Civil Service Officers Research Articles

Low back pain and associated factors among civil service sectors office workers in Southern Ethiopia

Background: Low back pain is one of the most common work-related health problems among office workers. Low back pain has been identified as one of the most costly disorders among the worldwide working population. However, there is a lack of information on associated factors with low back pain which makes people not to work properly. 
 Objectives: This study was aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with low back pain among civil service sectors office workers in Southern Ethiopia.
 Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among 625civil service sectors office workers, who work in the sitting position, in Sodo town, Southern Ethiopia from March 10 to June 20, 2017. The sampling frame was obtained from civil service office and simple random sampling technique was used for each stage. Data was collected by using a pretested structured questionnaire adapted from Standardized Nordic musculoskeletal Questionnaires and modified Oswestry through face to face interview and by using checklist for observations, which was measured by diploma nurses. Descriptive statistics like frequency, percentage, mean, median and standard deviation were conducted. Also, binary logistic regression was conducted and variables with p<=0.20 in bivariate analysis were fitted into the multiple logistic regression models to identify factors associated with low back pain. Variables with P value <0.05 were considered as statistically significant predictors of low back pain.
 Results: Out of the calculated sample size, 625 participants responded making a response rate of 99%. The 12-month prevalence of low back pain among civil service sectors office workers in this study was (38.4%) 95% CI: (0.34, 0.42).This study found that, being obese (AOR [95%CI] =6.3[4.29 - 9.09]), having smoking history (AOR [95%CI] =5.2[2.57 - 10.82]), poor sitting posture (AOR [95%CI] =2.6[1.61-4.30]), having job stress (AOR [95%CI] =5.9[3.44-10.25]), having no rest break during workday (AOR [95%CI]=3.2[1.82-5.62]), sitting >6 hours per day (AOR [95%CI]=16.08[14.4-19.3]) and frequently using computer (AOR [95%CI]=4.3[2.09-5.47]) are significantly associated with low back pain.
 Conclusion and recommendations: The 12-month prevalence of low back pain in this study is high (38.4%).Therefore, healthy lifestyle habits, good awareness of sitting posture and better ergonomic facilities and psychosocial support to workers were recommended to decrease the effects of predisposing factors of low back pain.

KINERJA PEGAWAI UNIT KERJA LAYANAN (UKL) DINAS KEPENDUDUKAN DAN PENCATATAN SIPIL DALAM PELAYANAN ADMINISTRASI KEPENDUDUKAN DI KABUPATEN PESISIR SELATAN

ABSTRAK
 The purpose of this study was to determine the performance of the Employment Service Unit (UKL) of the Population and Civil Registry Service in population administration services in the South Coastal District. This research is a qualitative research using descriptive method. The informant of this research was determined by the purpose sampling technique, accompanied by Kassubag. General and Civil Service Office of Population and Civil Registration, Kasi. Collaboration and Service Innovation in the Population and Civil Registration Service of Pesisir Selatan Regency, Head of Service Work Unit (UKL) of Bayang sub-district, IV Jurai sub-district and Koto XI Tarusan sub-district, as well as the people who take care of population administration. Data collection techniques were carried out by means of observations, interviews and documentation studies. To test the validity of the data used source triangulation techniques. The results showed that the performance of the Service Work Unit (UKL) employees in population administration services in the South Coastal District in practice was still poor, namely in aspects of ability and expertise, knowledge, work design, personality, and work environment. There are factors that affect the performance of the Service Work Unit (UKL) employees, as well as the efforts made to improve the performance of the Service Work Unit (UKL) employees.
 
 
 Keyword : employee performance, service, population administration

Pengaruh Pendidikan dan Pelatihan terhadap Profesionalisme Pegawai Negeri Sipil dalam Pendidikan dan Pelatihan Dinas Pendidikan Kabupaten Bengkalis

Facing the global challenge as one of the efforts to build professional Civil Servants and increase their competence is through Education and Training (Diklat). In Government Regulation No. 101 of 2002 on education and training of civil servant positions, it is mentioned that the implementation of the training is expected to create employee resources that have the necessary competencies to improve the quality of professionalism. This study aims to determine the Effect of Education and Training on Civil Servant Professionalism at the Personnel Board of Education and Training Bengkalis Regency. In order to get a detailed description of the authors using descriptive research method with a quantitative approach. Samples in this study were 52 people Employment Agency Employment Education and Training Bengkalis Regency. Data collection is done through questionnaires. Testing research instrument using validity test and reliability test. Data processing techniques using simple linear regression test, and hypothesis testing to find out how much influence of Education and Training on Civil Servant Professionalism at Bengkalis District Education and Training Personnel Board. The results of this study indicate that the Influence of Education and Training on Civil Servant Professionalism at Bengkalis District Personnel Education and Training Agency categorized Strong. Therefore, efforts must be made by the Agency for Human Resources Education and Training of Bengkalis Regency for Civil Servant Competence at the Office of the Personnel Board of Education and Training of Bengkalis Regency is more optimizing the implementation of Education and Training programs of employees, especially education and functional technical training. Because the training program is very influential on improving the competence of civil service officers of the Education and Training Agency of Bengkalis Regency in particular and Civil Servants of Local Government of Bengkalis Regency in general.

