Government Executives as Gamesmen: A Metaphor for Analyzing Managerial Behavior

Public management requires a diffuse set of activities that extend far beyond the simple activities once encompassed in the study of public administration. The study of public management is hampered by the lack of theory to guide research on the roles and contributions of public managers. By viewing the government executive as a player in a game-more accurately, as a player in many games occurring simultaneously and at different levels, each with its own rules of play-we can begin to gain an integral view of the reality in which they operate.