The Professional Edge

Competencies in Public Service

James S. Bowman, Jonathan P. West, Margo Berman, Montgomery Van Wart

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317363460
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Política y relaciones internacionales
• Subtopic: Política

The new context and character of public service - shifting values, entrepreneurship, information technology, multi-sector careers - require enhanced technical, ethical, and leadership skills. This concise and readable work describes what it means to be a consummate professional public servant. It sets standards for everyone who conducts the public's business and links them with performance management, human resource administration, and information technology skills. The authors identify the ethical foundations of public service and how to integrate them in practice. They also address individual leadership, what it means, and how it is based on a foundation of technical and ethical skills. Filled with original illustrative examples and case studies from government, the non-profit sector, and business, The Professional Edge is an ideal supplement for any introductory course in Public Administration or Ethics in the Public Service.

Chapter 1 Public Service Today

Complex, Contradictory, Competitive

DOI: 10.4324/9781315669229-1

There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.

—Woodrow Wilson

Joshua Bennett was excited to start work as a management analyst in his southeastern state’s human resource department immediately upon graduation with his Masters of Public Administration degree. During his six-month probationary period, he was given varied assignments of increasing difficulty. While he had to struggle with some of these, he gained confidence at the end of his probation and his performance evaluation was satisfactory. Joshua is now ending his first full year of employment He likes his job, but he is concerned that he lacks the skills to successfully complete the complex assignments he is now receiving as the state adapts to electronic government. At the time of his hiring he was promised job-related training and resources to equip him with the necessary information technology skills to meet performance expectations. Such hardware, software, and technical training has not been provided. Job stress and frustration result from his inability to satisfactorily complete recent assignments.

Maria Rodriguez has worked for twenty years as a clinical psychologist in a nonprofit hospital on the West Coast. She derives substantial satisfaction from her work and feels that she is making a difference in the lives of her patients. Her accomplishments have been recognized with awards, promotions, and certificates of appreciation. Two years ago the chief of staff appointed her to the hospital’s ethics committee and last month she was made chair of the committee. The thorny problems brought to this committee, often involving new medical technologies and changing managerial philosophies or fiscal policies, have occupied an increasing amount of Maria’s time and attention. The most recent issue has her perplexed. The case involves a conflict between protecting the privacy of patient records and meeting the reimbursement requirements of third-party payers. Maria is concerned that the hospital’s administrative and fiscal requirements are compromising patient care, with specific ethical implications for particular patients and legal issues for the hospital. Maria is uncertain how to proceed.

Regina Blackstone is a research specialist in a large corporation located in a midwestern state. She has training as a researcher and over the years has produced several reports that have contributed to her growing reputation as a knowledgeable expert on technical issues. As a staff person she has operated mainly in a support or advisory role, often in relative isolation from others. Recently the firm bid for and received a government contract to deliver a city service. Regina’s boss asked her to lead this effort. She quickly accepted the position, feeling flattered to be tapped for this responsibility. A few weeks later, however, Regina is apprehensive about her ability to spearhead this new initiative. She fears that she may personify the “Peter Principle,” having been promoted to her highest level of competence previously, but now she’s been advanced to a level at which she will be incompetent. Her academic preparation as a data analyst, her corporate background as a researcher, and her lack of public sector experience provided few opportunities to master the new leadership skills required. She is reluctant to relinquish her new job, but is nervous and unsure about what to do next.

Joshua, Maria, and Regina are dedicated professionals, each with a unique challenge that affects performance. These challenges in part are a result of a shift from the old public service to the new public service that requires a different set of professional competencies. Joshua works for state government, Maria does public service in the nonprofit arena, and Regina’s new assignment with her private contracting firm will require bridge building with the public sector. All three are feeling poorly prepared for their current assignments: Joshua lacks the technical skills required to complete routine tasks necessitated by recent developments in information technology; Maria needs help resolving dilemmas linked to changes in the legal and ethical environment; and Regina has a skills deficit that may compromise her ability to lead a private-public partnership.

