Deciding The Undecidable A Few Things Post-Modernism Might Have to Offer Public Administration

Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Stivers
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Post Modernism ◽  
Just Decisions

Despite its irritating apparent refusal to answer public administrators' need for help in understanding complex situations and making tough decisions, post-modem thought actually has some rather practical observations to offer. Using Robert Frosts poem, "Mending Wall," as a catalyst for reflection, this brief essay considers central post-modem questions like the power-knowledge nexus and the impossibility of closure, in order to suggest the possibility that just decisions might be grounded in a recognition of undecidability, that is, the openness that otherness constitutes.

Training Administrators To Use Microcomputers

1985 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Robert H. Rittle
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Computer Literacy ◽  
City Management ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Public Administration Review ◽  
Management Association ◽  
University Training

Some are born to computer literacy, while others have literacy thrust upon them! Students who comprise the next generation of political scientists and public administrators will, in many cases, fall into the latter category. This article concerns the role of university training programs in meeting the increasing demands for microcomputer skills.The January, 1984 issue of Public Administration Review included five articles concerning microcomputers in local government. These articles anticipate “major changes in the way local governments organize and the means by which they carry out operations,” as a result of microcomputer technology. Predicting a significant impact of microcomputers in local government, the International City Management Association has also published a major monograph on microcomputer use (Griesemer, 1984).

Crowdsourcing in Local Public Administration

2019 ◽  
pp. 624-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalsoom BeBe Sumra ◽  
Wang Bing
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Online Community ◽  
User Participation ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Online Sources

Social networks have become very popular online sources of participation in crowdsourcing. This article examines the antecedents of user participation in crowdsourcing and importance of online community involvement in local public administration. Based on data collected from local public administrators and local public through survey, the results produce evidence that importance of online platforms in crowdsourcing can have a consistent impact on services delivery system in local public administration and importance of online open sources have significantly higher level in crowdsourcing on the whole, while importance of social media have significantly lower level overall. The paper contributes with potential implications and recommendations for local public management to achieve effective services delivery in developing countries through crowdsourced work. The present study is the first study that not only shows the effect of online platforms in local public administration, but also analyses the antecedents of crowdsourcing for participation (knowledge sharing, consultation, innovative ideation and reporting).

Teaching Biopolitics in a Professional Curriculum

1986 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick G. O'Hara
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Graduate Study ◽  
Graduate Teaching ◽  
Decision Making Processes

This article considers the ways in which teachers of public administration can address biopolitical issues within an established professional curriculum. The author distinguishes between the teleological and instrumental aspects of a belief system, holding that biobehavioral explanation can be pedagogically useful and can provide public administrators with a model for assessing and responding to workplace phenomena. The article proposes that undergraduate and graduate teaching impose different standards on an instructor seeking to introduce biobehavioral and biostructural concepts. The different standards arise out of the explicit and focused career instrumentality of graduate study in public administration, as well as age graded differences in receptivity to particular propositions about human nature. Finally, this article details some ways in which biobehavioral explanation can be introduced in organizational behavior classes and in classes that consider the structure of public organizations and their decision-making processes.

scholarly journals African bureaucracy and public administration: Analysing the normative impediments and prospects

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chinyeake J. Igbokwe-Ibeto
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Administrative Reforms ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The People ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Insight Into

Background: Public perception of bureaucracy and public administration is key to determining how much they can accomplish in a given environment. The pejorative view of bureaucrats and public administrators is not restricted to Africa. Although they are sometimes seen as one and the same, analytically they can be divorced.Aim: Within the framework of system theory, this article analysed the interface between African bureaucracy and public administration with the aim of identifying its impediments and prospects.Setting: Relevant sources of this research were fairly and professionally scrutinised, understood and tested with the available literature for the research purpose. Inter alia, it included scan-reading, comprehensive and critical reading and writing down ideas. Authoritative scholarly sources were reviewed during a desktop study. The purpose was to identify the relevant publications and apply them in the research.Methods: This article utilised qualitative research design and descriptive methods to gain an insight into the nature and character of African bureaucracy and public administration. It is also exploratory because the article attempts to explore the nexus between African bureaucracy and public administration.Result: This article argues that African bureaucracy is losing its potency and ability to give intellectual leadership to public administrators. Bureaucrats in the field rely too much on discretion that often does not sit well with the people and result in poor service delivery.Conclusion: It therefore concludes that the poor state of affairs in African bureaucracy could change if the bureaucracy opens up to administrative reforms, particularly those that add value to their activities and actions. In this era of globalisation, international best practices should be domesticated.

scholarly journals The Essence and Structure of Masters’ of Public Administration Core Competencies in the USA

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 62-68
Author(s):  
Alina Shevchenko
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
The Usa

