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Leading scholars present the most complete, as well as the most advanced, treatment of public management reform and innovation available The subject of reform in the public sector is not new; indeed, its latest rubric, reinventing government, has become good politics. Still, as the contributors ask in this volume, is good politics necessarily good government? Given the growing desire to reinvent government, there are hard questions to be asked: Is the private sector market model suitable and effective when applied to reforming public and governmental organizations? What are the major political forces affecting reform efforts in public management? How is public management reform accomplished in a constitutional democratic government? How do the values of responsiveness, professionalism, and managerial excellence shape current public management reforms? In this volume, editors H. George Frederickson and Jocelyn M. Johnston bring together scholars with a shared interest in empirical research to confront head-on the toughest questions public managers face in their efforts to meet the demands of reform and innovation. Throughout the book, the authors consider the bureaucratic resistance that results when downsizing and reinvention are undertaken simultaneously, the dilemma public managers face when elected executives set a reform agenda that runs counter to the law, and the mistaken belief that improved management can remedy flawed policy.

The narrator of ''That New Pet!'' by [Alane Ferguson], illustrated by [Catherine Stock], is a Siamese cat, who, along with a dog and a parrot, finds his life disrupted by the arrival of their human owners' baby daughter. At first they don't know what the new critter is, but the cat, the smartest of the bunch, figures it out and says ominously, ''When a baby comes - EVERYTHING CHANGES!'' Getting the baby to smile is also the key to ''Little Rabbit's Baby Brother,'' by [Fran Manushkin], illustrated by Diane de Groat. Little Rabbit, whom some may remember from the popular ''Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth,'' goes on a picnic with her father and pregnant mother. She does tricks for her doting parents and basks in their attention. But at home, when her parents talk about the coming new baby, Little Rabbit worries about losing her place in the house. She has an anxious, though not too scary, dream about searching for a new home: She runs across some friendly polar bears who invite her to live with them but finds their hugs too icy. A more realistic, less rosy approach marks ''It's Not Fair!'' by [Anita Harper], illustrated by [Susan Hellard]. The story is told by a young kangaroo who gets angry when her new brother seems to receive preferential treatment. ''That's not fair,'' the kangaroo sulks as her brother's messes are ignored while hers are criticized. ''It's not fair,'' she fumes as the baby sitter comforts her screaming brother while shushing her. But the tables start to turn as the book explores her baby brother's feelings. The little kangaroo begins to realize that her brother has some complaints too. He can't splash through puddles on rainy days or go sledding like his sister. He can't accompany her to her play-group. When the baby brother finally learns to talk, he watches his sister leave for a party and howls ''It's not fair!''