May 16, 2018

   
ASPA Website | PA TIMES.org


In This Issue:

Persevering through Adversity

A new study from the Volcker Alliance, released last week, has found that rising leaders across all levels of government feel their most important competencies lie in their abilities to effectively manage themselves and their team and to respond to the public.

This research, unique in that it used data and insights from more than 1,000 rising government leaders themselves, shines a new light on the next generation of public servants as they step into management roles.

Released at a Partnership for Public Service event featuring discussion panels with current and former federal government agency directors and deputies, this report provides a look at how today's leaders—millennials who are just getting started—think they are doing and what support they need to be successful in the future.

Most importantly, the report finds that today's leaders are committed and motivated; they "understand the responsibility they bear for making government work" and that "interpersonal effectiveness and personal resilience—commonly labeled 'soft skills'—are essential for effectiveness in public service."

The report goes on to say, "Considering the fortitude that rising leaders say is required, it is perhaps not surprising that 'persevering through adversity' is ranked one of the five most important skills for government service."

Data and technology skills are not high priorities for these leaders. Rather, they are "much more concerned with the everyday realities of making progress in environments shaped by scarce resources and challenged staff morale."

In keeping with those concerns, of the 25 skills rated throughout the Alliance's survey, respondents identified effective oral communication and project management capacity as the two most important skills for government service.

What do these findings mean for government agencies, discipline associations and higher education programs?

As advised by the report, agencies and associations should:

  • Assist rising leaders in building and joining networks
  • Be attentive to burnout and promote... opportunities to cultivate resilience
  • Capitalize on the sense of duty and public service ethos of talented young leaders
  • Consider how to scale fellows programs to reach more rising leaders
  • Develop career-stage learning rubrics to guide rising leaders as they pursue professional development

Higher education and training institutions should:

  • Incorporate more field-based content into graduate programs
  • Consider how to deliver learning and skills development aligned to career stages
  • Facilitate network development and mentoring through alumni communities
  • Support campus communities of practice for students intending to work in government
  • Partner with government agencies and associations to develop scalable professional education

This report and other related materials can be found on the Volcker Alliance's website.

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2018 Young Scholars Workshop Heads to Mexico

Calling all ASPA Ph.D. students, post-doctoral fellows and young researchers! The application period for the 7th International Young Scholars Workshop in Public Policy and Administration Research has opened, but it will not be open long!

The call for applications will close on May 31.

Workshop Dates: Aug. 12-16, 2018
Workshop Location: Michoacan, Mexico
Workshop Partners:
Centro de Cooperacion Regional para la Educacion de Adultos en America Latina y El Caribe (CREFAL) and Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas (CIDE)

This workshop provides young scholars working in public policy, public administration and related subfields with an academically rigorous platform for the presentation of research and scholarly exchange. Research in all areas of public administration and policy are eligible.

Accepted research papers and projects will demonstrate a clear theoretical and empirical focus, employing quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods.

Procedure and Timeline:
Summary submission deadline: May 31, 2018
Acceptance notification: June 13, 2018
Full paper submission: July 16, 2018

Please review the Call for Applications and complete the online application here.

Visit our website for more details or contact ASPA manager of internal and strategic development Garret Bonosky with any further questions.

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Webinars, BookTalks and Student Series on the Horizon

ASPA's professional development webinars are ongoing throughout the year. Averaging 75 attendees per webinar and free to ASPA members, these e-learning opportunities provide you with valuable insights and information at your fingertips. Visit our website to stay informed about all upcoming webinars, BookTalks and Student Series.


Public Policy Mediation
May 17 | 1 p.m.
Presenters:
Grant Rissler, Virginia Commonwealth University
Mark Rubin, Commonwealth of Virginia

Sponsored by the Central Virginia Chapter, this webinar will introduce participants to the craft of public policy mediation, where a mediator facilitates a negotiation between a broad range of stakeholders on an issue, creating a space where more creative solution-finding is possible than in traditional legislative and administrative contexts.




The Powers of Open Innovation
May 24 | 1 p.m.
Presenter:
Adam Miles, U.S. Government Accountability Office

Sponsored by ASPA's Center for Accountability and Performance, this webinar will look at different open innovation strategies—like crowd-sourcing, prize competitions and open data—to help attendees understand how government agencies are using them to engage citizens and external stakeholders.




