Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Managing public service change of coping with its complexity? / Mike Wallace, Michael and Eugene Schneller -- Coping with complex and programmatic public service change / Mike Wallace -- Applying complexity theory to public service change : creating chaos out of order? / Mike Wallace and Michael Fertig -- The emergence of new organizational forms : networks of integrated services in health care / Lise Lamothe and Jean-Louis Denis -- An ironic perspective on public service change / Mike Wallace and Eric Hoyle -- Exploring the complexity of policy making for public service reform -- Managing complex change: bringing meso-politics back in / Karen Seashore Louis -- The challenges of governance, leadership, and accountability in the public services / Paul Thomas -- Inevitable tensions in managing large-scale public service reform / Ben Levin -- Exploring the complexity of facilitating public service improvement -- Unsystematic responses to a chaotic service environment: shaping the division of labour in patient care / Eugene Schneller and Mike Wallace -- How is knowledge transferred between organizations involved in change? / Jean Hartley and Lyndsay Rashman -- Learning to navigate the noise of change: lessons from complex health system contexts / Ann Casebeer -- Orchestration, coherence, and the problem of conflicting accountabilities / William Firestone and Dorothy Shipps -- Prospects for understanding and improving complex public service change / Mike Wallace.