ABSTRACT
A study of the management interventions associated with high performers is potentially more rewarding as the presence of enabling conditions help "demask" the real managerial processes at work. In understanding the nature of public management and developing insights for improving the performance of development programs, therefore, there is a strong case for investigating the experiences of high performers. Development programs are usually spawned at the national level and tend to operate through sub-programs which are designed to cover different geographic regions such as states, or different functions and groups of services. This brief discussion of the nature of development programs offers us some useful insights into the complexity of their management and the reasons why successful management interventions in this area are not plentiful. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
