The Public Manager: The New Bureaucrat articles from June 1992

The Public Manager: The New Bureaucrat archives from June 1992

The third millenium. (changing orientation for public institutions) (Viewpoint)
June 22, 1992... Failed systems change or collapse. To employ people efficiently, increase productivity, and generate wealth, a plan for changing direction is vital. I believe that there is tremendous pent-up energy in the federal government, a...

Will we ever love federal bureaucrats? (renewed idealism in public service) (Toward A Positive Image)
June 22, 1992... There are encouraging signs of renewed idealism and hope that public employment will be viewed more favorably. Every person working in government today has felt the sting of cynical epithets such as "feeding at the public trough," or...

Introduction to the forum. (Congressional problems) (Congress & the Bureaucracy)
June 22, 1992... Congress is troubled and in trouble. This is no cause for gloating or glee. In 1979, as a recently elevated mid-level manager in the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress, I was fortunate enough to be sent for six weeks...

Constituent service and representation. (Congress & the Bureaucracy)
June 22, 1992... Congressional casework, though much maligned, meets legitimate needs and can influence legislation. Last year, one of my constituents, a 63-year old man who requires kidney dialysis, discovered that he would no longer be receiving medicare...

Congressional office operations. (Congress & the Bureaucracy)
June 22, 1992... The complex issues that come before the Congress place heavy demands on members of Congress and their staffs. Most members of Congress see their jobs as encompassing three roles, which they strive to keep in balance: * legislator; ...

Leaders and policymaking. (Senate and Congress leaders) (Congress & the Bureaucracy)
June 22, 1992... Leaders of the House and Senate must have patience in dealing with policy, politics, and procedure. Serving as a party leader in the House or Senate is no easy task. Leaders in both chambers devote much effort and time to assembling and...

Congressional oversight: in the crosshairs and at a crossroads. (Congress & the Bureaucracy)
June 22, 1992... Will it be business as usual or will meaningful and long-lasting changes be made in the operation of our government? Congress seems to be on everyone's "hit list" these days. Public perception appears to be that the Congress is making one...

A look at the quality of first-line supervisors.
June 22, 1992... Are first-line supervisors capable of dealing with changes in workforce composition and in the way jobs are performed.? Critical to the success of any organization are its first-line supervisors. Not only are these individuals responsible...

State training needs assessments. (training for environmental programs)
June 22, 1992... An assessment of environmental program training needs, sponsored by EPA, proved useful to federal and state agencies. In recent years the philosophy of total quality management (TQM) has taken the federal government by storm. Led by the...

Improving communication between program and financial managers.
June 22, 1992... Significant legislative and other developments in financial management make communication between managers essential to successful performance Because of the many new and important developments in financial management, the joint Financial...

Shining a light through the glass ceiling. (career guide for women) (Young Professionals' Arena)
June 22, 1992... Key issues facing women in their careers and how advice of executives and managers was turned into a practical career guide. If it has taken women 20 years to go from 33 percent of the federal workforce in 1970 to 48 percent of the...

Interagency cooperation yields quality results. (Toward Quality Management)
June 22, 1992... How many public managers would voluntarily consider intragency alternatives for managing basic office functions-even for improved quality and savings? A quality campaign... demands cross-functional cooperation. Few who have begun...

FEIAA development day: demographic impacts on strategic planning. (Federal Executive Institute Alumni Association seminar) (Developing Managers)
June 22, 1992... FEIAA seminar emphasizes management changes that are needed to deal with changes in the workforce and workplace. Demographic impacts on strategic planning for workforce 1993 and 2000 was the topic of the February 1992 seminar sponsored by...

TV can bail out the public sector. (civil service unionization) (The Uncivil Servant)
June 22, 1992... The recent number of baseball players signing long term, multimillion dollar contracts, has again rekindled the notion that baseball was in far better shape before unionization and player rights. The present system, we are told, threatens the...

Public organizations that perform well. (International Public Management)
June 22, 1992... If you try, you can find well-performing public organizations and define how they work. Governments everywhere face a dilemma. They must keep their administrations responsive to the public, yet they must do so at minimum cost to the...

Three paradoxes of government ethics. (Ethics in Government)
June 22, 1992... Because other issues are more important than ethics, ethics is more important than any issue. Why are we spending so much time on ethics when there are so many other more important problems that need our attention? Why are we spending our...

The Washington monument syndrome: Grimaldi's appraisal management evaluation system. (civil service performance appraisal) (Th Uncivil Servant)
June 22, 1992... We have been operating under various experiments for performance appraisal since the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA). All of these tries at performance appraisal nirvana have been disasters. Countless hours of human effort have gone...

The Responsible Administrator.
June 22, 1992... In his preface to the Responsible Administrator, Terry Cooper observes that most administrators probably worry about the right thing to do, yet fail to see any clear payoff in dealing with ethics in a formal way. Most "have not been exposed to...

The Ethics Challenge in Public Service.
June 22, 1992... In his preface to the Responsible Administrator, Terry Cooper observes that most administrators probably worry about the right thing to do, yet fail to see any clear payoff in dealing with ethics in a formal way. Most "have not been exposed to...