Steven Kelman
Biographic Data
| ID | 182333 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Steven Kelman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Steven |
| FAMILY NAME | Kelman |
| SIGNATURE | KELMAN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Harvard University Press |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 206 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 33 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1970 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Tell It Like It Is: Decision Making, Groupthink, and Decisiveness among U.S. Federal Subcabinet Executives
In addition to difficulties gathering and evaluating complete information, cognitive limitations and biases preclude individuals from making fully value‐maximizing choices when making decisions. It has been suggested that, done properly, involving advisors can compensate for individual‐level limitations. However, the “groupthink” tradition has highlighted ways group‐aided decision making can fail to live up to its potential. Out of this literatur…
I Won't Back Down?” Complexity and Courage in Government Executive Decision Making
Senior government executives make many difficult decisions, but research suggests that individual cognitive limitations and the pathologies of “groupthink” impede their ability to make value‐maximizing choices. From this literature has emerged a normative model that Irving Janis calls “vigilant problem solving,” a process intended for the most complex decisions. To explore its use by senior public officials, the authors interviewed 20 heads of su…
This Could Be the Start of Something Big: Linking Early Managerial Choices with Subsequent Organizational Performance
The influence of early events in the history of a country, a social phenomenon, or an organization on later developments has received significant attention in many social science disciplines. Often dubbed “path dependence,” this influence occurs when early events influence later outcomes even when the original events do not reoccur. “Path dependence,” however, has received little theoretical or empirical attention in public administration. This a…
Are There Managerial Practices Associated with the Outcomes of an Interagency Service Delivery Collaboration? Evidence from British Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships
Empirical works measuring whether interagency collaborations delivering public services produce better outcomes are few, and none looks inside the black box of collaboration management practices. We examine whether there are collaboration management practices associated with improved performance of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, an interagency collaboration in England and Wales. These exist in every local authority in England and Wale…
If You Want to Be a Good Fill-in-the-Blank Manager, Be a Good Plain-Vanilla Manager
This lecture was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, DC, September 3, 2010
Successfully Achieving Ambitious Goals in Government: An Empirical Analysis
Many senior government leaders who have attempted to achieve ambitious goals have been quite successful, though others (sometimes very visibly) have not succeeded. What do those who succeeded do differently? Is their success just a matter of luck? What (if anything) do the most successful public sector leaders have in common across agencies with very different missions? To explore these questions, the authors use a reputational approach to identi…
Performance Improvement and Performance Dysfunction: An Empirical Examination of Distortionary Impacts of the Emergency Room Wait-Time Target in the English National Health Service
The literature on the use of performance measurement in government has focused much attention on hypothesized unintended dysfunctional consequences that such measurement may produce. We conceptualize these dysfunctional consequences as involving either effort substitution (reducing effort on nonmeasured performance dimensions) or gaming (making performance on the measured performance dimension appear better, when in fact it is not). In this paper…
Improving service delivery performance in the United Kingdom: Organization theory perspectives on central intervention strategies
A noteworthy example of public sector performance management was launched by the UK's Labour government in 1997. Starting in 1998, departments established a central capacity to deal with “public service agreements” negotiated with Treasury and the performance of frontline units in its domain. In 2001 the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (PMDU) was established to work on prime ministerial priorities involving 21 targets in four departments. This pap…
Disaster Management
Downsizing, competition, and organizational change in government: Is necessity the mother of invention
One answer to the question of why government organizations don't perform better—common in academic “public choice” literature but also in folk wisdom—is that resources come too easily, independent of performance. Some businessmanagement literature suggests that a crisis in resource flows can force successful change—”necessity is the mother of invention.” However, the literature also presents an alternative view: that crisis promotes rigid preprog…
Politics, policy and organizations: Frontiers in the scientific study of bureaucracy
Corporate warriors
Return to reason
Corruption and government: Causes, consequences, and reform
Rarely do the general public and scholars share a wrongheaded stereotype.Often scholars feel as though they shout into the wind of public indifference with their facts and analyses.The populace believe scholars to be indifferent to "what everyone knows."But in the case of the women's movements in the United States, or more properly said, the large-scale social action and social transformation occasioned by demands for gender equity, both scholars…
