The Public Manager articles from December 2005

The Public Manager archives from December 2005

The manager's musings.(Viewpoints)
December 22, 2005... The More Things Change... As we close out 2005--a year Grimaldi has found lots to kvetch about--it strikes me there are an awful lot of adaptations going on just to keep pace with the changes occurring around us. David Baker posits six...

Enterprise-wide performance and business process management: learn what the Florida Department of Revenue, a large organization in the fourth most populous state, has been doing to generate business results that exceed private-sector performance expectations.
December 22, 2005... Competition from privatization and outsourcing constantly threatens the sustainability of the public sector. This threat is unlikely to subside, regardless of changes in political leadership. The public sector must demonstrate that it can...

Changing workforce: leading effectively when change is the norm: Canadian government managers discover how to weather draconian layoffs and budget cuts by turning inward to become more authentic.
December 22, 2005... In 1994, when it went through a gut-wrenching transition of layoffs and budget cuts, the Canadian government called in experts from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) to help. After 50,000 layoffs and the loss of more than 20 percent of...

Changing practices: attracting graduates to government: federal agencies miss opportunities to recruit top talent when they fail to debunk myths that steer new graduates into the private sector and rely on archaic hiring processes that today's top professionals bypass for easier and quicker private-sector job offers.(Young Government Leaders )
December 22, 2005... Young government employees face a number of acknowledged obstacles in choosing a path of public service: complex application processes that often drag on for months, lower salaries than those for comparable private-sector jobs, bureaucratic...

Changing culture: generational collision and creativity: learn about demographic and cultural changes that have taken place in recent decades --which make it critically important for government leaders to attract creative individuals into public service--and how a human services agency in Nebraska is addressing the challenge.
December 22, 2005... The public sector has long been responsible for responding to complex and abstract social issues. Now, with the advent of global changes and technological advancements, issues such as Internet personal identity theft, environmental resource...

Achieving environmental sustainability in government operations: senior executives frankly discuss lessons learned and future challenges in adopting environmentally sustainable operations.
December 22, 2005... The American people expect the federal government to promote their general welfare. To do so, the government must sustain the environment and the qualities that people generally value in their physical environment. Beyond its regulatory role,...

E-governance in Slovenia: Part II: survey research shows progress and gaps in the Slovenian public sector's citizen-centered e-communication transformation.
December 22, 2005... This article is the second of four in a series on e-governance in Slovenia. It addresses two-way communication between citizens and different levels of public administration, a key element of effective e-governance. Today's best practice...

Strategies for local government fiscal stability: six strategies public managers must master to stabilize year-to-year variances in local government funding.(Budget and Financial Management)
December 22, 2005... The shifting sand of local government's budgetary environment exposes communities to fiscal instability and uncertainty. While not an answer for all budget maladies, sound fiscal strategies significantly stabilize year-to-year local government...

Making a world of difference through development alliances: USAID's recent efforts to partner with private companies in the identification, design, funding, and implementation of development projects render some lessons learned.(United States Agency for International Development)
December 22, 2005... The Office of Global Development Alliances at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) mobilizes the ideas, efforts, and resources of governments, businesses, and civil society by forging public-private alliances to achieve...

When the halo wears off: a recent United Nations report, Unlocking the Human Potential for Public Sector Performance, shares some lessons from two decades of global diffusion of New Public Management thinking and practice.
December 22, 2005... The World Public Sector Report 2005: Unlocking the Human Potential for Public Sector Performance, released in October 2005 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, looks at how governments are tackling some of the key...

Making reward for performance a reality: federal agencies are introducing performance-based pay approaches using specific rewards practices to facilitate the transition to performance-based work--what we call "reward for performance.".
December 22, 2005... "Implementing a more market-based and performance-oriented pay system (in government) is both doable and desirable." --David M. Walker, U.S. Comptroller General Will performance-based pay replace the General Schedule (GS) and wage...

Stories of service to inspire us all--the "Sammies": learn about the extraordinary recipients of the 2005 Sammies, whose achievements and stories of federal service remind us why government matters. Image of Public Service.(Image of Public Service)
December 22, 2005... These are trying times for Americans. Natural disasters of vast proportions, from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to tornadoes in the Midwest, dealt a staggering blow. The war in Iraq and rising gas prices at home have led to stress and...

After Katrina, Americans hit the snooze button.(natural disaster)
December 22, 2005... Several months ago, the worst natural disaster in recent times hit our Nation. As a result of Hurricane Katrina, more than 1,300 people have died. As of mid-December, almost 54,000 survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (which followed...

2005 was not a very good year.(incident of 2005 )(Editorial)
December 22, 2005... The year just passed was not the best of times. Depending on your political bent, it might not have been the worst of times, but it certainly would not be a year you would plan to mark in your scrapbook to revisit. And for the president, it was...

The art of framing for political advantage.(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... George Lakoff. Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives. Chelsea Green Publishing Company. September 2004. If you claim that you aren't an elephant, people will begin to see...