Attention!

<strong>Attention!</strong> Work and Behavior of Public Managers amidst Ambiguity summarizes the outcomes of an extensive search for meaningful answers to the s... » 

Attention! Work and Behavior of Public Managers amidst Ambiguity summarizes the outcomes of an extensive search for meaningful answers to the seemingly simplequestion – what do public managers do? That is an important question, as the work of public managers becomes more important and difficult. Management theories abound, but isn’t it remarkable that so few books provide adequate answers? Isn’t it remarkable that available answers sketch a very simple picture? As if the work of public managers is no more than a neutral, technical, rational endeavour, by way of which clear, crisp and concise conditions are created? Against these mainstream views, the questions as to what public managers do, is answered by focusing on the complexity of their work. On the grounds of available theory, managerial behavior research, and fresh observations of real life public managers ‘in action, it is shown that managerial struggles are struggles over attention. Public managers must divide, focus and activate their attention amidst ambiguity: informational stimuli are endless, often hardly visible, and not neatly ordered and ranked. Consequently, public manager follow shared rules, conventions and standard operating procedures in order to cope. Much of these rules and conventions appear tohave a political-hierarchical nature: the observed public managers are driven by political (ministerial, parliamentarian and press) impulses, as well as hierarchical considerations. Is this the way to cope with ambiguous conditions? «