The Public Manager articles from June 2008

The Public Manager archives from June 2008

The manager's musings.(Human resource planning)
June 22, 2008... Strategic Workplace Learning Over the past decade or so, government at all levels has begun requiring short- and long-term plans, including strategic goals, measurable objectives, a system for assessing outcomes, and periodic reporting...

A firestorm ignited: pipeline rupture in Clarke County: government, private-sector, and citizen stakeholders must collaborate to reduce pipeline risks.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On November 1, 2007, a twelve-inch liquid propane line ruptured in Clarke County, Mississippi. Over the next forty-eight hours, eleven thousand barrels of propane were released through a 636-foot-long split in the...

Passing the torch but not just yet: federal agencies should reevaluate how they look at four generations and consider strategies to meet each group's needs and career goals.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As the veterans and baby boomers prepare to make their graceful exits from the full-time federal workforce, agencies are exploring the best ways to pass the torch to the next generation of federal employees. In the...

The people side of leadership: an overlooked opportunity: a commitment to people taps into the most powerful, generative, productive resource of an agency--and helps one become a more effective leader.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you have ever had a colleague, boss, teacher, coach, mentor, or relative who made a genuine commitment to you, to help you do things you might not have believed you were capable of, then you know the power of...

Workplace learning in Gallatin County: a new administrator in Montana shares his case study and blueprint for building a systematic training program relevant to all county departments.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This article describes the development and delivery of a comprehensive management training program in Gallatin County, Montana. The author developed the curriculum and served as the lead facilitator for the course....

Asking the right questions: a senior federal executive looks forward to 2012 on his personal and professional journey.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] From a professional, or career, perspective, the year 2012 seems far away. Yet it was only eleven years ago that I sold my veterinary practice and decided to see what a veterinarian could do to help people (which is...

Growing into my dreams: this senior federal executive candidate looks back from 2012 at the means to success.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] My new corner office has a wonderful view from the windows that completely line the outside walls. The cherry wood furniture is rich in texture. It's mid-2007, and an unexpected series of events have led to my...

Recruiting the generations to federal services: the federal government can take steps to compete for the talented worker, young and old.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The talk in government these days is about how to attract a new generation of workers to federal service. With a looming retirement "tsunami" about to result in the departure of thousands of baby boomers from federal...

Maximising sourcing options to deliver results: in an increasingly multisector workforce environment, public managers can infuse results expectations into performance documents to achieve desired outcomes and ensure accountability.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Citizen demands on federal, state, and local governments require the delivery of premium services at the best cost. These demands cannot be met by government workers alone. The complex challenges facing government...

Getting strategic results through performance-based acquisition: public managers use eight management practices for successful contracting.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Contemporary public management demands that managers increasingly arrange, negotiate, and contract for goods and services such as child care, elder care, homeland security, defense, and antiterrorism, among many...

E-governance journeys in Serbia and Slovenia: two democratic countries that have emerged from the former Yugoslavia have taken different paths in providing e-services to their respective citizenries.
June 22, 2008... After Yugoslavia's collapse in 1990, the long period of military engagement in Serbia, and an era of democratic political development in both Serbia and Slovenia, it seems timely to compare e-services to citizens in both countries. Web-driven...

The grass is greener ...: three FOSE concepts will help government managers communicate, acquire equipment, and access data, all the while helping the environment.(Federal Office Systems Exposition)
June 22, 2008... On April 1-3, 2008, more than four hundred companies and other entities gathered in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, to huckster high-tech concepts, gizmos, and gadgets to government. In its thirty-second year,...

Measuring performance reporting quality: a recent study assesses the effects of a pilot format on the quality of federal agency performance reporting.
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) requires federal agencies to develop strategic plans, identify how they will measure outcomes, set annual performance goals, and produce annual performance...

Volunteers: an untapped resource: the federal government can look close at hand to find a long-term solution for stocking the workface.(Opinion)
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] According to Tapping America, a 2002 report by the Partnership for Public Service (PPS), the federal government needs to hire more than 250,000 employees within the next two years. At the same time, it is facing the...

Recruiting and retaining young talent: a young federal government professional suggests ways to attract younger employees through qualitative analysis of generational values and career goals.(Young Professionals)
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Demographic changes in the composition of the federal workforce are posing technical and adaptive challenges to the continued smooth functioning of U.S. government agencies. Agency officials must plan to replace an...

The importance of trusted leaders: are you a trusted leader? Do you trust the leaders for whom you work?(Image of Public Service)
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Federal Executive Institute Alumni Association (FEIAA) presented its annual Executive Forum, March 10, 2008, at the George Washington University (GWU) Marvin Center, in Washington, DC. The theme of the forum was...

Ethics and Politics during a Time of Transition: the CEC offers a guide for federal employees who need to follow standards of conduct during the upcoming administration change.(Image of Public Service)(Coalition for Effective Change)
June 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The mission of the Coalition for Effective Change (CEC) is to improve government performance and ensure sound management of the civil service. For this purpose, CEC contributes the ideas, knowledge, skills,...

Recipe for producing results in government.
June 22, 2008... Terry Newell, Grant Reeher, and Peter Ronayne, editors, The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships that Make Government Work (CQ Press, 2007) I approached writing this review with a measure of cynicism. Would this be another anthology...

Is it the eleventh, twelfth, or thirteenth hour?(The Uncivil Servant)
June 22, 2008... Grimaldi Is this the most exciting and at the same time most frustrating election in our lifetime? If you are Romney, Giuliani, Dodd, Biden, Kucinich, et al., it is the thirteenth hour. And who cares? Romney campaigned on the notion that...