Smaller government and community service initiatives mean public administrators must increase citizen volunteer involvement. They should adopt successful techniques from volunteer administrators for recruiting, selecting, motivating, training, and developing volunteers. (SK)

Case studies of six high-level federal government administrators examined their political skills, management/leadership abilities, technical expertise, and personality. Among the ingredients of effective performance were good planning, organizational communication, goal orientation, good interpersonal skills, honesty, and high ethical standards.…

Public administration is at risk of losing its theoretical distinctiveness based on public law, leaving it vulnerable to advocates of the entrepreneurial management model. Administrative principles rooted in law can accommodate useful contemporary management concepts without compromising accountable public sector management. (SK)

Total quality management will not work well in government agencies because of stress on products, not services; on well-defined consumer groups; on inputs/processes, not results; and on preoccupation with quality. An effective revised version emphasizes client feedback, performance monitoring, continuous improvement, and worker participation. (SK)

A critique of an article series in "Public Administration Review" challenges assumptions about the nature of social science research and scientific writing style, criteria by which article authors judged public administration research. The critique concludes that public administration research does address core issues in the field. (SK)

Discusses a study of the necessity of leadership training for local elected officials (LEOs). Shows why local governments cannot exist without competent LEOs and suggests how public-administration educators can help prepare elected officials for municipal governance. (JOW)

An analysis of 168 public administration doctoral dissertations revealed substantial improvements over those analyzed in 1990. A substantially higher percentage conducted basic research and reported findings, and more students are using rigorous research designs that involve attention to causal relationships. (Contains 15 references.) (Author/JOW)

Interviews and focus-group discussions were used to determine how the processes of public participation in public administration can be improved. Results suggest that participation requires changes in citizen and administrator roles and relationships and in administrative processes. (JOW)

Presents advice for providing management training and technical assistance in developing areas: expect language barriers, even in English; don't expect to be appreciated; expect a lack of resources; seek ways to overcome trainee silence; acknowledge your outsider status; and form alliances with other institutions to secure resources. (SK)

Using contingency table analysis and logistic regression, a study explored how individuals' demographic characteristics and the importance of job qualities influence their preference for and employment in the public sector. Results show that desire for government jobs declined between 1989 and 1998. (Contains 34 references.) (JOW)

Identifies four questions related to public administration education: (1) do we seek to educate students with respect to theory or practice? (2) do we prepare students for first jobs or later jobs? (3) what are appropriate delivery systems? and (4) what personal commitments do we make as public administrators? (Contains 48 references.) (JOW)

Maintains that a required course in public policy analysis can serve as a natural capstone experience for undergraduate curricula in public administration. By teaching analysis, rather than teaching about analysis, undergraduate programs can integrate other elements of the curriculum and prepare students to understand the policy process more…

The United States Department of Education's "Annual Performance Report" (APR) for fiscal year (FY) 2009 provides detailed information on how the outcomes of the strategic performance measures identified in its "FY 2007-2012 Strategic Plan" and updated in the "Fiscal Year 2008 Performance and Accountability Report"…

This packet contains the materials necessary for presentation of the tenth of ten modules that comprise a portion of the National Training and Development Service Urban Management Curriculum Development Project. This module focuses on policy/program implementation which is concerned with clarification of goals, task delineation, organizing,…

This packet contains the materials necessary for presentation of the eighth of ten modules that comprise a portion of the National Training and Development Service Urban Management Curriculum Development Project. This module focuses on productivity measurement which is the evaluation of the efficiency with which resources are consumed within the…