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Focus on Membership: Your Local Chapter Connection

While Public Service Recognition Week is over, ASPA Chapters remain busy! The summer months provide excellent opportunities to have networking events or learning panels—or get ready for the fall when public administration really heats up and everyone is hosting events and activities!

ASPA maintains a calendar of events that lists all of the upcoming activities about which we have information. Including conferences, symposia, webinars and Chapter events, this calendar should be your go-to resource for everything happening in ASPA in the coming weeks.

Chapter leaders: Make sure we know what you are up to this summer! While we know about a few events scheduled for the coming weeks, our calendar is bare for July and August. If you are hosting an event this summer, send us the details and we will make sure to include it in our materials!

No matter what you are up to, ASPA wishes all of its Chapters a sunny, safe summer!

(Have you noticed? ASPA now lists Chapter events in This Week At ASPA—but we have to know you are hosting something in order to list it!)

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Debt Matters

Last week, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation hosted its 2018 Fiscal Summit, bringing together Members of Congress, economists, journalists, investors and more to discuss what arguably may be one of the most pressing—and regularly glossed over—issues of our time: the national debt.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the United States will be the only advanced economy in the world to see its debt-to-GDP ratio grow over the next five years, forecasted to rise to 105 percent of the GDP 10 years from now.

Why does the debt matter? In short, it lowers productivity, increases the likelihood of a fiscal crisis in the United States, crowds out investments (which reduces future economic growth), allows for less fiscal flexibility to respond to future challenges and reduces family incomes in the long term.

The issue has most recently been in the news due to the Congressional Budget Office's revised 10-year outlook that now factors in the 2017 tax cuts, but you can find other related impacts throughout headlines of recent weeks, including:


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PA TIMES Online Call for Authors

ASPA has opened its twice-annual Call for Authors for PA TIMES Online. If you have been interested in writing regularly for this online media, now is your chance to apply.

Featuring content from more than 100 authors throughout the year, PA TIMES Online provides fresh insights on current topics in public administration twice each week to more than 8,000 inboxes.

We are looking for monthly columnists to contribute to July-December 2018 editions and can speak to a range of subjects including:

  • Public administration education
  • Social equity
  • Gender studies
  • Budgets
  • Performance management
  • Evidence-based policymaking
  • Demographic shifts
  • Comparative public administration
  • International issues

Interested in joining our columnist pool? Submit an application. First-time authors and students are welcome!

Applications must be submitted by June 10, 2018. Contact us with questions.

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Welcome New ASPA Members!
Click here to view the most recent new ASPA members!

 

Putting Women Back into History Book Signing

Those in the D.C. area are invited to join Cokie Roberts and Rebecca Boggs Roberts on Thursday, May 24, for their insights into accomplished American women. Boggs Roberts will be signing her new book, Suffragists in Washington, DC: The 1913 Parade and the Fight for the Vote. Taking place in Vienna, VA, those interested in attending are invited to register online here. Proceeds will benefit the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association.

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2018 Teaching Public Administration Conference Call for Proposals

The 2018 Teaching Public Administration Conference will take place this Sept. 10-12, in conjunction with the UK Joint University Council's Public Administration Committee (PAC) Annual Conference in North Umbria, UK. Preliminary details are posted online, including the call for proposals. All proposals are due May 30, 2018. Click here for more information.

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The Future of Public Service Symposium Weeks Away

Suffolk University, with ASPA, is hosting a symposium at the end of this month: "The Future of Public Service: Advancing the Civil Society through Partnership Government." Taking place May 31 in Boston, this dialogue will explore the next frontier of public service: partnership government. It will focus on a broad vision of public service grounded in the principles of the civil society, the common good, service to others and social equity, exploring the need for public service organizations and other actors to recognize and embrace the interdependence that is necessary to succeed as partners in an era of fundamental challenges to the role of government itself. Click here for more information.

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Call for Proposals: World Conference on Remedies to Racial and Economic Inequality

Scheduled for Sept. 26-29 in Brazil, this conference will encompass disparities in public health, education, civic engagement, socioeconomic standing and representation. Subtopics include: longer term consequences of persistent poverty and inequality in access to quality health care among low income, racial and ethnic minority group members; comparative analysis of the effectiveness of alternative policy interventions designed to reduce racial and ethnic economic inequality; problems of political corruption and uneven development; causes and consequences of inequalities in access to health care and alternative health care delivery systems; racial identity and the evolution of policies in higher education, public employment and government contracting and procurement; and innovative policies designed to remedy racial and ethnic economic inequality: baby bonds, universal employment, guaranteed minimum income plans. Abstracts were due May 15; ASPA members may still register and submit abstracts before June 1 by using the override code ASPA. Click here to access the portal.

