Public Administration Commons^™

Bring Back Aristide, Louis Edgar Esparza

Human Rights & Human Welfare

My friend Annie recently had her trip to Haiti postponed because of the political instability surrounding the November elections. Annie totes modest sums of cash, medicine, and clothing collected from sympathetic friends and has a resolute willingness to help. Together with the partner organizations she is working with, she is hiring Haitians to build an orphanage. Another colleague of mine, Tonya, traveled to the country very soon after the earthquake. She described her experience in The Nation, lamenting that the major US airlines, which had agreed to waive baggage fees for relief aid to Haiti, did not do so for …

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 …

Influencing Attitudes Toward People With Developmental Disabilities Using Arts Based Research, Marti Sue Goetz

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study was conducted given as an inquiry about influencing attitudes toward people with developmental disabilities. Because resistance to homes for people with developmental disabilities situated in typical neighborhoods is still a problem, I seek a way to better assimilate people with "different abilities" into communities. For an historical foundation, I researched literature on the marginalization of this ethnographic group-people with developmental disabilities-and defined quality of life. In establishing groundwork for choice of methodology, I elaborate on arts used for social change. Arts based research methods were used to conduct the research. I created an exhibit using objects and photographs …

Administration Without Borders, Jonathan G.S. Koppell

Publications from President Jonathan G.S. Koppell

To thrive in 2020, we must conceive of the field of public administration in the broadest possible terms. Phenomena that typically have been treated peripherally in our literature are emerging center stage in recent years, confirming that the “old” boundaries of our discipline do not reflect contemporary reality. After reviewing three key developments—the rise of mixed and nongovernmental institutions in public policy, the increasing importance of market mechanisms, and the assertion of meaningful global regulation—an argument is made for a broader reconception of “publicness” that goes hand in hand with the embrace of governance in lieu of administration.

Organic And Sustainable: The Emergence, Formalization And Performance Of A September 11th Disaster Relief Organization, David A. Campbell

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, spawned 252 new nonprofit organizations. We know little about these organizations, including how they emerged, formalized, met constituents' expectations for immediate performance, and ultimately survived. This article explores these issues through a case study of one successful organization, the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund. Using concepts from disaster, organizational ecology, and entrepreneurship research, the analysis identifies six propositions that link these literatures, notably the role of resource acquisition in formalization and the role of legitimacy in both fund development and organizational endurance. The study contributes new knowledge about the role of collaboration …

City Of Burleson Community Development Department Performance Review, William Crear, Douglas Mcdonald, Brian Stanley, Joyce Stephens

Public Administration Capstone Reports - Archive

The City of Burleson, Texas requested that The University of Texas at Arlington School of Urban and Public Affairs conduct a study to create employee performance evaluation measures for six positions in the Burleson Community Development Department. As such, it is the intent of the student team to coordinate employee performance evaluation measures with the recently adopted Roadmap to a "2030 Comprehensive Plan." The final product will include, but not be limited to, a set of standardized performance criteria for a total of six positions, a format for periodic goal-related performance appraisals in relation to the Roadmap to 2030 Comprehensive …

Mainstreaming Evaluation: Four Case Studies Of Systematic Evaluation Integrated Into Organizational Culture And Practices, Amy M. Gullickson

Dissertations

Following a literature review, a researcher generated a descriptive theory of evaluation mainstreaming, the integration of systematic evaluation into the culture, systems, and job responsibilities of organizations. She then explored the validity and generalizability of the theory in the National Science Foundation’s grant-funded Advanced Technological Education Program using mixed methods research. Four centers were chosen based on quantitative survey responses which suggested that the organizations were likely to be mainstreaming evaluation. For each center, the researcher conducted a site visit, interviews, and document review to understand (i) the processes by and extent to which evaluation became part of everyday operations; …

Procurement Of Information Technology And Canadian Municipalities, Umera Ali

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines the trends for the attainment of information technology (IT) and the barriers to the successful procurement of IT. A literature review, survey of IT managers in Ontario municipalities, and three interviews with municipal IT professionals were conducted. The findings reveal that Ontario municipalities are satisfied with their IT projects for using detailed plans, engaging in formal strategic planning, introducing mechanism controls to avoid risks, and using letters of agreement with formally established terms and conditions for projects, all of which are steps towards a successful procurement process. Nevertheless, there are still some barriers for small local governments …

Strategic Recovery Requires Leadership, Christine G. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

As public managers work toward a successful recovery post-midyear elections, we all must deal with system-wide problems arising from the recession. This requires first recognizing that the crisis continues and must be addressed not just by increasing revenue but by fixing system-wide structural and operational issues.

To do so involves developing the skills required in a recovery, identifying the causes of the crisis so that future crises can be better managed and concentrating on the key areas of leadership expertise needed to effectively communicate and deliver better outcomes.