The situations confronting these three individuals illustrate the thesis of this chapter: The dynamic external and internal environment creates the need for professional managers who possess technical, ethical, and leadership competencies to meet the complex governance challenges of the twenty-first century. This chapter begins with a brief summary of the changing context of public service. It then contrasts the characteristics of the old and new citizen service, and clarifies the meaning of contemporary public service. Finally, it analyzes the three dimensions of professionalism—technical, ethical, and leadership skills—that result in the “professional edge.” Here the focus is on why these skills are so important in today’s turbulent environment. Subsequent chapters show how such competencies may be acquired.

Changing Context

The rapidly changing external environment—corporate globalism, cybertechnology, changing values and management philosophies—has greatly affected the delivery of public services. The explosion of information technologies alone, as Joshua and Maria’s experience illustrates, raises new technical and ethical issues, unknown as recently as a few years ago, and requires new skills. Similarly, supranational organizations, such as the World Trade Organization, world environmental groups, multinational corporations, and other nongovernmental organizations, help shape American policy and its implementation by public servants. Likewise, changes in the internal environment of public service—increased sector mobility, privatization, and devolution—require rethinking of who provides services and how they are delivered. Regina’s task of directing her firm’s contracting effort to provide a public service, for example, is one facing managers in many private and nonprofit organizations both in the United States and abroad.

Clearly the workplace of today’s public service professional is in constant flux, causing apprehension and uncertainty, but also providing opportunities and challenges. Leicht and Fennell (2001) identify six key characteristics of today’s workplace: (a) flatter organizational hierarchies, (b) more temporary workers, (c) wide use of subcontracting and outsourcing, (d) massive downsizing of permanent workers, (e) a post-union bargaining environment, and (f) virtual organizations. The public servant—whether working for government, nonprofits, or business firms—understands that these changes affect the way they work. The emergence of virtual and flatter organizations is made easier as employers like Joshua’s move to e-govemment. Regina’s new responsibilities in supervising and overseeing her firm’s delivery of service are indicative of the movement to both subcontract, and, eventually, in many places, downsize permanent employees and increase temporary government workers. These moves are easier to accomplish in a more flexible, postunion bargaining environment.

Changing Nature of Public Service: From Old to New

Significant changes are also occurring in the way public service is conceived. Relevant research in the past (e.g., Mosher 1982), and to a lesser extent today (e.g., Volcker 2003), emphasizes government-centered work. More recently, however, the blurring of the boundaries between government, private, and nonprofit sectors has given public service a broader meaning. The changing profile of the profession has meant that public service no longer refers exclusively to tasks performed by government; it now involves work with not-for-profit organizations and private firms as well. Thus, multisectored service providers, mobility or sector switching among employers, and commitment of individuals to make a difference animate the tectonic shift occurring in public service (Light 1999: 127–28).

Building on this characterization (see also Mosher 1982; Sherwood 2000), public service is “the people establishment” that delivers services to citizens, promotes the collective interest, and accepts the resulting obligations. Individuals, representing different sectors of the economy, who provide a wide array of services, advance the general welfare, and uphold the public trust are part of the public service. They may work in city, county, state, or federal government; for a nonprofit hospital, school, or charitable organization; or for a business contractor.

Indeed, the contemporary public service professional is as likely as not to be a salaried employee of an organization in one of these sectors as government, public, not-for-profit, private bureaucracies have become professionalized. Professionalism is defined by the need for specialized knowledge whose application is critical to address complex problems of social welfare (Exhibit 1.1).

