Managing Public Services : Crises and Lessons from Hong Kong

Ahmed Shafiqul Huque, Grace O. M. Lee

"This title was first published in 2000: The management of public services is becoming an increasingly difficult task. Demands are increasing while funds appear to be decreasing, but quality of service must remain high. New services are required, demands have to be faced, activities don't always go according to plan and problems emerge in unexpected places and at unusual times; and public managers are expected to deal with these deviations from their regular work patterns. While some activities are concrete in nature and can be seen, such as medical care and education, others are obscured from public view. With governments emphasizing areas that produce visible and quantifiable results, they often neglect the intangible services that must also be provided to the public. Poor performance in these areas can contribute to major crisi in public organizations. This volume examines four...