Public spirit in the thrift tragedy
Policy views, constituency pressure, and congressional action on flag burning
Adversary and Cooperationist Institutions for Conflict Resolution in Public Policymaking
Compared with other societies, the United States makes unusually extensive use of adversary institutions for resolving public conflicts-that is, institutions where the job of advocates is to present for a third party the strongest possible case for their own point of view and where responsibility for actual political choice is then left to the third party. This article presents a case for placing greater reliance on “cooperationist institutions, …
Discretion and Excellence in Public Management
The Public Administration of James Q. Wilson: A Symposium on Bureaucracy
Making Public Policy: A Hopeful View of American Government
How to Care (Scientifically) About Equality
Evaluating American Government
Self Interest, Public Spirit, and Public Policy
Elites and the Idea of Equality: A Comparison of Japan, Sweden, and the United States
Technology, Political Structure, and Social Regulation: A Cross-National Analysis
Performance Improvement and Performance Dysfunction: An Empirical Examination of Distortionary Impacts of the Emergency Room Wait-Time Target in the English National Health Service
The literature on the use of performance measurement in government has focused much attention on hypothesized unintended dysfunctional consequences that such measurement may produce. We conceptualize these dysfunctional consequences as involving either effort substitution (reducing effort on nonmeasured performance dimensions) or gaming (making performance on the measured performance dimension appear better, when in fact it is not). In this paper…
Are There Managerial Practices Associated with the Outcomes of an Interagency Service Delivery Collaboration? Evidence from British Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships
Empirical works measuring whether interagency collaborations delivering public services produce better outcomes are few, and none looks inside the black box of collaboration management practices. We examine whether there are collaboration management practices associated with improved performance of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, an interagency collaboration in England and Wales. These exist in every local authority in England and Wale…
Politics, policy and organizations: Frontiers in the scientific study of bureaucracy
Technology, Political Structure, and Social Regulation: A Cross-National Analysis
This Could Be the Start of Something Big: Linking Early Managerial Choices with Subsequent Organizational Performance
The influence of early events in the history of a country, a social phenomenon, or an organization on later developments has received significant attention in many social science disciplines. Often dubbed “path dependence,” this influence occurs when early events influence later outcomes even when the original events do not reoccur. “Path dependence,” however, has received little theoretical or empirical attention in public administration. This a…
Downsizing, competition, and organizational change in government: Is necessity the mother of invention
One answer to the question of why government organizations don't perform better—common in academic “public choice” literature but also in folk wisdom—is that resources come too easily, independent of performance. Some businessmanagement literature suggests that a crisis in resource flows can force successful change—”necessity is the mother of invention.” However, the literature also presents an alternative view: that crisis promotes rigid preprog…
I Won't Back Down?” Complexity and Courage in Government Executive Decision Making
Senior government executives make many difficult decisions, but research suggests that individual cognitive limitations and the pathologies of “groupthink” impede their ability to make value‐maximizing choices. From this literature has emerged a normative model that Irving Janis calls “vigilant problem solving,” a process intended for the most complex decisions. To explore its use by senior public officials, the authors interviewed 20 heads of su…
Adversary and Cooperationist Institutions for Conflict Resolution in Public Policymaking
Compared with other societies, the United States makes unusually extensive use of adversary institutions for resolving public conflicts-that is, institutions where the job of advocates is to present for a third party the strongest possible case for their own point of view and where responsibility for actual political choice is then left to the third party. This article presents a case for placing greater reliance on “cooperationist institutions, …
Tell It Like It Is: Decision Making, Groupthink, and Decisiveness among U.S. Federal Subcabinet Executives
In addition to difficulties gathering and evaluating complete information, cognitive limitations and biases preclude individuals from making fully value‐maximizing choices when making decisions. It has been suggested that, done properly, involving advisors can compensate for individual‐level limitations. However, the “groupthink” tradition has highlighted ways group‐aided decision making can fail to live up to its potential. Out of this literatur…
Successfully Achieving Ambitious Goals in Government: An Empirical Analysis
Many senior government leaders who have attempted to achieve ambitious goals have been quite successful, though others (sometimes very visibly) have not succeeded. What do those who succeeded do differently? Is their success just a matter of luck? What (if anything) do the most successful public sector leaders have in common across agencies with very different missions? To explore these questions, the authors use a reputational approach to identi…
Improving service delivery performance in the United Kingdom: Organization theory perspectives on central intervention strategies
