Understanding and Managing Public Organizations, 5th Edition

CHAPTER ONE

THE CHALLENGE OF EFFECTIVE PUBLIC ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT

As this book heads for publication, the president of the United States and his political opponents in Congress have entered into a dispute over sequestration of federal funds. Previous legislation required that funding for federal programs be sequestered, or withheld, if by a certain date the president and Congress could not agree on cuts in federal funding to reduce the federal deficit. The date passed and the sequestration began. Executives and managers in U.S. federal agencies had to decide how to make the funding reductions. They announced plans to reduce numerous federal programs and to reduce the services those programs delivered. These reductions would have serious ...