MODERN INTERPRETATION OF "COMPETENCE" CONCEPT AS THE HIGHER CORPUS OF THE UKRAINE STATE SERVICE

The article highlights the results of the current study of the modern interpretation of the concept of "competence" in relation to the higher civil service corps. It is established that in Ukraine the notion of "competence" is defined as the combination of knowledge, skills, and practical skills, personality qualities or the ability of a person to use special knowledge, skills and abilities and personal qualities within the limits of powers determined. At the same time, there is a mismatch between the competences of the mas-ter's level of higher education and the requirements for persons who are applying for the post of senior civil service, as well as these requirements and key indicators of the evalua-tion of the results of the service activity. International standards indicate that the modern interpretation of the concept of "compe-tence" is based on the activity approach: as demonstrated the ability to apply in practice that knowledge and skills, which affect the quality and in a manner that will lead to quality improvement. That is, the competence of employees, in particular, the senior civil service, should be demonstrated during their activities on the positions and contribute to the im-provement of the quality of public administration. It is proved that further research should relate to the activity approach in applying the concept of "competence" and scientifically grounded proposals as to the definition of the components of competence of senior civil service officials and the criteria for evaluating their activities.

Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing by Marie Hicks

Reviewed by: Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing by Marie Hicks Honghong Tinn (bio) Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing. By Marie Hicks. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2017. Pp. 352. Hardcover $40. Programmed Inequality focuses on the British government's reluctance to leverage a group of trained women workers when attempting to strengthen the nation's computer industry during the 1960s and 1970s, even though these women accounted for the majority of the workforce in government computing and data processing departments beginning from the Second World War. Marie Hicks unpacks the history of these women operators of office machines and computers for UK civil service offices from 1930 to 1979. Hicks emphasizes a process of labor feminization, where gendered civil service ranks and promotion policies greatly limited the career choices of women typists and operators but spurred their unionized resistance. Programmed Inequality offers a much-needed perspective on the history of computing by focusing on gender as a fundamental structure of the workforce, a structure that dictated every aspect of the British Civil Service's computing practices and eventually hindered the nation's further development of its computer industry. Chapter one examines women who operated the Tunny machines or Colossus computers for codebreaking at Bletchley Park during WWII. Many of these women continued to work in government sectors after the war (pp. 47–48) but had to cope with unequal pay and prohibitions against married women in the sector, even as the restriction was lifted in 1946. Chapter two charts the creation in 1948 of the "machine operator class" in the Civil Service for employees, mostly women, who worked on "calculating, punch card, and accounting machines" in government (p. 70). This was part of the Civil Service's responses to the growing number of women employees and the Civil Service's interpretation of machine-aided office work as simple, and hence as women's work. This new rank made the women ineligible for the standard meritocratic pay scales and promotion opportunities and effectively confined them to low-level jobs. Chapter three unpacks the labor shortage in computing in the 1960s that offered plentiful opportunities to women as well as men to take on new [End Page 1121] responsibilities in computing both in government and industry. In contrast to the emerging promises for women in chapter three, chapter four presents an image envisioned by the Civil Service throughout the 1960s of "computer men" (p. 155). The Civil Service attempted to recruit programmers from the "executive class" only. The group, which lacked programing expertise, was almost exclusively men (p. 156). The machine operator class, comprised mostly of women who were trained to use data-processing machines or early computers, was considered unsuitable for the job of programming and, later in the 1970s, for "assistant programmer grade" jobs (p. 220). Chapter five examines women operators' efforts to fight for higher wages and equal pay in the 1970s, including strikes and passive resistance (such as slowdowns) at government computer installations. Hicks argues that even though the government merged and nationalized several computer companies into International Computers Limited (ICT) in 1968 to better handle competition from IBM, and centralized the management of all government computers in 1972 (p. 197), Britain's strategy of consolidation neither saved the industry nor solved its labor problems. Fundamentally, the government did not acknowledge the importance of women operators to data processing and programming, and hence failed to enlist this valuable technical workforce for the nation's computer industry. Hicks's well-substantiated critique of the British government's oversimplified assumptions about automation and other technological changes and its gendered categorization of jobs makes Programmed Inequality an essential text in undergraduate courses on the history of computing and for classes in technology and society. Historians of technology and gender will be thrilled at Hicks's uncovering of the intricate historical processes of deskilling women's work. While some scholars may desire more on the technical specifications of Britain's computer systems, Hicks has presented a carefully woven history that considers Britain's unique economic and political contexts and includes the voices, motives, and reasoning of civil...