A noteworthy example of public sector performance management was launched by the UK's Labour government in 1997. Starting in 1998, departments established a central capacity to deal with “public service agreements” negotiated with Treasury and the performance of frontline units in its domain. In 2001 the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (PMDU) was established to work on prime ministerial priorities involving 21 targets in four departments. This pap…
Making Public Policy: A Hopeful View of American Government
Corruption and government: Causes, consequences, and reform
Rarely do the general public and scholars share a wrongheaded stereotype.Often scholars feel as though they shout into the wind of public indifference with their facts and analyses.The populace believe scholars to be indifferent to "what everyone knows."But in the case of the women's movements in the United States, or more properly said, the large-scale social action and social transformation occasioned by demands for gender equity, both scholars…
Using Implementation Research to Solve Implementation Problems: The Case of Energy Emergency Assistance
Generalizations drawn from implementation research can offer useful guidance in formulating new implementation plans, as the development of a revenue-recycling program illustrates. According to the conventional wisdom drawn from implementation research, the program design should be simple and all the steps necessary to produce the desired results should be identified at the outset. The program that was developed in this case was an extensive one,…
Policy views, constituency pressure, and congressional action on flag burning
Regulating America, Regulating Sweden
If You Want to Be a Good Fill-in-the-Blank Manager, Be a Good Plain-Vanilla Manager
This lecture was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, DC, September 3, 2010
Youth and Foreign Policy
Push Comes to Shove: The Escalation of Student Protest
Youth and Foreign Policy
Regulating America, Regulating Sweden
Regulating America, Regulating Sweden: A Comparative Study of Occupational Safety and Health Policy
What Price Incentives? Economists and the Environment
Limited Government: An Incoherent Concept
Advocates of limited government argue that the role of government should be limited to preventing the use of coercion in exchanges and stopping people from harming others. They believe that government should not seek to change the distribution of wealth from that arising through voluntary exchange nor to influence the preferences people hold. But this view proves to be self-contradictory or incoherent. In order to define coercion and permissible …
Using Implementation Research to Solve Implementation Problems: The Case of Energy Emergency Assistance
Generalizations drawn from implementation research can offer useful guidance in formulating new implementation plans, as the development of a revenue-recycling program illustrates. According to the conventional wisdom drawn from implementation research, the program design should be simple and all the steps necessary to produce the desired results should be identified at the outset. The program that was developed in this case was an extensive one,…
Management Improvement Initiatives in the Reagan Administration: Round Two
Technology, Political Structure, and Social Regulation: A Cross-National Analysis
Evaluating American Government
Self Interest, Public Spirit, and Public Policy
Elites and the Idea of Equality: A Comparison of Japan, Sweden, and the United States
Making Public Policy: A Hopeful View of American Government
How to Care (Scientifically) About Equality
The Public Administration of James Q. Wilson: A Symposium on Bureaucracy
Adversary and Cooperationist Institutions for Conflict Resolution in Public Policymaking
Compared with other societies, the United States makes unusually extensive use of adversary institutions for resolving public conflicts-that is, institutions where the job of advocates is to present for a third party the strongest possible case for their own point of view and where responsibility for actual political choice is then left to the third party. This article presents a case for placing greater reliance on “cooperationist institutions, …
Discretion and Excellence in Public Management
Policy views, constituency pressure, and congressional action on flag burning
Public spirit in the thrift tragedy
Corruption and government: Causes, consequences, and reform
Rarely do the general public and scholars share a wrongheaded stereotype.Often scholars feel as though they shout into the wind of public indifference with their facts and analyses.The populace believe scholars to be indifferent to "what everyone knows."But in the case of the women's movements in the United States, or more properly said, the large-scale social action and social transformation occasioned by demands for gender equity, both scholars…
Return to reason
Corporate warriors
Politics, policy and organizations: Frontiers in the scientific study of bureaucracy
Improving service delivery performance in the United Kingdom: Organization theory perspectives on central intervention strategies
A noteworthy example of public sector performance management was launched by the UK's Labour government in 1997. Starting in 1998, departments established a central capacity to deal with “public service agreements” negotiated with Treasury and the performance of frontline units in its domain. In 2001 the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (PMDU) was established to work on prime ministerial priorities involving 21 targets in four departments. This pap…
Disaster Management
Political science (27 works) · Law (17 works) · Business (16 works) · Economics (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (11 works) · Public Administration (10 works) · Public Administration (10 works) · Government (linguistics (9 works) · Public relations (9 works)