BOC---PSU report from CC government‏

From: Jaye Bell
Subject:  PSU report fon CC government‏

It is my observation that an 'administrator' is  not the  real object of the report, but rather is a smoke screen.  It appears implementation of regionalization and profiling are the real objectives, both  being more permanent.and deadly. 
  
For the above reason,. I hope many will see the importance of  attending the workshop Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 in the Owen Bldg.
 
This is our county...  if we can keep it.
 
Jaye

PS You may find the attachment below with an  independent  review of John M Bryson's work, that PSU lauds  so highly, very interesting.
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   On page 5 of the Portland State University Report on how Coos  County should operate, the report lauds John M Bryson as the  master author.  Wanting to know more about this person I went to the  internet.  The
only place I found John M. Bryson listed was under Amazon  books.  Going to Amazon and locating his book I reviewed the  comments.  It seems most who had to read or teach his book  praised him.  Below is listed the author's background,  and a comment from a  reader who was evidently not associated in either
catagory.  I enclose  this writer's comments because I found the PSU report to be akin to his comments  regarding John M. Bryson's book.........................................   Jaye 

About the Author

John M. Bryson is the McKnight Presidential Professor of  Planning and Public Affairs in the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs  at the University of Minnesota. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and in 2011 received the Dwight Waldo Award from the American  Society for Public Administration for "outstanding contributions to the  professional literature of public administration over an extended scholarly  career." He consults widely on strategic management with public, nonprofit, and  business organizations in the United States and abroad.


A Review
 
This textbook is terribly done. There has  been a Harvard project on the same topic that describes the planning process for  nonprofits in three stages - Bryson uses eight. There is also a Herrington Bryce  textbook that has been praised and that is readily
available.

If you are  considering this text for your use, I would strongly recommend one of the  others; if your professor has assigned this, beg him or her to choose another.  This is an overcomplicated repetitive mess of a manifesto on Bryson's  self-important and overcomplicated view of what should be a straightforward  topic. And it is sheer pain to read.

- Bryson is verbose and  overcomplicates everything - He would cite five sources to tell you the sun has  risen, just so you would know that he is well-read . . . he never uses 50 words  when he can use 500 or better yet 1,000. That makes this a really
tough read.  Bryson never heard that brevity is the soul of wit.

- This book is  incredibly repetitive - he seemingly does not have a lot of faith in his reader,  so he says everything five times. His lack of respect for the reader goes so far  as to tell you how to set up a room for a meeting, how to cover use a dry erase  board and easel paper, and just to be helpful he even includes a template of an  oval for you to use in making ovals to post during
your meeting. A blank page in  the book with a black outline of an oval. I wish I were kidding. Bryson doesn't  have a lot of respect for the rest of us.

- He is a terrible writer. His  paragraphs are lengthy and disjointed. His constant citing of sources is  ludicrous. He is one of those
people in the world who can't just say what he has  to say, he has to make everyone think he's smarter than they are. But if he were  somewhat smarter,  he'd have had the insight to make this book actually  readable.

- Bryson seems to be a classic example of a consultant with no  real-world experience. He barely covers leadership, a pretty important topic,  but in addition to his helpful advice on ovals and easel paper, he does discuss  the uses of dishonesty
and selective disclosure in the planning process, but in  such a throw away manner that all you can get is how clever he wants you to  think he is.

- He proselytizes incessantly. Bryson spends a lot of effort  on his view of how one should achieve transcendence (really! - you can't make  this up!) while making numerous and repetitive political statements against  conservatives, corporate interests and a variety of others.

I realize  that most of you will be buying this book because you have to, as it will have  been selected for you by your professor. Beg your professor to choose another  text. There are several much better ones out there. Plead. Do whatever it takes.  This is the
one of the worst books I have ever encountered. It is truly terrible and extremely frustrating. 
  
 
Help other customers find the most  helpful reviews

Link to the Report
Combined Review of Selected Administrative Issues for Coos County Government Recommendations Condensed

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