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2018 Transatlantic Dialogue

The 2018 Transatlantic Dialogue (TAD 14) will be held at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, June 6-8, 2018. The theme of this year's conference, jointly organized by EGPA and ASPA, is, "The Disciplines and the Study of Public Administration—Transatlantic Perspectives." TAD 14 will bring together a diverse group of scholars who draw on different theoretical and methodological perspectives to share their latest research and discuss challenges confronting governance and democratic society on both sides of the Atlantic. This conference aims to study in depth the contribution that the many disciplines that constitute public administration (PA) as an inter-disciplinary endeavor can contribute to the advancement of PA theory and practice, and explore the commonalities as well as differences between Europe and the United States in the ways in which the various disciplines are employed in the study of PA. Click here for more information.

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2018 Midwest Public Affairs Conference Next Month

The 2018 Midwest Public Affairs Conference (MPAC) will take place June 7-8, 2018 at University of Illinois—Chicago. The conference theme this year is "Adapting Public Service to an Age of Technological Change." MPAC promotes quality research and also provides a mechanism for socialization in the field. There will be content and programming related specifically to our theme (particularly in civic technology), as well as general public affairs topics. Click here for more information.

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2018 Sino-U.S. International Conference Next Month

The ninth Sino-U.S. International Conference on Public Administration will take place June 15-17 in Beijing. Hosted by Suffolk University, Institute of Public Service; Rutgers University—Newark, School of Public Affairs and Administration; ASPA; and the Chinese Public Administration Society, the theme for this year's conference will be: "Implementing Public Policy Toward Good Governance." This conference focuses on public policy creation and implementation toward good governance around the world. Click here for more information.

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CIMPAD Begins Next Month

Taking place June 21-29 at the University of Botswana, Africa, the 2018 Consortium for International Management, Policy and Development (CIMPAD) is now accepting registrations. The conference will feature six conference tracks: policymaking governance and public administration; health and wellness in the global environment; tertiary education, research and technology; youth gender and cultural empowerment; immigration, productivity and skill development; and justice, social equity and civil society. Click here for more information.

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2018 IIAS Congress: June 25-29

The 2018 Congress of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS), taking place June 25-29, 2018 in close collaboration with the Presidency of the Tunisian Government and ENA Tunis (National School of Administration), will focus on the theme of administrative resilience. Resilience refers to the capacity of public administration to provide appropriate responses to shocks, risks and disasters of any kinds. Click here for more information.

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2018 SECoPA This September; Call for Nominations Open for the Boorsma Award

The 2018 Southeastern Conference for Public Administration (SECoPA) will take place Sept. 20-23, 2018 in Birmingham, AL. Click here for more information.

Related, SECoPA has opened its call for nominations for the Boorsma Award, honoring a practitioner or academician for facilitating over a period of many years the international exchange of knowledge and administrative practices that foster better performance in the public sector. The Boorsma Award Committee will receive and assess all submitted nominations. All individuals or organizations wishing to submit the names of individuals to be considered should provide either a letter describing the individuals qualifications for the award, or a copy of the resume of the individual being proposed, or both. The deadline to submit nominations is July 1, 2018. The award will be presented at the SECoPA conference. Please send nominations to Allan Rosenbaum of Florida International University. Click here for more information.

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Professional Development through the Andrew Young School's Center for State and Local Finance

The Andrew Young School's Center for State and Local Finance invites you to register for a full year of executive education courses, beginning this summer. Class participants typically include chief financial officers, finance directors, budget and procurement staff, county administrators and others looking to hone their skills and advance their careers. The full course schedule is as follows:

  • Government Financial Statement and Accounting: July 17-20, 2018 (Deadline July 2)
  • Governmental Leadership: Politics, Communication and Influence: Aug. 15-17, 2018 (Deadline Aug. 1)
  • Debt Management: Sept. 12-14, 2018 (Deadline Aug. 28)
  • Treasury and Investment Management: Nov. 7-9, 2018 (Deadline Oct. 24)
  • Forecasting (Special Session): Jan. 24-25, 2019 (Deadline Jan. 9, 2019)
  • Operating and Capital Budgeting: March 13-15, 2019 (Deadline Feb. 27, 2019)
  • Cost Analysis (Special Session): April 16-17, 2019 (Deadline April 2, 2019)
  • Retirement, Risk Management and Procurement: May 15-17, 2019 (Deadline May 1, 2019)

Fees for the two-days courses are $350; three-day courses are $500; four-day courses are $700. Click here to learn more about the executive education program and to register.

