RESEARCH METHODS EDUCATION FOR PUBLIC SECTOR CAREERS: THE CHALLENGE OF UTILIZATION

As the world rapidly becomes more complex, there is a greater need for tools of research and data analysis to assist the public administrator. While many university programs recognize this need and include several methodology courses in their curriculum, there is little evidence that students are taking this knowledge into the field. In this article, the need for usable methodology courses are stressed. The first section of this article is dedicated to identifying those factors that make methods classes more practical. The remaining portion concentrates on two approaches to teaching that the author asserts will help students to use in the field what they have learned in the classroom.     

WOMEN AND MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Abstract: Although welcome gains have been made towards greater equity for women in the public service in recent years, many issues have yet to be tackled adequately. The paper is essentially concerned with the problems which arise because EEO programs have been couched in managerial terms, as part of the recent management reform and improvement programs within the public sector. This technocratic approach is very masculine in style and largely requires assimilation to the dominant male form of management. In concentrating on formal organisational issues. EEO programs can deflect attention from a direct engagement with the relevant value matters. Nor is the relationship between the work environment and other institutions, most importantly the family, dealt with in the managerialist approach.     

DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN THE VICTORIAN PUBLIC SERVICE

Abstract: The Public Service Board of Victoria initiated a project in March 1989 to plan a framework for the development of competent managers. The methodology involved an examination of the current practices of 23 organisations, together with a worldwide literature search. The major findings were that the managerial task is similar across sectors, but the manager level and the environment are qualifying variables; that training, management education and development in private sector organisations and statutory bodies has total commitment from the chief executive, is closely linked to the business plan, forms part of an integrated human resource management system, and is continually reinforced by the organisation's culture and values; and that there is no strategic and focused approach to developing managers across the Victorian Public Service. The 21 recommendations covered the areas of investment and commitment, the development of a systematic approach by providing quality management programs based on core managerial competencies and the integration of training, education and development with performance management processes.
The implementation plan calls for pump-priming funds for resourcing and delivering high quality programs, a change in the culture, the adoption of a set of principles, the establishment of a management education unit, acceptance of a common language of competence for managers, and an integration of education and development needs with corporate plans through the performance improvement system. Commitment to implementation should result in a systematic approach to the formation of competent managers with the benefits flowing to the community through improved services, the government gaining by increased performance of the agencies, and public servants being able to reach their full potential.     

POLITICAL EDUCATION FOR PUBLIC SERVANTS

Incorporating democratic values into public administration education is not an easy task. To ignore democratic values completely, however, would be to tacitly condone the violation of these principles by an administrator thus making democracy training all the more essential. In this article, the ideas of the American Founders and the ideas of John Dewey regarding democracy in education are compared. It is the opinion of the author that the Founders and Dewey had such divergent views of teaching democracy precisely because they had very different definitions of democracy.     

IMPLICATIONS OF WHISTLEBLOWING FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION EDUCATION

Whistleblowing, or going public, is an issue which has received a great deal of media attention and scholarly consideration. Public administrators of the future will surely have to confront it. The author of this article divides whistleblowing into individual, organization, and environmental levels of analysis. Each level has its own unique considerations which must be understood separately before they can be understood comprehensively. Moreover, the author asserts that the study of whistleblowing fosters awareness of ethics, provides the skills needed to effectively cope with dissent, and imparts legal knowledge about the discipline of public administration to students.     

AFTER EXCELLENCE: MODELS OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Abstract: Organisational culture is recognised as a critical ingredient of organisational effectiveness. However, the popular "excellence" model of managing organisational culture is unsuited to the contingencies and character of many public sector organisations. Termed here the cultural control model, it is the only widely shared understanding of good culture and haw to create it. As a generic prototype of culture it is limited, since it relies on management imposing a culture on a work force devoid of subcultural conflict. Three other models of organisational culture are introduced which offer more promise for the public sector: the subcultural model; the professional-managerial multiculture; and the public service or public interest model. These other models recognise in the culture-building strategies they prescribe that culture is deeply-rooted and not readily malleable by management and that subcultures affect organisations in various, not necessarily negative, ways. While the cultural control model reminds us of the significance of culture to better management, subsequent research has refined models of organisational culture which are more Consistent with the values and ethics of professionalism and good administration.