The New Face
oF GoverNmeNT
How Public Managers Are Forging
a New Approach to Governance
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
American Society for Public Administration
Book Series on Public Administration & Public Policy

Evan M. Berman, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief
The Facilitative Leader in City Hall:
Reexamining the Scope and Contributions
by James H. Svara
Mission: Throughout its history, ASPA has sought to be true to its founding principles of
promoting scholarship and professionalism within the public service. The ASPA Book
Series on Public Administration and Public Policy publishes books that increase na-
tional and international interest for public administration and which discuss practical
or cutting edge topics in engaging ways of interest to practitioners, policy-makers, and
those concerned with bringing scholarship to the practice of public administration.
American Society for Public Administration
Book Series on Public Administration & Public Policy

Evan M. Berman, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief
Mission: Throughout its history, ASPA has sought to be true to its founding principles
of promoting scholarship and professionalism within the public service. The ASPA Book
Series on Public Administration and Public Policy publishes books that increase na-
tional and international interest for public administration and which discuss practical
or cutting edge topics in engaging ways of interest to practitioners, policy-makers, and
those concerned with bringing scholarship to the practice of public administration.
PUBLISHED TITLES

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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
McNabb, David E.
The new face of government : how public managers are forging a new approach
to governance / David E. McNabb.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978‑1‑4200‑9387‑2
1. Public administration‑‑Management. 2. Nonprofit
organizations‑‑Management. I. Title. II. Series.
JF1351.M256 2009
351‑‑dc22 2008040604
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at

and the Auerbach Web site at
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© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
is book is dedicated to the thousands of public servants who every day
demonstrate by example their dedication to the principles of good public
management and commitment to the concept of true public service.

© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
viii  Contents
Factor Four: Applying the Necessary Resources and Will to
Succeed 21
Factor Five: Selecting Appropriate Performance Metrics 22
Changing the Face of Government 23
Four Levels in the Transformation Process 24
Level I: Identifying and Assessing a Transformation Trigger 25
Level II: Evaluating and Improving Work Processes 26
Level III: Embracing Appropriate Transformation Perspectives 28
e Social and Behavioral Perspective in Transformation 28
Level IV: Achieving Desired Change Outcomes 29
Improving the Probability of Organizational Change 30
Summary 31
3 Forces Driving Changes in Government 33
Environmental Forces Shaping the Face of Government 34
Declining Citizens’ Trust in Government 34
New Policy Concerns and Performance Management 36
Shift in Policy Priorities 36
Administrative Reforms 37
Declining Resources and Aging Technology 38
Environmental Changes Hit Michigan Child Support 38
Technology and Change 39
Retirements and the Hollowing Out of Government 40
e Explosion in Government Retirements 41
Changes in Organizational Culture and Structure 41
Classifying Government Organizations 42
Features of Public Organizations 43
Forms of Government Organizations 43
Bureaucratic Organizations 43

Summary 67
5 Patterns of Change in Government 69
Patterns of Change in Government 70
Changing the Rules of Government 71
Changing the Rules at the DOE 71
Changing the Rules at the U.K. Health Service 72
Performance-Management Practices 74
Market-Based Management 76
Performance on Demand 76
Reengaging Citizens 78
Networks, Partnerships, and Coalitions 79
Recommendations of the Task Force 80
Factors Resisting the Patterns of Change 81
e Human Factor 82
A Choice of Change Strategies 83
Summary 84
6 How Public Managers Shape and Direct Change 85
e Role of Public Managers in Strategic Management 86
ree Core Sets of Management Activities 87
Level One Activities: Environmental Analysis,
Vision, and Mission 87
Leadership and Values 89
e Agency Mission 91
Example Statements 91
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
x  Contents
Level Two: Managing Resources and Assets 94
ree Types of Resources 94
ree Types of Assets 94
Level ree: Operational Systems 95

e Customer Relationship Management System 127
Integrated Data Environment Changes 128
Executive Agent 128
Programs for Changing the Workforce 128
Supply-Chain Transformation 129
Strengthening Relationships with Suppliers 129
Strategic Supplier Alliances 129
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Contents  xi
National Inventory Management Strategy 130
Reutilization and Modernization Program 130
Customer Value-Chain Transformation Strategies 131
e Distribution Planning and Management System 131
e Product Data Management Initiative 131
e Global Stock-Positioning System 131
Changes to the DLA’s Governance and Structure 132
Planning for ICT Systems at the Municipal Level 133
Summary 133
9 People and the Changing Face of Government 135
Human Capital and Transformational Change 137
Human-Capital Management in Government 138
Challenges Facing Human Resources Managers 139
Challenges in Sustained Leadership 142
A Human-Capital Leadership Challenge 142
Strategic Human-Capital Planning 144
Activities at the First, Preplanning Level 145
Planning Activities of Level Two 145
Strategic Direction 146
Environmental Analysis 146
Model the Current Workforce 146