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Call for Proposals: NECOPA 2018

The 2018 NECOPA will take place Nov. 2-4, 2018 at the University of Baltimore. Its theme will be, "Blind Spots in Public Administration: Looking Inward to Improve Responses to Changing Landscapes". We all have intellectual blind spots: those issues or topics where our view is obstructed from seeing clearly. In these spaces, we are literally blind to what is happening and, as a result, unable to gather information to change our point of view. What intellectual blind spots exist for public administration and our broader system of governance? On what topics is our view obstructed? Where are voices hushed or silenced and whose voices are they? This conference aims to consider these questions in an attempt to uncover, explore and address these blinds spots. The deadline for priority proposal consideration is Aug. 1, 2018. Submit paper or poster proposals (250 word limit) or fully formed panel proposals (400 word limit) here. Click here for more information.

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Biden Challenge at University of Delaware Scheduled for September

This fall, the University of Delaware is hosting the Biden Challenge: How to Revitalize the Middle Class. Participants will engage in panels and idea exchanges at the university on the future of employment and education, the role of innovation, budget priorities and infrastructure investments. The Challenge will take place on Sept. 28, 2018; proposals may be submitted to [email protected].

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ABFM 2018 Research Conference This October

The Association for Budgeting and Financial Management's annual research conference will be held Oct. 4-6 in Denver. Click here for more information.

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Call for Contributors: A Broken Democratic Process

The 2000 Presidential election, in many ways, symbolized how broken democratic processes in the United States have become. Sixteen years later, the presidential election exposed deep fractures of more than 40 years in the electorate and began a deconstruction of the administrative state. This latest rupture may have an even more ominous result 30 years from now. For the second year in a row, the Economic Intelligence Unit (EUI), which ranks each nation on a scale of democratic governance indicators, classified the United States as a flawed democracy: 21st among the nations of the world.

Carol Rusaw is asking for contributors to a new book she is exploring, Government in Hanging Chads: What Deconstruction of the Administrative State Means for You and the Future of Democracy, which will show the leading contributors to the brokenness, some potential consequences if democratic processes continue to atrophy and some ways to reverse the slide. Three main topical areas are: Origins of Deconstructing the Administrative State and Effects on Democratic Policymaking; Shredded Government and Its Consequences: Examples of Programmatic Hanging Chads; and On the Path to Healing and Constructing a New Administrative State: Empowering and Engaging Citizens.

The book will be aimed toward educated voters who can promote trust in democratic processes and institute community change. If you would like to contribute, you may contact Carol.

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PAR Update

Now announcing, the new virtual issue, "Lessons from and for Latin American Public Administration" is now online. This issue includes a selection of articles most frequently downloaded by readers in South America. Topics include transparency, ethics, citizen participation and public service. The collection will be freely available through the end of July. We encourage you to cite, read and use the articles in your teaching. Find it online here.


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Public Integrity Update



For the latest news on Public Integrity's articles and topics getting international attention, join the Journal's Twitter page: https://twitter.com/PubIntegrity, or our other active sites at:

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Ethical leadership and the Integrity of Public Institutions
Special symposium for Public Integrity

Guest editors:
Leonie Heres, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Karin Lasthuizen, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Werner Webb, University of South Africa, South Africa

With the rise of populist leaders such as Donald Trump (US), Geert Wilders (the Netherlands) and Marine Le Pen (France), who openly question not only the current roles of administrators and the quality of work, but also the integrity of public institutions, the relations between political and public leaders seem to become more and more strained. Meanwhile, high profile corruption scandals suggest that ethical conduct in the public sector cannot be taken for granted. It is against this backdrop that administrative leaders find themselves under increasing pressure to more proactively safeguard the integrity of their organization and provide employees with clear moral guidance.

