While acknowledging the political context of all public administration systems, they argue that effective management of these systems nevertheless provides the key to good government performance.

Public management experts have stressed the importance of such varied concepts as efficiency, process, systems, and capacity as key to effective government. The authors of Government Performance argue, however, that one quality above all is crucial to government performance: effective management. To prove their point, they offer in-depth quantitative analyses of public management systems in all fifty states, thirty-five cities, forty counties, and a number of federal agencies, examining management systems for finances, human resources, information technology, and capital, as well as how results are managed.