The Professional Public Administration System - Assignment Example

Understanding the Concepts al Affiliation) Question Describe the professional public administration system. What makes it unique? What are the key pieces of legislation and key ideas that support this system? Introduction Professions often embody prestige, autonomy dignity, expertise, and formal learning; values that are not synonymous with politics. The professional public administration system refers to an administrative system that tolerates and embraces politics and bureaucracy. Henry posits, ‘Its central value is high-performance public and nonprofit organizations’ (pg. 291). This is coupled with the institution of professional management in these organizations (pg. 291) and as such is important for guiding the apt management of personnel in organizations. Legislations and Ideas supporting the system The professional public administration system is a product of three administration developments of the 1970s. These include: The Model Public Personnel Administration Law of 1970 In this year, the National Civil Service league came up with a sixth public personnel administration model law that reflected a big change regarding the views that the cognoscenti held on the basis of public service and its mode of governance (pg. 292). Unlike the previous models whose emphasis was pegged on protecting the civil service from partisan patronage and other similar transgressions, the version developed in 1970 held that the administration of personnel ought to be regarded as a component of management, and not an element protecting against it. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 As Henry highlights, ‘By the mid-1970s, close to two-thirds of all state and local civil services reported that they were greatly influenced by the model law in reformulating their personnel policies, and over half had taken steps to make their personnel-directors more responsive to executive leadership’ (pg. 292). Eight years after release of the model law, there was a major reform by the government on its policies of human capital management. This was known as the Civil Reform Act. 1978 was marked by furious frustration amongst federal administrators with regard to inadequate authority to promote and hire their own employees. Their impotence was attributed to the impotence that federal personnel managers had. Owing to this frustration, President Jimmy Carter cited a civil service reform as being ‘absolutely vital’ (pg. 292). This reform was therefore enacted to replace the Civil Service Act. The management reforms of the act carried three tenets. First was a bureaucracy reform which saw the creation of three new federal human management capital bureaus. The board members and directors of the bureaus are nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate. Second, as Henry notes, ‘The OPM replaced the Civil Service Commission’ (pg. 292), which in addition to coordinating personnel programs for the government, give advice to the president on policy. Third was the establishment of a bipartisan Merit Systems Protection Board in charge of investigating allegations of federal personnel law violation, and adjudicating employee appeals. Final was the establishment of the Federal Labor Relations Authority that develops and enforces the federal policy for unions. The main ideas driving the professional public administration system are management of employee performance and loosening the rigid protocols of position classification. In reforming classification, this system upholds broad-banding. This alludes to the reduction of classifications of positions into broad bands of job families (pg. 293). In general, the broad-banding of job families is thought to espouse a more effective recruitment and is viewed as an important first step prior to the installation of additional reforms in management. In the mid-1990s, there were five times more states cutting their position classifications than those that were adding them. The professional public administration system is also based on the management of performance or the clear description of what is expected of employees, coupled by a reasonable demonstration of whether or not the employees fulfill these expectations. Henry explicates that what makes performance management unique is that if performed well, ‘employees are more satisfied, turnover declines, and productivity increases’ (pg. 293). There is a positive correlation between managing for federal performance and greater job satisfaction, leading to low likelihood of federal employees leaving their agencies. Performance management however necessitates a lot of effort in rating public employees’ performance, dealing with the employees with poor performance and linking the performance of employees with incentives (293). Conclusion The professional public administration system is a professionals’ management facet that facilitates the apt management of personnel and leads to the delivery of efficient output owing to high motivation, and low employee turnover. It is carried by two key approaches of managing the performance of employees and having a flexible classification system for professionals. Question 2 How are volunteering and vouchering forms of privatization? How is each defined? How does each work? What are the benefits and costs of each form? How are these activities used by U.S. governments to deliver services? Which value is highlighted – efficiency, effectiveness, or equity – in this type of delivery and why? Introduction Vouchering and volunteering are both important