Creating public value Book

Creating Public Value by Mark H. Moore

This book presents a summary of research, observation, and lecture about public managers' intents to advance the performance of their organization that are used at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

The purpose of this book, as Moore stated, is "to lay out a structure of practical reasoning to guide managers of public enterprises".

Who are the public managers this book addresses? The public managers are not only public sector executives -presidents, governments, mayors; but also, officials that are elected to lead their agencies, that are responsible and held accountable for public sector performance: they who have direct authority over public resources.

As simple as Moore put it, this is a book about management in general, but how can we say so when the most specifically directed audience/reader is niche and fairly narrow? The public managers who can essentially employ Moore's idea are the ones who have high positions. Those who do not have direct authority over public resources, might find this book frustrating as they are not merely in position to change the organization's strategic direction.

Creating Public Value was applauded for its alternative approach for public administrations. It is an attempt to pull public managers into "value-seeking imaginations" no less than from private sector managers. Moore's idea was to implement strategic management of public organization. He nominated a set of ideas about how public managers should orient themselves to their jobs, diagnose their situation, and design their intervention; with an intention of succeeding by defining problem and creating public value with the resources entrusted in them.

It is written, "Public managers create public value. The problem is that they cannot know for sure what that is." Moore stated that value is rooted in desires and perception of individuals, and that public managers should satisfy these desires, to create public value. Then again, what is public value? It is therefore astounding that Moore did not clearly define "public value" throughout the course of this book.

Moore guided his reader through his argument in this book with various cases of public managers. Following Moore's cases, we learn of how public managers can achieve their true goal of producing public value. The cases are presented to highlight the core of each chapters, from the aim of managerial work, practical method of envisioning value, to strategic management.

In Chapter 2. Defining Public Value, there is no straightforward or a conclusive way to create public value. Moore even argued that "managers should seek 'to produce public value' because that is an abstract concept." Placing the cases in between his arguments could make the reader finds it confusing.

Another issue was, although Moore based his recommendations on more than 600 case studies, lectures, and interaction with practitioners, we are not fully aware that there are any inductive study afterwards about the actual managerial behaviour.

One of the underpinnings of Creating Public Value is Moore's strategic triangle. Public managers must create strategies that are:
(1) substantially valuable: produces things of value to beneficiaries, overseers, and citizens at low cost in terms of money and authority.
(2) legitimate and politically sustainable: must continually attract both authority and money.
(3) operationally and administratively feasible for organizational implementation.

What is interesting to note is that Moore argued that good strategy is not the one that solve all problems forever, but the one that solve important problem for several years and could give room for improvement and adjustments for some other issues for the next several years.

The strategic triangle aims to simplify complex information demands of recognizing and creating public value, but how can it be validated? Moore's approach was to use cases to test because it is useful to be applied in a problem-based situation.

In conclusion, Creating Public Value is useful and should be on the required reading for students and public management scholars in order to find connections between theory and real-world cases. It is well-written and comprehensive, with relevant questions and numerous cases to be reflected upon.