In response to the increasing demands on public institutions, many (trans- and international) governmental bodies have implemented extensive ethics infrastructures and programs. Research on ethical decisionmaking and behavior, however, shows leadership to be a critical factor that cannot be substituted for ethics codes, hotlines, and training: leadership remains a key factor that sets the tone for the rest of the organization and affects the extent to which employees recognize, deliberate and act on ethical issues in their work.

While empirical research on ethical leadership has proliferated over the last decade, scholars have largely ignored the role of the public-private context in which such leadership exists.

Most studies on ethical leadership are conducted in proprietary business settings and draw exclusively on social and organizational psychological insights. Ethical leadership studies that have either a specific focus on the public sector or examine the role of organizational publicness from a comparative perspective are extremely limited. A few notable exceptions indicate that leadership does, in fact, matter to the ethics of and within public organizations and—conversely—that the publicness of organizations may be relevant to how leaders can and do exert their role in fostering ethics. However, the full implications of the public context within which administrative leaders operate and attempt to foster ethical behavior remain unclear.

This symposium issue aims to further the understanding on how the public, nonprofit, and private sectors impact the meaning, processes, and effects of ethical leadership. Topics for papers in this symposium may include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • What are the interactive effects of ethical leadership between politicians and their political appointees on one hand, and senior civil servants on the other?
  • What moral dilemmas do major value changes imposed by political leaders evoke for public administrators? And how can administrative leaders deal with the resistance and role confusion that may result from such value changes, especially when executive leaders and legislative lawmakers may be in conflict?
  • How do public, nonprofit and proprietary organizations compare in terms of conceptions, the prevalence and effectiveness of ethical leadership, and how might differences (if any) be explained? What role does culture play?
  • What is the role of organizational publicness in the emergence of ethical leadership? What, if any, unique impediments do leaders of public organizations face in their practice of ethical leadership?
  • How can leaders ensure that public values are maintained and protected amidst blurring public and private sector boundaries, and in public-private partnerships? What are the implications of collaborative or network governance structures for the effects and scope of ethical leadership?
  • To what extent are public leaders able to instill moral norms and values in semi-public organizations, such as nationalized banks or public hospitals?
  • How is ethical leadership understood and practiced in transnational and international governmental institutions? How do leaders deal with the—sometimes fundamental&mdsah;cultural differences in moral values and norms that occur in international intergovernmental collaborations?
  • How and to what extent does ethical leadership of top-level public management contribute to the responsiveness of governments, the credibility of governments, and to citizens’ trust in government? And, how is ethical leadership contingent on and responsive to (country) culture(s), and the level of corruption within public institutions, to begin with?

By bringing together papers on ethical leadership and the integrity of public institutions, either from a sector-specific or a comparative public-private sector perspective, this symposium highlights the value of incorporating public administration research and theory into the field of ethical leadership, and vice versa. It is thereby hoped that it will inspire further research in this area. Moreover, by focusing on the public domain, the aim is to provide public officials with insights that help them to better understand and deal with the unique characteristics of the context in which they operate and how that shapes, and perhaps deters, their efforts to foster ethics.

Manuscripts are due no later than Sept. 1, 2018 to the guest editors via [email protected].

This special ethical leadership symposium for Public Integrity, aimed for publication mid-2019, originates from collaboration within the Public and Political Leadership (PUPOL) international academic research network. For more information, see: www.pupolnetwork.com.

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New on PA TIMES Online


Every Monday and Friday, ASPA publishes a curated collection of original content that covers public service, management and international affairs.

This quarter, we welcome submissions that focus on workforce management in government and the nonprofit sectors. Send your contributions to us now! The deadline is rolling; contact us for more information.

Check out our recent articles and columns:

Federal Laws are Not Suggestions
By Robert Brescia

Public Service in a Place of Meaning: What We Can Learn from 13 Truckers
By Lisa Saye

Does the War on Regulations Make Sense?
By John Pearson


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PublicServiceCareers.org


Find your next career opportunity at publicservicecareers.org. This online job board is the perfect resource for making a career change or landing your first job in the public service. It lists dozens of positions in academia, government and the nonprofit sector. Below are just a few current listings.

Research Operations Manager – Public Policy Institute of California – San Francisco, CA

Visiting Assistant Professor or Instructor in Public Administration – Miami University, Oxford, OH

Chief Financial Officer – Delaware Transit Corporation – Dover, DE


American Society for Public Administration
1730 Rhode Island Ave., NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036
     

Please send inquiries to Managing Editor Karen E. T. Garrett.