Delivering Public Services That Work: Systems Thinking Case Studies Vol 1 ebook | Edited by Peter Middleton, John Seddon | 9781908009234
Read this on:
This title can be read on dedicated eReaders such as a Sony eReader. You will need to download and install Adobe Digital Editions first. See what other eReaders are compatible with Adobe Digital Editions.
Download and read this title on selected Smartphones, such as the iPhone and Android Devices. You will need to download an ePub eReader App on your phone to view the title.
You will need the Bluefire Reader. There is a download link in your fishtank
Read this title on a tablet device like the iPad and the Galaxy Tab.
You will need the Bluefire Reader. There is a download link in your fishtank
Delivering Public Services that Work is a ground-breaking book of Case Studies showing how Systems Thinking has been applied to a particular public service in six local authorities. Each case study – written by the manager or project leader responsible – describes what was done, how it was done and the results achieved. The book makes extraordinary reading.
It began with John Seddon's 2008 book, Systems Thinking in the Public Sector. That book said, in effect: 'It's OK, you're not mad. Yes, if you live in the UK, what the Labour Government says is true. It has massively increased spending on the public sector. And your own experience is also correct. The quality of public services has deteriorated.'
Seddon went on to explain how this is possible, showing that the system was at fault (not the people delivering the services or the levels of funding). He explained the obvious point that spending more money on the wrong thing won't help. If your car won't start, upgrading the tyres and getting a new exhaust fitted won't help.
Over 10,000 central and local government officials, policy makers and public service leaders (in health, education, policing and housing, for example) have so far bought Seddon's 2008 book – and many more have read it. It's caused quite a stir, including a campaign to make Seddon the Public Services Tzar and a desperate attempt by the Audit Commission to discredit Seddon by saying that a) he's a consultant and b) he has no evidence that his 'nostrum' [a medicine of secret composition recommended by its preparer but without scientific proof of its effectiveness] works.
Now Delivering Public Services That Work sets out the evidence: six easily-understood and clearly explained examples of Systems Thinking at work in the public sector. This collection of case studies demonstrates how managers from different public sector organisations in the UK and New Zealand have reduced waste, cut inefficiencies, massively improved service quality and end-to-end times and transformed morale by redesigning their systems to face the customer.