The Public Manager articles from March 2000

The Public Manager archives from March 2000

Spreading my wings.(editor-in-chief of The Public Manager)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... SWAN SONGS ARE RARELY FOR SWANS IT SEEMS. We humans have appropriated them. In fact, I have never heard a swan sing and, based on the sounds generally emitted by these otherwise beautiful creatures, I am not so sure I would run out and buy...

A new master.(Warren Master, The Public Manager)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... Warren Master will be assuming the editor-in-chief position with publication of the Summer issue. Warren brings a tremendous amount of public management experience and intellectual strength to the position--a terrific combination for his new...

Speaking of content.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... Speaking of content, this issue has a lot of gems. Among them are Myra Shiplett's miniforum on human capital. This subject is at the center of much discussion and represents a critical management need as public agencies face the multiple...

Introduction: Workforce Planning and Human Capital.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... Federal agencies are better able to accomplish their work if first there is some analysis about what competencies exist and what are needed. Much is discussed among today's federal executives and employees about the change that is sweeping...

Strategic Human Capital Management: The Critical Link.
March 22, 2000... Designing, implementing, and maintaining effective human capital strategies will be critical to enhancing the goal of maximizing the performance and ensuring the accountability of the federal government. By now, all the anticipation and...

Bringing Strategic Plans to Life Through Workforce Plans.
March 22, 2000... Workforce planning is a critical component to achieving the human capital outcomes that result in organizational success. How will strategic plans become real? Throughout the federal government, strategic plans have been prepared based on...

Workforce Planning at DOT.
March 22, 2000... We can't predict with certainty what our jobs will be; yet, we must not meet the future unprepared. Workforce planning is looking at what an organization needs to accomplish in a given period of time; what knowledge, skills, and experience...

Looking (in the right places) for the Results of GPRA.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... People are looking for the results of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). Leaving aside for the moment the question as to whether this is the right time to look for results, do we know where to look? Do we know what a result...

Making GPRA Useful in the Department of Education.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... The Department of Education (ED) has made strides under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA)--its plan is highly rated--yet perhaps the most important impact of GPRA has been to focus the department on how to get its plan to be...

Go with the Flow.
March 22, 2000... The General Services Administration (GSA) is the federal government's business manager. The functions it performs--real estate, central purchasing of supplies, and telecommunications, to name the most prominent--are activities that can be and...

Getting the Right Data at the Right Level.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... The US Agency for International Development (USAID) works in essentially all areas of government in some 80 countries around the world. Whether it's family planning in Mali, rule of law in Georgia, or urban pollution in the Philippines, USAID...

Veterans Health Administration: Organizational Transformation and GPRA.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has undergone a major transformation over the past five years to become a quality-focused, primary care oriented, performance-based integrated delivery system. VHA is now a $20 billion health system...

Research Agencies and GPRA: An Evolving Story.
March 22, 2000... Passage of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) in 1993 created a new opportunity for government agencies to communicate goals, assess their effectiveness, and continue to improve program performance. Initially, many agencies...

Effects of GPRA at the DOT, 1994-2000.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... The Department of Transportation (DOT) was quick to take advantage of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) by conducting pilots and training staff throughout 1994 and 1995. DOT's leadership, praised by outsiders and insiders alike...

Great Collaboration: GPRA's "Outcome".
March 22, 2000... While departments, agencies, and programs have been measuring progress (including some outcomes!) for decades, there have been a number of benefits, some perhaps unanticipated, of the legislation known as the Government Performance and Results...

Could It Be the Right Thing to Do?(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... Like many of my Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA)-community colleagues, I've spent a fair amount of time thinking and talking about what's wrong with GPRA. While we've been training our attention on the unfairness of grading,...

GPRA and HRSA: From Results Act to Action.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... The Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) shows many positive effects of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). Two that come to the top of the list are: * an increased focus on program outcomes and impact; and *...

NOAA's on First.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 has had a positive impact on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). While NOAA had already implemented a planning and budget process that formed a framework within...

