Routledge Tools for Decision Making: A Practical Guide for Local Government

This book guides readers to the mastery of a wide array of practical analytic techniques useful to local governments. Written in an easy-to-read style with an emphasis on providing practical assistance to students, local government practitioners, and others interested in local government performance, this updated third edition features analytic methods selected for their relevance to everyday problems encountered in city and county governments. The authors outline a variety of practical techniques including the simplest that the fields of management, public administration, policy analysis, and industrial engineering have to offer. Each analytic technique is introduced in the context of a fictitious case presented over a few pages at the beginning of that technique’s chapter. Contents include demand analysis, work distribution analysis, process flow-charting, inflation adjustments, annualizing capital costs, staffing analysis, identifying full costs of a program or service, present value analysis, life-cycle costing, lease/buy analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, benchmarking analysis, and more. This updated third edition features a dramatic expansion of Excel-based applications, plus templates and exercises accompanying many of the chapters and available online. New chapters prepare readers to: • use statistical tests to identify significant differences in performance averages; • construct Pareto charts; • develop cause-and-effect diagrams; • prepare control charts; • detect possible discrimination in hiring and appointment practices; and • present analytic evidence more effectively. This book is an essential resource for students and instructors of public administration courses on analysis, methods, evaluation, productivity improvement, and service delivery. Online resources for this book, including Excel templates, are available at https://toolsfordecisionmaking.sog.unc.edu Review "Finally, a no-nonsense, how-to book that takes the fear out of statistics and analysis. Tools for Decision Making is an ideal book to use in masters-level research methods classes where the emphasis is on equipping students with basic tools of analysis that they can use in their careers." ― David Schultz, Distinguished University Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies at Hamline University, USA "By incorporating Excel instructions into the collection of analytic techniques presented in Tools for Decision Making, the authors have made this book a must-have. Every local government researcher/analyst in the world has access to Excel, so this feature alone makes this text invaluable. The online Excel templates that accompany the third edition are a major selling point; their availability for student use and for subsequent use on the job make this book a necessity on one’s bookshelf." ― Hunter Bacot, Graduate Program Director and Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA "Tools for Decision Making is a gold mine of ideas for improving services. It makes difficult-sounding management techniques very understandable. I caution owners of the book to be leery of those who seek to borrow it; else it may go the same way as the trusty hammer and saw." ― W. Bartley Hildreth, Professor at the Center for State and Local Finance / Department of Public Management and Policy at Georgia State University, USA "The analytical tools described by Ammons and Roenigk demystify the management of complex organizations. This book can serve as your tool box of ideas and models for continuous improvement." ― Russell Blackburn, City Manager at the City of Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA "Tools for Decision Making is a very user-friendly book that can be used in policy analysis or financial management courses in upper-division or graduate instruction. Ammons and Roenigk use excellent examples that place tools in realistic and appropriate context for typical public administration students."