Irish Healthcare; The Evidence On Communicating Policy., Vivienne Byers

Conference Papers

The complexity of the health care environment necessitates that health policy, legislative objectives, resource allocation models, and management structures be aligned to plan and deliver healthcare services strategically. Policy in the Irish health care system is guided by the National Health Strategy of 2001; in that there should be equitable distribution of health services focused on the need of the citizen-client. Though the Strategy uses the words ‘evidence based’, ‘population health’, ‘equity’, ‘people-centred’ and ‘health and social gain’, there is little evidence that these concepts have gained purchase in the present implementation of policy and planning in Irish health care …

Public Participation In Canadian Local Government: A Study Of The Meadowlily Secondary Plan Process In London, Ontario, Michael Hurley

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines whether the facilitation of public participation in local government is a worthwhile objective, using public engagement in the Meadowlily Secondary Plan in London, Ontario as a case study. An online survey was administered to citizens who participated in the City’s land use planning process. The findings reveal that by participating in decision-making, citizens learned about the processes and responsibilities of municipal government, in addition to other forms of learning, which demonstrates that the facilitation of public participation in municipal government is indeed a worthwhile objective.

Editors' Introduction - 21st Century Public Management: Environmentalism And E-Government, Andrew I.E. Ewoh, Tony Carrizales

Faculty Articles

The Journal of Public Management and Social Policy, in completing its sixteenth volume, looks to continue bringing together a collection of articles and research that review polices and cases underscoring the area of public management and social policy throughout the United States and around the world. This issue’s contributors provide contemporary analyses of public management and social policies in areas ranging from the fiscal benefits of developing "green" buildings to the organizational life cycle of environmental justice groups. Topics covered in this issue also include the areas of e-government and public contracting. Overall, the issue brings together four general articles …

Fluoridation In The City Of Santa Clara: A Cost Benefit Analysis For The City Of Santa Clara Potable Water System, Nina Hawk

Master's Projects

No abstract provided.

Can The Center Hold? Finding Decentralization In Moroccan Migration, Matthew O’Sullivan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since independence, the Moroccan government has pursued a slow, controlled process of decentralization. While recognizing the benefits of local authority, the government does not wish to empower sub-national groups against the central monarchy or diminish its own relevance as the symbolic and administrative face of the nation. Subsequently, in many regions, local and community structures have only experienced limited access to political management. Furthermore, local administrations that rely on the central government for capital are directly subject to the wishes of the state. In regions where heavy outflows of migration are present, though, decentralization moves at a faster pace, free …

Kenya’S Post-Election Violence: Using A Kisii-Luo Case Study For A Critique Of Common Thought, Josh Gwin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

A first step in a series of studies intended to discover how members of Kenyan ethnic groups elect National, Political and Ethnic identities, and how that election affected the 2007-2008 Post Election Violence, this field study examines as case study the relationship between the Kisii and Luo ethnic groups, setting up a comparison between the Kisii-Kipsigis ethnic relationship. Finding that the questions asked by actors such as the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights were fundamentally wrong and incomplete, this study identifies questions of more significance to crisis-prevention and begins to identify methods to improve local civic-engagement within a community …

Sustainability Makes Dollars And Sense, John R. Bartle, Gerard Wellman

Faculty Books and Monographs

Environment Omaha has suggested many changes in the metropolitan Omaha area in the hopes of improving Omaha’s environment. We all want a better environment, but is it practical? What will it cost and what improvements can we expect? This document provides answers to these questions focusing on each of the five content areas of Environment Omaha’s study: the natural environment, urban form and transportation, building construction, resource conservation, and community health.

Coping With Disaster: Lessons Learned From Executive Directors Of Nonprofit Organizations (Npos) On New Orleans Following Hurricane Katrina, Steven L. Smith

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the issues and challenges that nonprofit organizations (NPOs) contend with as a consequence of a large-scale disaster, in this case, the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005. Through interviews with 10 executive directors of small and medium-size nonprofit, community-based NPOs in New Orleans, this study examines how their organizations coped with the consequences of the storm and the devastating aftermath. The critical issues and coping strategies the executives identified, and the lessons they learned offer insights into (a) nonprofit organizational responses to a catastrophic event, and (b) executive leadership that helped the nonprofit to survive.

This research project …

Preservation Ethics In The Case Of Nebraska's Nationally Registered Historic Properties, Darren Michael Adams

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation focuses on the National Register of Historic Places and considers the geographical implications of valuing particular historic sites over others. Certain historical sites will either gain or lose desirability from one era to the next, this dissertation identifies and explains three unique preservation ethical eras, and it maps the sites which were selected during those eras. These eras are the Settlement Era (1966–1975), the Commercial Architecture Era (1976–1991), and the Progressive Planning Era (1992–2010). The findings show that transformations in the program included an early phase when state authorities listed historical resources pertaining to the settlement of the …

Through The Looking Glass: Finding And Freeing Modern-Day Slaves At The State Level, Michelle L. Rickert

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article delves into the interaction between federal and state laws prohibiting human trafficking. The article advocates for comprehensive human trafficking laws at the state level, including police training, victim aftercare, forfeiture, and prosecution as essential elements. It looks comprehensively at the existing state laws prohibiting human trafficking. Additionally it examines the five existing models for state law and suggests benefits and potential improvements for each model. The article concludes y advocating a holistic law prohibiting human trafficking in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Community Engagement In Strengthening Neighbourhood Initiatives, Diana Bumstead

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines which components of community engagement are critical in ensuring that public policy designed to strengthen neighbourhoods is effective. A detailed case study of the London Strengthening Neighbourhoods Strategy (LSNS) in London, Ontario was conducted and compared to less intensive neighbourhood community engagement case studies from Western Europe, the United States, and Canada. The findings reveal that overall, successful cases of citizen participation use the following components of community engagement in their treatment of residents: representativeness, democracy, influence, transparency, and competence or efficiency.