PFM Articles 
Book Review of: David Wastell, Managers as Designers in the Public Services: Beyond Technomagic
NAOMI CAIDEN
PFM, Vol. 11 No. 4,
(2011)
Information Technology (IT) has become increasingly pervasive in public administration, but despite its acceptance, has also been accompanied by spectacular failures. This book attributes many of the problems in the adoption of IT by public agencies to “magical” thinking (that it can work wonders) and to isolating IT from other organizational and management processes. The author uses case studies from the United Kingdom to explain how organizational design, evidence based management, and re-engineering can be used by managers to integrate IT projects successfully into their organizations. While the book focuses on management, neglecting some key policy issues, it pro-vides useful insights into IT failures and newer directions in IT implementation.
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