E-Government at the State and Local Levels 181
e Global E-Government Movement 185
Government E-Learning Strategies 186
Expanded Access to Information 188
e Internet in E-Learning Strategies 188
Summary 189
12 Expanding the Delivery Structure of Government 191
Changes in Public Responsibilities 192
New Governance Strategies 192
Governance Strategy Defined 193
Variations in Governance Strategy 193
Moving toward Greater Cooperation 194
Top-Down Governance Strategies 195
Donor-Recipient Strategies 195
Two New Governance Models 195
Collaborative Governance Models 196
Program/Project Partnering 197
Private/Public Collaboration Strategies 199
Local Area Public/Public Collaboration 200
Federal/Local Public/Public Collaboration 201
Outsourcing Delivery of Services 202
e Downside of Government Outsourcing 203
Summary 204
13 How Knowledge Facilitates Change in Government 207
What KM Can and Cannot Do 208
e KM Process 208
e Evolution of KM and KM Systems 209
Early Problems 209
e Drive for Control 210
How KM Helps Reshape Government 210

and philosophize as though change did not exist. In order to think
about change and see it, there is a whole veil of prejudices to brush
aside, some of them artificial, created by philosophical speculation, the
others natural to common sense.
Henri Bergson (1946)*
is book is about the changes that elected and appointed leaders are making to
the art and practice of governing, governance, and government. It is about how
public managers are shaping and guiding governments’ responses to a fundamen-
tal movement for change that began in the last decades of the twentieth century.
e changes taking place over the last two decades in all levels of government
have been, in a word, transformational; the administrative model of governance
that guided public administrators for more than a century has been turned on its
head, to be replaced by a new type of governing by new kinds of public managers
(Rhodes 1997).
Actions to change the way government functions are global in scale and national,
regional, and local in scope (Painter 2005). For example, more than 5,000 par-
ticipants attended the 2005 Global Forum on Reinventing Government at Seoul,
Korea (Kim et al. 2005). Although reforming governance became the primary
theme of the forum, other major themes of the forum included:
Sharing of other nations’ experiences in reinventing government ◾
Promoting cooperation between government, business and industry, and ◾
nonprofit organizations in efforts to improve the quality of governance
*

is reference and later references to William James (Chapter 5) and Ilya Prigogine (Chapter
9) are from Tsoukas and Chia (2002).
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
xvi  Preface
Reviewing issues that pertain to achieving United Nations millennium devel- ◾
opment goals

in this new model of governance have become coordination, collaboration, coop-
eration, and competition, with the salient concept being collaboration (Callahan
2007; Greasley and Stoker 2008; Feiock 2004; Heinrich, Hill, and Lynn 2004;
Kamensky and Burlin 2005; Kettl 2002).
Some of the changes being made are the product of innovations in governance
that have been created by members of the profession of governing. Much, but cer-
tainly not all, of that innovation is technological in nature. Other changes are
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Preface  xvii
organic; they deal with the new structural systems that governments are designing
and organizing to increase their ability to respond to the needs of citizens while
doing so with declining financial and human resources. And still other changes are
being made in the nature of the work processes used by the men and women we
entrust to deliver the government services we desire.
Some of these efforts to change the face of government are reactions to funda-
mental changes in the internal and external environment. But more are proactive,
highly creative approaches to solving old problems while forging new solutions to
new problems. Of course, there are a number of reasons why some of these innova-
tions and transformational changes have failed and others will fail in the future.
Sometimes there are few viable substitutes for existing ways of providing public
services, e.g., air traffic control.
As reasons for these failures, the old charges of bureaucratic incompetence
and resistance to change of any kind by a “bloated bureaucracy” are still aired
by critics within and outside of government. However, much of that criticism
can no longer be supported, as the examples shown in this book—and the
hundreds of similar success stories that cannot be included because of limited
space—will attest.
at does not mean that all the problems of governing have been solved, that
all the ambiguities in policy making and administration have been resolved, or that
the resistance and resentments of those who fear change of any kind have been dealt