Management Tools for Success on the Aerospace Frontier.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... Because the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) legacy of strategic planning pre-dated the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), some of our recent gains have taken place in parallel with GPRA implementation, not...

Customer-Defined Quality in a Networked World.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... Quality in the information technology (IT) world may be defined by customers in the following terms: * Understand strategic objectives. The IT service provider should deliver support consistent with the strategic intent of the...

A Model Customer Satisfaction Survey and Opportunity.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... When President Clinton signed the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) he stated, "We must chart a course for every endeavor that we take the people's money for, see how well we are progressing, tell the public how we are...

GPRA Has Improved Program Assessment at NSF.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... This first full year of Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) implementation has been both a learning process and a challenge for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other federal agencies whose missions involve fundamental...

From Measuring Performance to Managing It!(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... The National Drug Control Strategy (strategy) constitutes a blueprint for the national drug control community to reduce drug use, availability, and its consequences. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) develops this through an...

Public Participation and Agency Planning.
March 22, 2000... The question of how public agencies collect and use public information in developing plans and programs is an old but important one. This article is based on a mail survey of state transportation agencies and supports the following: *...

Raising the Bar on Public-Private Partnerships.
March 22, 2000... It is imperative to the wellbeing of all, that we profit from this experience and move further discussions to an even higher level of achievement. The symptoms are everywhere! We (i.e., federal government agencies) are making progress. The...

Balanced Scorecards: What Every Federal CIO Needs.
March 22, 2000... The value that IT delivers to an organization often depends on how executive management views it. Changes brought about by the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, and most recently, the...

Public Service - Public Image.
March 22, 2000... If the public doesn't trust us or doesn't value us, we can 't get the support we need to meet their needs. Not too long ago, I went back home to St. Louis to visit with family members and some friends I hadn't seen for 20 years or more. In...

Musings of a Bureaucrat.
March 22, 2000... The knowledge economy has only just begun to change our world. Department Editor's Note In Beyond the Beltway we have focused on issues of concern to those of us working in the field. Major themes have been decentralization and...

Elements of a Good Sexual Harassment Policy.
March 22, 2000... Recent rulings by the Supreme Court have increased the burden of proof on employers to take reasonable measures to prevent and deal with sexual harassment in the workforce. In light of recent Supreme Court rulings on sexual harassment, it...

The Washington Monument Syndrome.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... Humor from the Internet Yes, even Grimaldi has friends who use the Internet. Hey, if my 86-year-old father can get online, I can. Now we all know what trash passes along the ether of the Internet waves. Grimaldi knows that the readers of...

The Government After Next.
March 22, 2000... E-government is the government of the future. Government in the 1990s was all about dramatic change. Privatization, outsourcing, business process reengineering, National Performance Review, Government Performance and Results Act, Chief...

A Federal E-government Report.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... When you hear the term "transportation," you may think of automobiles travelling over country roads and on city highways. However, in keeping with modern times, transportation can now be found on the information highway--the Internet. The US...

Fed Clips.
March 22, 2000... The Administration and the Internet Economy The Clinton Administration has issued four separate presidential executive memorandums concerned with e-government. (For copies as well as regular updates on the administration's initiatives in...

The shadow no one knows.(Review)
March 22, 2000... Paul Light, The True Size of Government (Brookings Institution Press, 1999). Paul Light acknowledges at the outset of his new book, The True Size of Government, that he raises more questions than he can answer. The questions he explicitly...

How to.(Review)
March 22, 2000... Hatry, Harry P., Performance Measurement--Getting Results (Urban Institute: 2000). Perhaps you've been doing it for a long time, or maybe you're just embarking on your first effort to find Out how your organization's performance measures...

How far we've come.(Review)
March 22, 2000... Positive Outcomes: Raising the Bar on Government Reinvention, Gaebler, Ted, and John Blackman, Linda Blessing, Raymon Bruce, Wallace Keene, Paul Smith (Chatelaine Press: Burke, VA, 1999). Raising the Bar is exactly that, or rather the book...