Annual Editions: Public Administration 04/05 - Brossura

Balanoff, Howard

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0072949538 ISBN 13: 9780072949537

Casa editrice: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2003

Riassunto

This annually updated reader is a compilation of current newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from the best of the public press. Some topics address are: dealing with government and organizational behavior, public management practices and information systems technology, along with public finance, budgeting and Productivity Improvement. Our student Web site, Dushkin Online (www.dushkin.com/online/), is designed to add additinal support to this title.

Su questo libro

Contenuti:

UNIT 1. Introduction and Overview of Administration

1. Time of Turbulence, Astrid E. Merget, Public Administration Review, July/August 2003

In this Donald C. Stone lecture, the author describes how recent events such as globalization, 9/11, and technological improvements have changed the profession of public administration. The big question now is how the public administration profession reacts to these changes.

2. In Memoriam: David O. “Doc” Cooke, Warren Master, The Public Manager, Summer 2002

In the summer of 2002, the career federal civil service lost one of its giants. Doc Cooke was a senior public official and an influential mentor for more than five decades to hundreds if not thousands of career and noncareer public managers including numerous U.S. secretaries of defense.

3. Doc Cooke’s Reflections on Effective Public Management, The Public Manager, Summer 2002

Excerpts from Doc Cooke’s reflections on effective public service discuss some of the things that managers can do to promote efficient and effective public management. Especially interesting is the insight that Doc gives us into what makes an effective secretary of defense.

4. The Odyssey of Senior Public Service: What Memoirs Can Teach Us, J. Patrick Dobel, Public Administration Review, January/February 2003

This article explores the realm of public service through the eyes of senior public officials. The memoirs reveal how senior officials view public service, its impact on their lives, and how they handle the tension between the realities of public service and the ideals they bring to it.

UNIT 2. Governmental and Organizational Behavior

Part A. Productivity and Performance

5. Predictable Surprises: The Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming, Michael D. Watkins and Max H. Bazerman, Harvard Business Review, March 2003

The signs of an impending disaster often lie all around us, yet we sometimes don’t see them. The authors identify and discuss ways in which managers can do disaster planning by taking a series of steps—from recognizing the threat to mobilizing the resources to stop it.

Part B. Organizational Communication

6. Is Silence Killing Your Company?, Leslie Perlow and Stephanie Williams, Harvard Business Review, May 2003

We have recently seen in the scandals at Enron, Worldcom, and other companies how silence can lead to disaster. According to the authors, silence can generate feelings of humiliation, anger, and resentment. These feelings, if unexpressed, can contaminate every interaction, shut down creativity, and undermine organizational communication and productivity.

7. Wireless Interoperability: A Key Element of Public Safety, Edwin Daley, Public Management, May 2003

Disasters such as 9/11 and the “sniper” shootings in the Washington, D.C., area require public safety officials to enhance emergency communications and interoperability, which is the emergency incident responders’ ability to communicate directly with and transmit data to other emergency service personnel through mobile radios.

Part C. Ethics and Values

8. Does Government Need a Sarbanes-Oxley Type Reform Act?, Kevin M. Bronner, PA Times, April 2003

What reaction, should the federal government have to Enron? The author reviews the need for upgraded accounting standards and regulations through the establishment of reform legislation, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that regulates private companies through the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).

9. Underestimating Costs in Public Works Projects: Error or Lie?, Bent Flyvbjerg, Mette Skamris Holm, and Soren Buhl, Journal of the American Planning Association, Summer 2002

Through a series of surveys, the authors have determined that cost estimates for public works projects are consistently underestimated as well as highly and systematically misleading. The authors warn that legislators, administrators, investors, and anyone else who values honest numbers should not trust cost estimates and cost-benefit analysis produced by project promoters and their analysts.

10. Roadblocks in Reforming Corrupt Agencies: The Case of the New York City School Custodians, Lydia Segal, Public Administration Review, July/August 2002

Reformers have traditionally assumed that agencies can combat corruption through tighter financial and auditing controls. This case study shows how a corrupt agency can derail these devices. According to the author, true reform requires strategies like overhauling management, eradicating special interests, and aggressively punishing misconduct.

UNIT 3. Human Resources Administration

11. Is Your Performance Evaluation Fair for All?, Katy Mohler Fodchuk, The Public Manager, Summer 2002

The author reviews the performance evaluation process in the United States and compares it with the performance evaluation process in France. In addition, this comparative public administration article suggests methods for incorporating fairness into a performance evaluation instrument.

12. Preventing Workplace Harassment: A Fact Sheet for Employees, Bureau of National Affairs, 2003

This fact sheet provides a definition of sexual and other workplace harassment, identifies employee responsibilities for preventing harassment, and outlines a chronology of the development of workplace harassment laws.

13. Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace: An Overview and Practical Guide for Cities, Omniah Ebeid, Texas Town & City, January 2003

This paper provides an overview of the laws regarding drug-testing policies and progams and outlines a practical guide for public sector employers to follow in enacting or amending current drug-testing policies and procedures to make them consistent with laws such as the Americans With Disabilities (ADA) Act.

14. Double-Dip Dilemma, Anya Sostek, Governing, July 2003

State legislatures are continuing to pass return-to-work or “retire-rehire” laws. This article explores the benefits and disadvantages of “ double-dipping” or allowing public employees who have retired and are collecting a pension to return to work and draw a salary.

UNIT 4. Finance and Budgeting

15. Dealing With Uncertain Budget Forecasts, Rudolph G. Penner, Public Budgeting & Finance, Spring 2002

This review by Rudolph Penner of the history of past budget forecasts by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) finds that the budget forecasts have been extremely inaccurate due to errors in the choice of economic and technical assumptions. Errors grow rapidly as the projection’s period is lengthened. Penner concludes that the projections are unlikely to get better soon and suggests that projections made for more than 5 years be deemphasized by policy and decision makers.

16. How Congress Divides Our Money, Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman, September 29, 2002

Chuck Lindell reviews how congressional power players divide up the dollars. According to Lindell, the appropriations game involves instinct, timing, and good friends. Only one-third of the $2.2 trillion federal budget gets doled out by Congress. The rest is mandatory spending for interest on the federal debt and on entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

17. City of Austin’s Budget Crisis, Stephen Scheibal, Austin American-Statesman, June 23, 2003

Pretend you have to cut $29 million from the city of Austin’s budget. How are you going to solve the city’s budget shortfall? Cities across the country are in fiscal stress and are dealing with similar problems and issues.

18. The Budget Game, Austin American-Statesman, April 22, 2003

Here is your chance to play state lawmaker to eliminate the potential financial deficit and close the budget shortfall. Your goal: Bridge the projected $9.9 billion gap between the state’s expected revenue and what the state must spend to maintain existing costs. But watch out. Every move comes with a political cost.

19. Deferrals: Gimmick or Usual Budget Math?, Gary Susswein, Austin American-Statesman, May 5, 2003

Here are some fiscal tricks by which state and local governments try to overcome fiscal stress and cover budget deficits.

UNIT 5. Technology and Information Systems

20. “Smart” Government Online, Not Inline< /B>, Breena E. Coates, The Public Manager, Winter 2001–02

This article reviews the impact that information technology will have on the e-haves and e-have nots of society. In addition, comment...

Product Description:

Book by Balanoff Howard

Su questa edizione

• Editore: McGraw-Hill Higher Education
• Data di pubblicazione: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0072949538
• ISBN 13: 9780072949537
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 240