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The concept of the learning organization has gained increasing currency in the management literature. However, the concept has not received much attention in the public sector. This analysis discusses the idea of the learning organization and its applicability in one public organization, the Office of Information Resources in South Carolina. Both the substance of the concept of the learning organization and its methodological implications are considered. The focus of this particular effort was on using technology as a catalyst for change and capitalizing on "deeper learning cycles" as strategic devices in a process of organizational transformation. The successes and the problems of efforts to implement the learning organization are recounted with the intent of suggesting initiatives that might be undertaken by other public agencies interested in incorporating more systematic learning processed into their operations.

Recent years have seen an increasing interest in policy analysis; however, a review of the curriculum in schools offering policy-related educational programs indicates a strong emphasis on rational comprehensive analysis as an orientation & approach. Detailed is a more complete 'map' of the phenomenon examined in public policy studies in an attempt to identify potential gaps in professional education preparing students for policy related work. By considering the various processes encountered in public policy studies in conjunction with the levels of analysis commonly employed, a more complete map can be derived. The processes considered include optimal allocation, mutual adjustment, & routinized activity. Levels of analysis include individuals, small groups, organizations, & systems. A brief discussion of each cell of this map highlights some work undertaken with each of the foci identified. It is suggested that this map should permit us to prescribe a more complete curriculum package that incorporates all of the phenomena involved in policy studies. AA.

A comparatively new line of research in political science involves the systematic investigation of political, social, and economic factors important in the formation of public policy. So far, such research has yielded temptingly persuasive evidence that political variables exert little or no independent influence on policy outcomes; that policy outcomes are governed overwhelmingly by socio-economic factors. Stated more succinctly, these findings have raised the question: Does politics make a difference in the policy formation process?We suggest in the following analysis that these prior findings have been the result of the examination of a measure of public policy in which the influence of the political system is likely to be negligible, that islevelsof public revenues and expenditures. To examine this proposition empirically, our study shifts attention to the allocation of the burdens and benefits of state revenue and expenditure policies across income classes. In redirecting analysis to allocations rather than levels of state revenues and expenditures, we focus on a province we believe to be more predictably political.We have taken as our dependent variable the net redistributive impact of revenues and expenditures as represented by the ratio of expenditure benefits to revenue burdens for the three lowest income classes in each state. The major hypothesis of our study is that, in regard to the allocation of the burdens and benefits of state government revenues and expenditures, political variables will have a stronger influence on policy outcomes than will socio-economic variables.

In Mastering Public Administration, each chapter spotlights a significant theorist in the field, covering his/her life, research, writings, and impact, introducing the discipline's most important scholarship in both a memorable and approachable manner. The combination of biographical narrative with explanation and analysis makes abstract theories understandable while showing how subject scholars relate to each other in their work, providing much needed context. The book's chronological organization shows the evolution of public administration theory over time. With the new edition, the authors will be adding mini-chapters that link contemporary scholars and their research to the seminal literature