Abstract The article deals with revealing the essence and structure of Masters’ of Public Administration professional training in the USA. It has been concluded that Public Administration studies the realization of government policies and trains future public administrators for professional activity; is guided by political science and administrative law; aims to improve the justice, equality, security and efficiency of public services. It has been indicated that the MPA degree is dedicated for those willing to work in public sector. It has been found out that MPA programs are designed to develop the abilities, skills and methods specialists use to realize policies, programs and projects as well as to resolve crucial issues within their organization and/or in society. It has been stated that in the United States of America Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Business Administration programs (MBA) are quite similar, however, have certain differences. It has been defined that the MPA program focuses on different ethical and sociological criteria secondary for business administrators. Simultaneously MPA programs encompass economy courses to supply students with knowledge of microeconomic and macroeconomic issues. It has been specified that MPA programs are built on a range of core competencies defined by the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA). The list of the core competencies (to lead and manage in public governance; to participate in and contribute to the public policy progress; to analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems and make decisions; to articulate and apply a public service perspective; to communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry) and their detailed characteristics have been presented. It has been identified that cultural competency of future public administrators has become an essential constituent of public affairs curricula. It has been concluded that the above-mentioned positive aspects of the experience may be used to improve future public administrators’ professional training in Ukraine.

Social Responsibility and Organisational Commitment in Local Public Administration: The Moderating Role of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour and Social Bonding

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2-3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalsoom BeBe ◽  
Wang Bing
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Social Bonding ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Organisational Commitment ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Moderating Role

The commitment of public employees to organisations is an imperative deliberation that affects the efficiency of public services organisations. The objective of this study is to investigate whether the social responsibility among local public administrators raises organisational commitment. This study subsequently explores the moderating role of citizenship behaviour and social bonding (permanent vs temporary employees) of public employees in the relationship between social responsibility and organisational commitment. In this study, empirical data are collected from local officials working in local public administration services organisations in Pakistan (n = 308). The statistical analysis is used to test the relationship between social responsibility and commitment and the moderating effect of citizenship behaviour and social bonding on social responsibility-organisational commitment relationship.The results show that social responsibility is a determinant to organisational commitment and citizenship behaviour and social bonding moderate the social responsibility-commitment relationship. The effect of social responsibility on organisational commitment is stronger in permanent public administrators having high perspective of organisational citizenship behaviours than in temporary public administrators having low perspective of organisational citizenship behaviours. This study contributes to knowledge of the effect of social responsibility on organisational commitment in local public employees and proves that citizenship behaviour and social bonding affect the social responsibility-commitment relationship in local public administrators.

scholarly journals Bureaucracy Reform Deficit in Indonesia: A Cultural Theory Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arif Budy Pratama
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Sector Reform ◽  
Reform Program ◽  
Looking Glass

The motivation of this paper is to identify the possible unintended consequences of reform program to modernize public administration in Indonesia through cultural theory looking glass. The cultural perspective matters to understand the context of reform-based implementation and the setting of society where public sector reform occurred. Applying cultural theory perspective, four patterns of unintended consequences in Indonesia’s bureaucracy reform are proposed to aid the analysis of reform deficit pattern. I name reform inertia for fatalist, formalistic reform for hierarchies, benefit-based reform for individualist, and conformity-based reform for egalitarian typed-organisations. This framework gives an alternative outlook to address potential negative effects as well as unintended consequences of bureaucracy reform in which reform advocates or public administrators could consider to anticipate in the process of reform.

Law and public administration: convergence and symbiosis

2005 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Harlow
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Similar Pattern ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Public Administrators

In the light of historical tensions, this article considers some classical administrative law responses to changing techniques of public administration. Rejecting the customary reproach that law is unresponsive to the needs of public administrators, the article nonetheless identifies a widespread conviction that control and accountability are the primary objectives of administrative law. The response of administrators overwhelmed by procedural requirements is to fall back on ‘soft law’ techniques. The article notes the growing use of ‘soft law’ and recourse to ‘soft’ techniques of governance in the European Union, together with a possible convergence of legal and administrative values, as standards of ‘good governance’ and ‘principles of good administration’ acceptable to both sides are promulgated and enforced by courts. As ‘good governance’ standards are disseminated by international and transnational institutions, the article predicts a similar pattern of tension and evasion, as procedurally oriented administrative law systems enforced by transnational adjudicative organs develop to occupy the global administrative space.

scholarly journals The Truth About Honesty

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic D. Wells ◽  
Anthony D. Molina
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Service Value ◽  
Practice Teaching ◽  
American Society

This article examines the ethics of honesty and deception in public administration. Building on previous research showing that public administrators rank honesty as an essential public service value but also sometimes use deception while carrying out their duties, semi-structured interviews with public employees were conducted to explore this apparent tension. Specifically, this study asks: Why is honesty important for public administrators? What is honesty and dishonesty? Under what circumstances is the use of deception by public administrators legitimate? The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) Code of Ethics is used as an analytical framework to assess the cases and examples provided by participants. The article concludes with a discussion of some important implications that this research has for public administration practice, teaching, and research.

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