forms of privatization in which the government transfers the delivery of service to private or independent organizations. As such, they form exigent parts of service disbursement in society. Volunteering A government relies on volunteer labor to avail public services that are labor-intensive, normally via a non-profit organization. More than a fourth of volunteers dedicate their effort to the government, while over three fifths work in the private sector. Volunteering as a form of privatization is prominently seen in AmeriCorps and City Year programs in which the government relies on volunteers for tasks that range from teaching in public schools to the maintenance of state forests where there are shortages in budget or staffing. Henry states that ‘Almost three out of ten American adults do volunteer work, devoting fifty median hours to such service’ (pg. 390).With reference to Washington, Henry cites, ‘Congress prohibits the federal government from using volunteers except in unusual or specific circumstances (pg. 390) like during emergencies or to advance the educational interests of student. According to Henry, ‘Volunteers can make possible governmental accomplishments that would not be possible without them’ (pg. 390).They facilitates efficiency in service delivery by availing the human resource required for a certain job description. In a well-structured organization that mixes paid employees with volunteers, the attitudes and commitments of the volunteers are similar to those of the paid employees. A benefit associated with volunteers is that unlike paid employees, they may also donate money to the organization in which they offer their service (page 390).Close to 70 percent of cities cite the use of volunteers cite the use of volunteers to deliver public programs. There are several federally sponsored volunteer agencies that function to espouse service delivery. These include; neighborhood watch programs, medical reserve corps, volunteers in police programs, community emergency response teams and fire corps. In spite of their popular image, volunteers can however prove costly. For instance, considering volunteer fire fighters, training and managing them costs about 1000 dollars annually. In such instances it is more cost-effective to employ professionals on a full-time basis (pg. 391). Vouchering Vouchering refers to the distribution of coupons that have a dollar value called vouchers by the government, to citizens in need of a service. The citizens are able to select a provider from a number of competing providers deemed eligible by the government, and then the organization is reimbursed by the government at the present rate. Federal, local, and state vouchers are utilized in expansive program areas including education, criminal justice, child care, employment and training, healthcare, nutrition, housing, general assistance, environmental protection, transportation and housing (pg. 391). The government has two main voucher programs including the Food Stamp Program of 1964, the Medicare Program of 1965. Henry highlights, ‘Under the Food Stamp Program, the Agriculture Department issues to poor people coupons, which they may use to buy groceries at any store accepting food stamps, and receive a federal discount in the process’ (pg. 391).. The Medicare Program issues 500 billion worth of health benefits annually to 50 million individuals from the age of sixty five. Some federal vouchers dubbed ‘certificates’ by Washington focus on various domestic programs. Vouchers were introduced to training programs targeted by the federal government. Vouchering facilitates effectiveness and equity in service delivery since citizens have to apply for the vouchers which are distributed fairly, and the organization charged with distributing the voucher will carry out the task effectively in order to secure new contracts (pg. 391).The 1998 Work Investment Act. Services in childcare make use of vouchers so extensively that they are a primary method of childcare-financing in the country. The Housing Choice Voucher Program by Thee Department of Housing and Urban Development incepted in 1974 accounts to around one fourth of housing units in the low-income housing programs that are federally assisted. It assists over 2 million household to pay their rent. According to Henry ‘Washingtons use of housing vouchers reflects a major shift’ (pg. 391). The use of housing vouchers by Washington results in better outcomes for children, leaving of welfare by families, and attaining of workplace success by breadwinners. School or education vouchers are coupons that the government issues so parents can apply to secure tuition charged by the private schools for their kids. Despite the high and controversial profile that accompanies the vouchers, their impact, in spite of slow expansion, is still limited. A minute fraction (1 percent) makes use of the vouchers to go to private schools. Almost twenty four ‘School Choice Programs’ accompanied by tax breaks scholarships that are privately endowed are existent in sixteen states (pg. 391). Conclusion Vouchering and volunteering as forms of privatization are associated with some specific values. Volunteering enables efficiency by ensuring the requisite workforce is in place, therefore job specifications are covered adequately. Vouchering on the other hand brings about equity since it necessitates an application process, and effectiveness owing to a need by the provider to deliver good results. Reference Chapter 11: Inter-sectorial administration and The Professional Public Administration System. Read More