Engaging Public Sector Clients - by John Alford (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Exploring three rich cases across three countries, this book shows how government organizations need their clients to contribute time and effort to co-producing public services, and how organizations can better elicit this work from them, by providing good client service and appealing to their intrinsic needs and social values.

Review Quotes

Winner of Best Book Award for 2011 - Section on Public Administration Research (SPAR) of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA).

'In this controversial but illuminating work, Alford has not only bitten off, but thoroughly chewed over and digested a critically important but widely ignored aspect of public management: the processes that government agencies rely on to engage the clients to whom they deliver services, and on whom they impose obligations.' - Mark Moore, Harvard Kennedy School, author of Creating Public Value

'Co-production has moved to the centre of debates about public service reform, and its importance is bound to rise.... John Alford's book is a masterly survey of the field, fusing history, evidence and analysis. He brings to the fore how fascinating, and difficult, co-production can be.' - Geoff Mulgan, Head of the Young Foundation, former head of Demos and adviser to PM Tony Blair, author of Good and Bad Power

About the Author

JOHN ALFORD is Professor of Public Sector Management at the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne, Australia and also at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, Australia. His research and publications are on organization-client relationships, public sector strategy and inter-organizational collaboration.