The craft of public service, like the practice of medicine, is much more than knowing specialized skills; rather, the consummate professional is defined by the responsible exercise of discretion. This demands judgments by leaders that are both technically and morally sound. Public service magnifies these considerations in two ways. First, many problems are not “tame” or technical ones that have straightforward solutions (e.g., how to build a highway); rather they are “wicked” or political ones that have only imperfect, temporary solutions (e.g., where to build a highway). The challenge is that officials must attempt to “correct” wicked problems in order to make them manageable. Second, whatever decisions are made come to be seen as “moral and absolute,” as they publicly represent both the symbolic and real authoritative allocation of values in a society. Whether the service is delivered by a government, nonprofit, or private organization it remains a public responsibility. It is exactly the public acceptance of responsibility that provides professionals with an “edge” that distinguishes them from others and thereby furnishes the “right stuff.” This is the key to the identity and legitimacy of public service.

The consummate professional, then, reflects a triangle of complementary competencies—technical expertise (the “how”), ethical integrity (the “why”), and leadership (the “what”) in his/her field. Conscious that one’s activities have significance beyond the immediate situation, the professional avoids a simple “bottom-line” mentality; rather than society serving the economy, it is the economy that serves society. The standard is not caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”), but credat emptor (“let the buyer trust”). Software programmers are concerned about writing “cool” code, teachers about educating students, program analysts about doing thorough studies, and health care providers about helping patients. Success is gauged by how decisions define the history and future of the profession in society. When such ideals are realized, the points of the triangle are in harmony and the compromise of excellence unlikely.

Exhibit 1.1

Models of Professionalism

While definitional controversies and occupational comparisons have a very long history, two models—trait-based and decision-based—clarify the nature of professionalism. The first focuses on a set of commonly used ideal criteria to characterize a profession:

• a specialized competence,
• autonomy in exercising this competence,
• commitment to a career in the competence,
• a service orientation,
• a professional association, and
• a code of conduct to encourage the proper use of competence.

In contrast, the second model emphasizes the actual working of a profession: the significance of the tasks it confronts, the esoteric nature of the decision-making process, and the capacity to resolve problems. That is, the layperson seeks help precisely because the problem is critical, the analytical process is technical and opaque, and a solution is possible. Each of these frameworks implies the classic definition—and vow—of a professional leader: excellence in technical competence and moral character (Bowman 1998). The characteristics and competencies embodied in such models indicate how a profession may distinguish itself from other occupations.

Traditionally there were just three recognized professions, law, medicine, and religion, but the concept in contemporary times encompasses a wide variety of pursuits. Although some endeavors are arguably “more professional” than others (envision a continuum from the least to the most professionalized), individual practitioners can be recognized as professionals because of their skills and behaviors regardless of whether their occupation as a whole possesses each of the attributes in the above models. If a majority of practitioners conduct themselves in a professional manner, then the field is a profession. Professional status is a worthy objective for those charged with protection of the public trust. The new public service, in fact, may be seen as an “umbrella” profession, insofar as public service employs highly trained people from all sectors of the economy.

While the locus and composition of public service have changed, the primary purpose continues to be the improvement of civic well-being. This improvement may take many forms, as Robert and Janet Denhardt (2001: 19) have said of public servants, “Service to the public—helping people in trouble, making the world safer and cleaner, helping children to learn and prosper, literally going where others would not go—is our job and our calling.” They observe that “This ability to be selfless, to be open to the needs and values and wants of others, is a part of each public servant” (Denhardt and Denhardt 2001: 19). Specific examples are heroic, selfless emergency workers in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Less dramatic, but critically important, is the work of safety inspectors, educators, scientists, researchers, intelligence gatherers, social workers, regulators, dam builders, court personnel, transportation employees, corrections officers, social service providers, and numerous others.

This list is not exhaustive, but is merely a sampling of public service. It is hard to define, but easy to recognize, much like U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s famous response when asked to clarify the meaning of obscenity: “I know it when I see it.” As with the Oldsmobile of another era, “your father’s public service” is not that of this generation. The following two sections briefly look backward and then forward by comparing key differences between the old and the new public service.

The Old Public Service

The defining characteristics of the old public service are a product of industrial era government—those who comprised the old public service were government workers carrying out functions in centralized, hierarchical bureaucracies according to routine standard operating procedures. Their discretion was limited by their position in the vertic...