Performance and Management Review and editor-in-chief of the ASPA Book Series
in Public Administration and Public Policy for his unflagging encouragement dur-
ing the preparation of the book. I wish to also thank Dr. Michael Novak, U.S.
government senior research specialist and president of the federal government
knowledge management working group, for his review and recommendations of an
earlier version of the manuscript. I am grateful for the help and support of Taylor
& Francis Group Senior Editor Ray O’Connell, who passed away before he could
see the fruit of our labor. And I thank Jay Margolis and Sophie Kirkwood for their
efforts at Taylor & Francis.
Much credit is also due to the editors and anonymous reviewers who helped
make the book possible, and to the many authors whose work I have referenced
in these pages. Finally, I wish to also extend special recognition to my recently
retired friend and organizational studies colleague of more than 25 years, Professor
Emeritus F. omas Sepic. It was his work in organizational studies that got me
started in this exciting field.
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
xxi
The Author
After a career in business and government that has included positions as direc-
tor of economic development for the City of Fullerton, California, and com-
munications director for the majority caucus of the Washington State House
of Representatives, David E. McNabb entered a second career in academia. He
advanced to the rank of professor on the faculty at Pacific Lutheran University.
He has a BA from California State College at Fullerton, an MA from the
University of Washington, and a PhD from Oregon State University. He has
taught a variety of public and private administration and management courses
both in the United States and abroad, including college and university programs
in Latvia, Bulgaria, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, and Belgium.
He is the author of nearly 80 peer-reviewed conference papers and articles. is
is his seventh book.

Box 10.1 BPI Successes in U.K. Local Government 160
Box 10.2 Enabling Transformation with E-Government in New Zealand 161
Box 10.3 Shared Services at the U.S. Department of the Interior 165
Box 10.4 Shared Services Inducements in New Jersey 166
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
xxiv  List of Boxes
Box 10.5 Federal Public–Private Partnerships 172
Box 11.1 Winning State Government-to-Business (G2B) Portals 182
Box 11.2 Cleveland Named to Digital Goverment-to-Communities List 184
Box 12.1 A State Collaboration Strategy to Save the Children 198
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
xxv
List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Management agenda initiatives 9
Figure 2.1 Elements involved in the process of transformation. 16
Figure 2.2 Levels of enterprise transformation. 25
Figure 3.1 Environmental factors shaping the new face of government. 35
Figure 4.1 Antecedents to organizational commitment. 52
Figure 4.2 Changing organizational culture for a transformation. 59
Figure 4.3 Harvey and Brown change model. 62
Figure 6.1 Representation of strategic management processes. 88
Figure 6.2 Hierarchy of government objectives. 101
Figure 7.1 A model of forces driving change in communications. 106
Figure 7.2 Outcomes of technology-enabled government transformation 114
Figure 8.1 Major categories of ICT systems in agencies and
organizations 123
Figure 8.2 Simplified information flows in a government ERP system 124
Figure 8.3 Strategic initiatives in the DLA transformation roadmap 126
Figure 8.4 Major thrusts and goals of the DLA strategic transformation
process 132

that the problems they were seeking to prevent occur nonetheless. ey
can audit taxes only to discover that they upset taxpayers when they get
it right and enrage members of Congress when they get it wrong. ey
can produce programs that work better and cost less only to discover
more demands that they work even harder and spend even less.… e
challenge is to rewrite the book to get the job done.
Donald F. Kettl (2002)
Important changes taking place in the operating environment of government orga-
nizations have forced leaders in many nations to reshape the way they carry out
their assigned tasks. Public administrators are developing new ways of managing
their organizations and delivering their services to citizens; in the process, they are
changing the face of government. And, these changes are occurring around the
globe (Batley and Larbi 2004).
Government managers must now deliver services under a set of environmental
conditions dramatically different from what they knew only a few years earlier.
Among the pressures facing government managers are:
Learning to cope after several decades of pressures to downsize, reorganize, ◾
reinvent themselves, and do more with less
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2  The New Face of Government
Delivering new and expanding services with declining resources for mainte- ◾
nance, repair, and replacement of decaying infrastructure
Seamlessly integrating new technologies alongside aging systems and stove- ◾
pipe management architectures
Dealing with discrepancies between personnel needs and available staff while ◾
capturing and disseminating knowledge being lost because of retiring workers
Finding ways to form and structure new organizations—such as virtual orga- ◾
nizations and private–public-sector collaborative units
The Process of Change
e transformational change process in government organizations begins with