Managing under austerity, delivering under pressure: performance and productivity in public service

Public managers today navigate an environment marked by shrinking resources, constrained budgets, and increasing demands for agility and outcome-driven results. This book addresses the challenge of aligning growing citizen expectations with the realities of limited service provision. It explores how public managers and services can enhance productivity, performance, and innovation despite financial stringency.

Gathering insights from renowned scholars and leading practitioners, the book offers practical strategies for dealing with these dilemmas. It examines approaches to expenditure reduction, sector-wide efficiency, and the redistribution of responsibilities between states, markets, and citizens. Readers will find analysis of public sector productivity, performance management, and "frugal innovation," drawing on examples from various countries and sectors to provide actionable knowledge for improving government services.