Public Administration Reforms in Slovakia: Limited Outcomes (Why ?)

Abstract The goal of this paper is to document and to analyse public administration reform dynamics and outcomes in three selected areas – transparency and accountability, civil service and local self-governments. The high level of potential access to government information in Slovakia does not “produce” increased accountability, predictability and also does not effectively serve as a tool to control corruption. We argue that citizens are not only victims, but also accomplishers: their tolerance for corruption, excessive bureaucracy and rentseeking is confirmed by many existing studies. Concerning civil service reform, Slovakia shows a substantial reform reversal towards politicisation and centralisation after 2001, which clearly threatens the fundamental features of democratic governance. Soon after the EU accession in 2004 major regressive changes took place, and the Civil Service Office was abolished in 2006. The new legislation in force from 2017 (forced by the EU conditionality) should return the Slovak civil service back on the right track – let us to see. With regard to self-government the reforms aimed towards the establishment of more independent local and regional self-government. However, the major issue here is the extreme fragmentation on the municipal level – almost 3,000 municipalities in the country, most of them bellow 1,000 inhabitants. Many studies confirm that amalgamation (or at least functional amalgamation) is necessary – but there is no political will to start it. What are the main lessons from the Slovak case ? The information provided indicates that the Slovak Republic belongs to the “standard” group of CEE countries – after the first wave of democratisation reforms immediately after 1989, most of the later changes were realised “thanks to” external motivations and pressures – and not always really welcomed. The specific issue, however, is the decentralisation reform in 2000 – 2005. This change, providing really fragmented local self-government by extra rights and responsibilities, was internally driven, with positive results from the point of view of self-government principles, but with many hurdles caused by too large a number of too small municipalities.

The Effectiveness Of Qanun Aceh No. 6/2014 Of Jinayat Law In Order To Prevent Jinayah Khalwat In Law Territory Of Sabang Municipality

Article 23 paragraph (1) of Aceh Islamic Criminal Law No 6 of 2014 tells about Indecency (Jinayat) law which regulates the criminal punishment for the perpetrator of jarimah khalwat. This article is expected can minimize the crime rate of the indecent (jinayah) behavior perpetrator. However, in fact the number of jarimah khalwat perpetrator increase steadily as what happened in Sabang Municipality law area. It proves that there were two legal issues, what is the causes of the ineffectiveness of the indecency (jinayat) law in minimizing the number of jinayat perpetrator in Sabang Municipality? This research was aimed to know the obstacle of the increasing jinayat khalwat issue which make jinayat law become ineffective in minimizing jinayat khalwat perpetrators in Sabang Municipality, and to know the efforts conducted by the Civil Service Police Unit, Sharia Policy, and Office of the District Prosecutor General of Sabang Municipality and to know the factor which causes the number of jinayah khalwat perpetrator in Sabang Municipality. The research method used in this research was empirical juridical empirical using case approach, historical approach, comparative approach, conceptual approach, and statute approach). The research result shown that there were 3 effectiveness obstacle factors of jinayat law in Sabang Municipality, the first obstacle of jinayat law is the bad regulation because the punishment is an alternative not a cumulative and for those who deal with the jinayat law is potentially punished with canning punishment in public, the application of jinayat law normatively is in contrary with the basis of personality and territoriality which causes this law contrary with the fair legal system (due process of law). The second factor which becomes the obstacle related to quality and quantity of the human resource of the law enforcement, law understanding and the number of personnel investigator of the Civil Service Police Unit and Sharia Police of Sabang Municipality was limited. The third factor, there is no special jinayah prison cell in the Civil Service Police Unit and Sharia Police of Sabang Municiplaity

Examining the Mediating Role of Person–Job Fit in the Relationship between Training and Performance: A Civil Servant Perspective

