Management Analysis in Public Organizations: History, Concepts, and Techniques

As public organizations seek ways to provide better services and products at lower costs, they are turning more and more to management analysis (MA). This, the first comprehensive guide to the field, will help analysts, managers, and administrators understand how MA can improve output, productivity, and bottom line performance. This volume explains in detail the quantitative and qualitative approaches that management analysts employ in problem solving and enumerates MA’s contributions to improving organization’s decision making. It also makes clear that the relationship between the analyst and administrator is a collaborative one, and that to achieve excellence each must understand the other’s methods of operation, viewpoints, and goals.

Written by practicing management analysts with extensive experience who also teach MA, the book opens with a discussion of MA theory and its many applications, drawing on government regulations and the literature in the field as well as original research. The authors’ discussion of the history and development of MA, including current trends, helps the reader understand the nature and direction of the field. The volume also treats the core areas of the practicing management analyst including organization structure, management studies, computers and automation, and productivity, as well as emerging specialities such as policy analysis, program evaluation, and rigorous analytical studies. Because of the growing market for management analysis in private and public sectors, one chapter is devoted to MA services provided by private firms. The realistic approach resulting from the authors’ experiences as analysts is supplemented by original empirical research on the conduct and acceptance of studies and evaluations for management, as well as annotated and selected bibliographies. With its focus on the future of MA, the book will be useful not only to other analysts and their clients, but also to the students and teachers of public administration.

RAY C. OMAN is a Senior Program Analyst with the Headquarters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and has experience as an analyst and manager in both federal civilian and defense agencies. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and George Washington University, and has authored articles in journals such as, Evaluation Review, Information Management Review, and Systems Management.

STEPHEN L. DAMOURS serves as a Senior Management Analyst with the U.S. Department of State. He has 23 years of experience in management analysis and personnel management in federal agencies such as the National Institutes for Science and Technology and the Food and Drug Administration. He serves as a Lecturer at the Graduate School, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

T. ARTHUR SMITH is the President of Management Analysis, Inc., a management consulting firm specializing in productivity analysis, organization restructuring, systems design and integration, and economic analysis. Dr. Smith founded MAI after completing a 25-year career with the federal government. He was Adjunct Professor of Operations Research at American University for six years.

ANDREW R. USCHER is Division Chief and Senior Management Analyst with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Pentagon, and has 20 years experience as a management and policy analyst. He is an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University, the author of articles in The Bureaucrat, Military Intelligence Magazine, and The Armed Forces Journal, and has served as the editor for Management Sciences Magazine.