Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Leveraging System Context To Understand Collaborative Systems In Modern Public Management, Catherine Annis

Dissertations - ALL

Complex and boundary-spanning problems like overpopulation, hunger, pandemics, homelessness, and environmental degradation occur more frequently now than ever (Bynander & Nohrstedt, 2019; Criado & Guevara-Gómez, 2021; Huang, 2020; Kapucu, 2015; Getha-Taylor, 2007; Jayasinghe et al., 2022). Policymakers increasingly address these challenges through interorganizational collaboration (Isett et al., 2011). Countries worldwide now use collaborative governance to respond to such wicked problems (Jayasinghe et al., 2022; Huang, 2020; Megawati et al., 2020). Despite growing in popularity, gaps remain in understanding collaborative governance at scale. In this dissertation, I present research on the interconnected nature of collaborative governance initiatives in the United States …

Three Essays On Governance, Inequality, And Social Equity, Sarah Ausmus Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Comprised of three essays, my dissertation is linked by a common focus: the relationship between state or local governance arrangements and inequality or facets of social equity. I draw upon a range of literatures to motivate my research questions and inform my methodologies—welfare and social policy, public economics, intergovernmental relations, public finance and management.

In the first essay, I ask: does localizing welfare governance impact geospatial access to the social safety net? This is an important question because proximity is highly salient to program utilization. I geocode the location of human services nonprofits from tax filings in eight states using …

Facing The Rising Tide: How Local Governments In The United States Collaborate To Adapt To Sea Level Rise, Vaiva Kalesnikaite

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While communities in the United States are already experiencing the effects of climate change, scientists project that sea level rise, increased precipitation, and record-breaking extreme weather events will devastate vulnerable regions in the following decades. The absence of federal strategies for climate change adaptation leaves state and city governments with broad discretion to undertake climate change adaptation measures. Yet cities may be unable to adapt to climate change without external assistance, particularly in states where the state leadership has not recognized the need to provide political and financial support to local governments. Collaboration allows cities to pool resources and work …

Understanding The Organizational Factors That Impact Police-Community Relations, Andrea Marie Headley

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There has been a significant amount of attention refocused on problems surrounding police and communities of color. The most consistent remedy identified has been reforming police departments, which is an organizational-level solution. However, only minimal strides have been made in empirical research to understand the organizational correlates associated with police-community relations. Thus, this research investigated the impact that police departments’ organizational and managerial characteristics have on police-community relations.

The key contributions of this research to the literature are three-fold. First, a composite indicator of police-community relations was developed by compiling a large nationwide dataset of local police-departments. This multidimensional indicator …

Organizational Study Of Information Technology, Law, And Purchasing Departments : City Of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

The Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management was hired by the City of Fitchburg to perform organizational studies of three departments, including the Information Technology (IT) Department, the Law Department, and the Purchasing Department. All three of the studies were to review the respective departments’ organizational structures, responsibilities, and practices with a goal of identifying areas of improvement that could result in improved operations and time and cost savings (IT and Purchasing) and areas in need of improvement (Law Department).

The Collins Center project team met with the directors of the three departments under review to understand their …

Five Year Strategic Plan For Economic Development: Prepared For The Town Of Winthrop, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

In the spring of 2014, the Town of Winthrop hired the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston to help develop a Strategic Plan for Economic Development. The Center’s project team began its work by carefully analyzing data in order to understand Winthrop’s current business environment, and to learn how it has changed over time. Multiple sources of information were used, including the Census Bureau’s Decennial Census, American Community Survey, and County Business Patterns, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Claritas retail leakage data. In addition, the project team distributed and …

Massachusetts Municipal Performance Management Program (Mpmp), Michael Ward

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The mission of the MPMP is to make the ongoing, systematic use of data, measures, and goals a permanent feature of Massachusetts municipal government, and to accelerate the sharing of ideas among Massachusetts municipalities.

Through a team of highly-skilled Performance Management Analysts, each working directly with a portfolio of cities and towns, the MPMP provides on-the-ground support to Massachusetts municipalities on all aspects of data and analysis.

A Flower Blooms In The Desert: Managing For Collaboration, Josphine Gatti Schafer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This is a dissertation about local, regional and federal agencies charged with the development of parks, trails and natural areas in Southern Nevada. The context for the delivery of this service is a network. Networks are an increasingly common context for service delivery in the United States; however, their value for constituents has been questioned. Some suggest that the advantages of capacity building and social capital that are expected when organizations work across their typical boundaries are not as significant as expected. This dissertation provides knowledge to add to this debate.

The dissertation is an in-depth case study that evaluates …

Two Octopuses Making Love: An Analysis Of Institutional Management Behaviors Across Four Brownfield Remediation And Redevelopment Project Networks In Rochester And Buffalo, Ny, Rob Alexander

Public Administration - Dissertations

With intensifying pressure to not only solve public problems by collaborating with actors situated outside the confines of city hall but also to address complex, long-term challenges like climate change adaptation and sustainability, local government public managers find themselves working in increasingly difficult public management environments. Currently, public management theory fails to fully prescribe management strategies and behaviors that enable managers to best achieve their goals in these situations. This dissertation addresses this gap between theory and practice by tracing the public management processes that lead to outcomes in a set of municipality-led brownfield remediation and redevelopment projects.

Utilizing an …

Choosing To Serve: Modeling Antecedents Of Public Service Motivation In Undergraduate Students, Vivian Walker Greentree

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

This research builds upon the public service literature to better understand the distinctive nature of motivations associated with pursuing careers in the public sector. Previous research has shown that a wide variety of socialization experiences help to develop one's public service motivation (PSM). However, the research has fallen short of providing a comprehensive explanation. Additionally, a majority of the research focuses on those already employed in the public sector, with a dearth of exploration into students' preferences. This study utilized Perry's (1996) original survey instrument to measure PSM scores (both composite and dimensions) in college students, those who we must …

Managing Small-Medium Cities In A Time Of Globalization: Experiences And Evidence From Florida’S Public Managers, Nadine V. Wedderburn

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how public management practitioners in small and medium-sized Florida cities perceive globalization and its impact on public management practice. Using qualitative analysis, descriptive statistics and factor analysis methods, data obtained from a survey and semi-structured interviews were studied to comprehend how public managers view the management and control of their municipalities in a time of globalization. The study shows that the public managers’ perceptions of globalization and its impact on public management in Florida’s small-medium cities are nuanced. Whereas some public managers feel that globalization has significant impacts on municipalities’ viability, others opine that globalization has no …

The Managing Of The Presidency: Applying Theory-Driven Empirical Models To The Study Of White House Bureaucratic Performance, Justin S. Vaughn, José D. Villalobos

José D. Villalobos

We argue that scholars of the presidency should begin to apply their rich descriptive understanding of White House organization and personnel to questions of causality. To help guide this effort, we offer a theory-driven empirical model that explains organizational performance. Importing theory from the public management literature, we show how scholars can use the Meier-O'Toole (MO) model to explain performance outcomes and dynamics for key political and policy functions within the institutional presidency. We introduce the MO model and discuss its potential impact on the field of presidency studies.