In a dynamic environment, the nature of work tasks continues to change requiring employees to learn new knowledge and skills to perform their jobs effectively. Training is among the crucial strategies of an organization, which helps employees to acquire those necessary knowledge and skills to meet the challenges. The linkage between training and performance has been robustly studied in the literature suggesting that training is a major determinant of employees’ performance. Further, literature in the field of industrial/organizational psychology implies the effect of person–job fit on the relations between training and performance. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree of direct and indirect relationship between employee training (TR) and performance (PER), conceiving the mediating role of job fit (JF), as few studies have been reported in literature so far. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 171 civil service officers by structural equation modelling technique using partial least square (PLS) approach to measure and test the proposed structural relationships. The results confirm that employee training and job fit are directly related with improvement in job performance. The results also demonstrate the significant mediating effect of job fit on employee performance. This article contributes to the existing body of literature by examining both the direct and indirect effect of employee training on job performance. Moreover, job fit is established to partially mediate the relationship between them. The findings of this study provide useful information for policymakers to improve employees’ job fit and their performance by means of employee training. The limitations to the study and directions for future research are discussed as well.

Organizational policy and corruption: the case of the government agencies

Using the principal-agent approach, a theoretical model is developed, in which dishonest government officers lobby authorities (in the form of a corrupted political contribution) for getting some advantage over honest officers. The government agency authority should maximize the welfare of the civil service officers by distributing an economic compensation granted by a central government through the use of an institutional policy. The contribution scheme promotes a relevant truthful equilibrium. A larger institutional level favors honest people; a smaller institutional level favors dishonest people and the bribe they offer. This result has two opposite implications. If government is only an efficient authority, the optimal institutional policy will grant the same amount of economic compensation to all officers. On the other hand, if authority is assuming a moral role against corruption, then the government will be inclined to set the strictest institutional policy.

The Influence of Work Environment Factors to the Effectiveness of Training among Civil Service Employees in Malaysia

The effectiveness of a training program must be assessed as it isa critical aspect in ensuring investment is made to improve the knowledge, skills, and positive attitude of employees towards their work in order to bring positive results to the organization, particularly government organizations that provide service to the community and country. The primary objective of this research is to analyze the environmental factors (opportunity to perform, manager support, and organizational learning culture) that affect the effectiveness of training in thecontext of public service in Malaysia. Therefore, this study was conducted on 205 of Malaysian civil service officers from the middle management category who attended several courses on management and leadership at one of the public training centers in Malaysia. The results from SEM-PLS analysis indicated that three work environment elements which are manager support, opportunity to perform, and organizational learning culture significantly and positively contributed to the effectiveness of training. Specifically, this review affirms the influence of the attributes of a work environment on the training results and its ramifications in improving the effectiveness of training. Findings from this study are helpful for government divisions, departments or agencies to create a supportive work environment, flexible workspace, and continuous learning culture to enable knowledge and skills acquired from training to be effectively transferred to the workplace and other employees.

Pengaruh Masa Kerja, Usia, Pangkat dan Golongan Terhadap Motivasi Kerja Pegawai Negeri Sipil Pada Kantor SAR Pontianak

This study discusses the effect of length of service, age, rank and groups to work motivation of civil officers in Pontianak SAR office. The study was correlational, the data obtained through interviews, observations, and questionnaires, and secondary data. The population is all employees in the office and SAR Pontianak using saturated sample. Using the chi-square analysis. Research results revealed that there was an effect on the motivation of working time civil servants SAR Office of Pontianak, because Chi Square Count 4.90> 0.0075 Chi Square Table. There is an effect of age on the Civil Service Office motivation SAR Pontianak, because Chi Square Count 0.23> Chi Square Table 0.16. No influence Rank and type of motivation SAR Office of the Civil Service Pontianak, because Chi Square Count 13.02 <Chi Square Table 15.53.

Effect of contact lens use on Computer Vision Syndrome.

To analyse the relationship between Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) in computer workers and contact lens use, according to lens materials. Cross-sectional study. The study included 426 civil-service office workers, of whom 22% were contact lens wearers. Workers completed the Computer Vision Syndrome Questionnaire (CVS-Q) and provided information on their contact lenses and exposure to video display terminals (VDT) at work. CVS was defined as a CVS-Q score of 6 or more. The covariates were age and sex. Logistic regression was used to calculate the association (crude and adjusted for age and sex) between CVS and individual and work-related factors, and between CVS and contact lens type. Contact lens wearers are more likely to suffer CVS than non-lens wearers, with a prevalence of 65% vs 50%. Workers who wear contact lenses and are exposed to the computer for more than 6 h day(-1) are more likely to suffer CVS than non-lens wearers working at the computer for the same amount of time (aOR = 4.85; 95% CI, 1.25-18.80; p = 0.02). Regular contact lens use increases CVS after 6 h of computer work.

