The blame game spin, bureaucracy, and self-preservation in government

The blame game, with its finger-pointing and mutual buck-passing, is a familiar feature of politics and organizational life, and blame avoidance pervades government and public organizations at every level. Political and bureaucratic blame games and blame avoidance are more often condemned than analy...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Hood, Christopher
Format:	eBook Book Publication
Language:	English
Published:	Princeton, N.J Princeton University Press 2010
Edition:	1
Subjects:	Accountability Admission (law) Adviser Attempt BBC Radio Blame Blame > Political aspects Bureaucracy Bureaucrat BUSINESS & ECONOMICS BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Organizational Behavior BUSINESS &amp Calculation Career Civil society Cost reduction Credibility Customer Decision-making Defensive medicine Democracy Design Discretion Ethos European Union Explanation Fertilizer Food safety Freedom of speech Good governance Governance Government Government accountability Health effect Health minister Hostility Incumbent Instance (computer science) Institution Jeremy Bentham John Wanamaker Legislature Legitimacy Literature Management & Organizational Behavior Misdemeanor Mission statement Monica Lewinsky Negativity bias Neutral country New Departure (Democrats) Obligation Organization Organizational Behavior Organizational structure Patriarchy Persuasion PHILOSOPHY Police Political aspects Political influences POLITICAL SCIENCE POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Affairs & Administration Politician Politics Politics of France Press secretary Privatization Provision (accounting) Public Affairs & Administration Public opinion Regime Requirement Result Risk assessment Salary Service provider Sociology Soft law Spin (propaganda) Strategy Tax Technology Third World Trade-off Treuhandanstalt Trust Type I and type II errors Decision-making Patriarchy Obligation Treuhandanstalt Customer Jeremy Bentham Type I and type II errors Explanation Cost reduction Legislature Bureaucrat Tax Institution Persuasion Result Design Politician Political science Technology Third World Calculation Soft law Health minister New Departure (Democrats) Neutral country Fertilizer Ethos Freedom of speech Literature Adviser Admission (law) Trade-off Credibility John Wanamaker Discretion Requirement Privatization Accountability Mission statement Democracy Food safety Negativity bias Incumbent Salary BBC Radio Organization Provision (accounting) Health effect Misdemeanor Press secretary Attempt Sociology Risk assessment Organizational structure Hostility Defensive medicine Regime Spin (propaganda) Service provider Monica Lewinsky Good governance Civil society Governance Police Instance (computer science) European Union Politics of France Strategy Politics Career
ISBN:	9780691162126, 9781400836819, 0691162123, 1400836816, 9780691129952, 0691129959
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Summary:	The blame game, with its finger-pointing and mutual buck-passing, is a familiar feature of politics and organizational life, and blame avoidance pervades government and public organizations at every level. Political and bureaucratic blame games and blame avoidance are more often condemned than analyzed. InThe Blame Game, Christopher Hood takes a different approach by showing how blame avoidance shapes the workings of government and public services. Arguing that the blaming phenomenon is not all bad, Hood demonstrates that it can actually help to pin down responsibility, and he examines different kinds of blame avoidance, both positive and negative. Hood traces how the main forms of blame avoidance manifest themselves in presentational and "spin" activity, the architecture of organizations, and the shaping of standard operating routines. He analyzes the scope and limits of blame avoidance, and he considers how it plays out in old and new areas, such as those offered by the digital age of websites and e-mail. Hood assesses the effects of this behavior, from high-level problems of democratic accountability trails going cold to the frustrations of dealing with organizations whose procedures seem to ensure that no one is responsible for anything. Delving into the inner workings of complex institutions,The Blame Gameproves how a better understanding of blame avoidance can improve the quality of modern governance, management, and organizational design.
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references (p. [201]-218) and index SourceType-Books-1 ObjectType-Book-1 content type line 7
ISBN:	9780691162126 9781400836819 0691162123 1400836816 9780691129952 0691129959
DOI:	10.1515/9781400836819