THE BIG QUESTIONS OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

What are the big questions that scholars of public management should be attempting-through their research-to answer? Robert D. Behn suggests three consciously prescriptive questions: (I) The micromanagement question asks how public managers can break the micromanagement cycle of procedural rules, which prevent public agencies from producing results, which leads to more procedural rules, which.... (2) The motivation question asks how public managers can motivate people to work energetically and intelligently towards achieving public purposes. (3) The measurement question asks how public managers can measure the achievements of their agencies in ways that help to increase those achievements Moreover, Behn argues, if the study of public management is to become ''scientific,'' it need to focus on these and other big questions.