The reform of public administration in Italy, as in more or less all advanced western countries, has been a subject debated for decades, and one which, in the final decade of the last century, found new impulse in countries such as the USA, where the federal “Government Performance and Result Act” (GPRA) of 1993 introduced “result-based management techniques.” The first experiences in the application of technical innovations in this field have shown that the decisive battle for innovation is fought and won on the field of educational activities to improve the skills of public managers.

The author, an authority on already-introduced managerial transformations (and those still being experimented with) in the United States and in other pioneering countries, and a professor in the Post-Graduate School of Public Administration attached to the Prime Minster’s Office in Italy, testifies with this book on both the concerns and characteristics of managerial innovation in the public domain, and on the efforts to improve the substance of methods of educational activities aimed directly and specifically at the preparation and training of public managers.

This book, in other terms, deals with the features and challenges of a new didactic method capable of introducing new professionalism and technical leadership into the civil service.

CONTENTS

Preface

1. The managerial innovation in the public sector : the systemic and strategic planning role.

2. The “reinventing government” experience in Usa,

3. The federal strategic planning (GPRA) in Usa: the hope for a new planning culture

4. The “New Public Management” in the Oecd activities (Puma)

5. The “New Public Management” and its educational implications

6. The Public Administration “reform” and the wrong start-point

7. The strategic planning in the Italian in the political and administration action

Appendix: The American law for strategic planning (GPRA).