ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the strategic management of public service organisations, like public management and public administration more widely, is both a ‘science’ - i.e., an object of inquiry through the scientific methods of a plurality of social sciences - and ‘an art and a profession’ - i.e., a human activity which embodies elements of non-codifiable knowledge (as an art) as well of codifiable and transmissible sets of codes of behaviour, conventions, and institutionalised systems for the transmission and replication of applied knowledge (as a profession). The chapter examines the distinctive contribution to the understanding of decision-making in public services organisations provided by strategic management vis à vis the contribution provided by other disciplines that have historically been applied to the study of public administration, from political science to public policy, from public choice theory to organisation science. The chapter then discusses the contribution of strategic management to public management as practical knowledge and profession. The chapter finally reflects on the contribution that the schools of thought in strategic management can provide to enhance our understanding of the behaviour of public service organisations.
