complexity sciences improve our understanding of the intricate nature of public decision-making. This book offers a bridge between the study of public decision-making in the domain of Public Administration on the one hand, and the complexity sciences on the other hand. It is aimed at (doctoral) students and scholars in Public Administration who are curious about how the complexity sciences can inform the analysis and understanding of public decision-making. The book introduces important concepts such as systems, non-linear dynamics, self-organization and coevolution, and discusses their relevance to public decision-making. It also proposes a case-based research method for researching this complexity. Lasse Gerrits, Ph.D. is associate professor in Public Administration at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and member of the research group Governance of Complex Systems.