Public Administration In America (with InfoTrac)

Rating:
Summary: Great survey book; ideal for intro undergraduate courses
Review: I have used several editions of this book in my introduction to public administration courses; I have been very pleased by the breadth of coverage as well as the clarity of the exposition. In particular, the book adopts a strongly political view of administration in the public sector that is easily translatable to the classroom.

In particular, the authors adopt Yates' framework of administrative efficiency vs. pluralistic democracy early in the work and this framework serves to inform the discussion of policy, personnel, budgeting, decision making, et cetera. This provides the book with a strong thematic component that I have found lacking in other books of this type.

A couple of criticisms: The sections on ensuring democratic processes in public administration is a bit confusing and lacks a unifying theme. However, the elements of the discussion are there and can be easily clarified in a classroom discussion.

Secondly, and this is a quibble is that the treatment of alternative decision making models is a bit sketchy, but then again this is an introductory tome.

All in all a good, useful and CLEAR book for undergrad courses.

Rating:
Summary: Great survey book; ideal for intro undergraduate courses
Review: I have used several editions of this book in my introduction to public administration courses; I have been very pleased by the breadth of coverage as well as the clarity of the exposition. In particular, the book adopts a strongly political view of administration in the public sector that is easily translatable to the classroom.

In particular, the authors adopt Yates' framework of administrative efficiency vs. pluralistic democracy early in the work and this framework serves to inform the discussion of policy, personnel, budgeting, decision making, et cetera. This provides the book with a strong thematic component that I have found lacking in other books of this type.

A couple of criticisms: The sections on ensuring democratic processes in public administration is a bit confusing and lacks a unifying theme. However, the elements of the discussion are there and can be easily clarified in a classroom discussion.

Secondly, and this is a quibble is that the treatment of alternative decision making models is a bit sketchy, but then again this is an introductory tome.

All in all a good, useful and CLEAR book for undergrad courses.