Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations

"At last! A textbook on organizational behavior written for students of public administration and nonprofit management. The authors provide a comprehensive presentation of the major topics in organizational behavior from the perspective of life in public organizations. It is filled with useful learning instruments, exercises, cases, and realistic public sector examples that will provide students with a profound understanding of their own behavior and the behavior of others. This will surely enhance their careers in the public service."

―Dr. Jay D. White, University of Nebraska at Omaha

"This book is a valuable addition to the literature on public administration and management. It will serve as an excellent text for both current and aspiring public servants. It provides a creative interweaving of the theoretical and practical dimensions of public sector organizational behaviour. Especially notable is the combination of succinct summaries of theoretical material with cases, simulations and other techniques that will make organizational behaviour come alive in the classroom."

-Kenneth Kernaghan, Brock University,

Editor - International Review of Administrative Sciences,

Co-author - Public Administration in Canada

"This is the organization behavior textbook that public sector employers wish we would use in our MPA classes!  Focusing on getting students to reflect on their current skill levels, it helps them build competency by combining a splendidly clear presentation of the best contemporary theory with a variety of engaging self-tests and activities.  Students will enjoy this text because every chapter helps them build skills they can use right away.  Professors will value it because they′ll never again be asked, ′What′s the point of reading this?′"

-Linda deLeon, University of Colorado at Denver

 

"Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations is an intellectually superior and illuminating contribution to current literature on effective public management. Students, middle managers, and chief executive officers will all find its accumulated knowledge and practical suggestions both stimulating and beneficial."

-Naomi B. Lynn, Chancellor Emeritus University of Illinois at Springfield

Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations is the first core textbook specifically written for the management and organizational behavior course taught in undergraduate and graduate programs in public administration, particularly in Masters in Public Administration (MPA) programs. Designed to help students develop the skills and understanding they need in order to become effective and responsible public managers, the book covers all of the essential topics in management and organizational behavior from the perspective of public and non-profit management. It focuses on the importance of understanding the behavior, motivations, and actions of individuals in the public service and the distinctiveness of management and leadership in public organizations. Action-oriented, the book is filled with cases, self-assessment exercises, simulations, and evaluative instruments.

Robert B. Denhardt is Professor of Public Administration in the Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. He was previously Regents Professor and Director of the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University.

Dr. Denhardt is a past president of the American Society for Public Administration, a nationwide organization of academics and practitioners in the field of public administration at all levels of government. He is also a member of the prestigious National Academy of Public Administration, the field’s equivalent of the National Academy of Science. He was the 2004 recipient of ASPA’s Dwight Waldo Award, celebrating lifetime achievement in scholarship in public administration.

Dr. Denhardt has published a dozen books, including Just Plain Good Management, The Dance of Leadership, The New Public Service, Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations, The Pursuit of Significance, In the Shadow of Organization, Theories of Public Organiza­tion, and Public Administration: An Action Orientation.

Janet V. Denhardt is the Chester A. Newland Professor of Public Administration in the Price School at the University of Southern California. Dr. Denhardt is a member of the National Academy of Public Administration. She has published seven books, including The New Public Service, The Dance of Leadership, Organizational Behavior, and Street-Level Leadership, as well as numerous articles in such journals as Public Administration Review, Administration & Society, and the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. Her teaching and research interests focus on organizational behavior, leadership, and governance.

Maria P. Aristigueta is the president of the American Society for Public Administration, the Charles P. Messick Professor of Public Administration, the Associate Director of the School of Public Policy and Administra­tion, and the Senior Policy Fellow in the Institute of Public Administration at the University of Delaware. Her teaching and research interests are primarily in the areas of public sector management and include performance measurement, strategic planning, and organizational behavior. She has published numerous journal articles, book chapters, and books, including Managing for Results in State Government, Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations, Managing and Measuring Performance in Public and Nonprofit Organizations: An Integrated Approach, and Organizational Behavior, and she was coeditor of the International Handbook of Practice-Based Performance Management. Her doctorate is from the University of Southern California.