Strategi Pengembangan Karier PNS Fungsional Umum di Institut Pertanian Bogor

<p>The main issues in the field of human resources is a state civil officials on the quality and distribution of civil servants, therefore we need a research to know the civil servant career development strategy. Process and career development should be professional career development oriented of civil servants which means not only the structural purpose, but also to developing expertise towards functional. Thus, the position of the functional has a role as equal partners in a structural position. The purpose of this study is to identify what are the main priorities of the factors, actors and objectives as well as the recommendation of alternative strategies are most influential on the development of common functional civil servants career in IPB. The research was conducted at IPB and the Bureau of Personnel Culture and Education Ministry Secretariat using descriptive analysis and AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) methods. The results of the descriptive analysis is from 1.500 civil servants education personnel only 14,3% certain functional officials in IPB, thus 83,7% is common functional PNS included structural officials which selectively will be converted to be specific functional civil service officials. Results obtained from AHP processing the alternative strategy most recommended is the establishment of assessment centers (0,482) by actor Vice Rector of Resources and Strategic Studies (0,498), through the strengthening of organizational factors (0,357) with the aim of increasing professionalism (0,600), that all are the main priorities which influence to the development of a common functional IPB civil servants career.</p><p>Keywords: civil servant quality and distribution, professionalism, carrier development strategy, assesment center</p>

The Masculinities of Post-colonial Governance: Bureaucratic memoirs of the Indian Civil Service

AbstractThis article examines the memoirs of Indian Civil Service officers as they continued to work in what became the Indian Administrative Service after independence. Rather than being understood solely as historical archives, these texts constitute a genre that can be called the ‘bureaucratic memoir’ which reveals masculinities that are both colonial and post-colonial. These memoirs, and their publication decades after independence reveal attempts by elites to preserve the power of the bureaucracy into subsequent decades. The texts hope to disavow but instead also reveal the patriarchal intimacies of these elites, even as these were challenged by charges of corruption and failure which emerged almost from the first moments of independence.

Children’s Literature and Capitalism: Fictions of Social Mobility in Britain, 1850–1914 by Christopher Parkes (review)

Reviewed by: Children’s Literature and Capitalism: Fictions of Social Mobility in Britain, 1850–1914 by Christopher Parkes Jane Rosen (bio) Children’s Literature and Capitalism: Fictions of Social Mobility in Britain, 1850–1914, by Christopher Parkes. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. This book is an interesting contribution to the valuable series Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature produced by Palgrave Macmillan and edited by Kerry Mallan and Clare Bradford. Christopher Parkes’s premise is that the child emerged from the Industrial Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century both as a victim of capitalist society and as a threat to it. This he claims is because the image of the child as exploited cheap factory labor and existing in deep poverty and misery led to the perception of capitalism as harsh and unsympathetic. As a result of this the child victim was a threat to it, making it vulnerable to forces which might attempt to destroy or replace it. He attempts in this book to assess the ways in which Victorian and Edwardian authors developed narratives that redefined the relationship of the child to [End Page 258] the marketplace and allowed it a more acceptable place in capitalist society, rendering the threat harmless. He argues that this was done by equating the spirit of capitalism with the spirit of childhood, and examines various authors, looking at the way in which both phenomena are defined by their common attributes of curiosity, invention and ingenuity. Parkes looks at the role of nineteenth and early twentieth century children’s literature, as well as of texts that represent childhood and children, in reconfiguring the child so that it cannot be a victim of capitalist society. He reassesses the dominance of British romanticism’s idea of childhood as separate and apart from capitalist society. As he puts it: “It has caused us to focus almost exclusively on what capitalist society has done to the child rather than what the child has done to the capitalist society” (7). He begins his analysis with a historical overview of the subject of the employment of young people, both male and female, in the nineteenth century, looking at the changes in employment practice which eventually allowed those with aptitude to pursue their ambition and to use their talents in order to achieve some social mobility. Further, the exigencies of the capitalist system required alterations to the profession’s management and recruitment, leading to changes in the education and qualifications required for certain roles. According to Parkes, one result of this was a move away from upper-class and major public school educated Civil Service officials to middle-class minor public school educated ones. This was obviously due to the overriding need of the expanding industrial capitalist system for a more educated workforce in general and for a practical and technically efficient middle-class hierarchy of overseers. Parkes continues by looking at two works by Charles Dickens, David Copperfield and Great Expectations. He draws the reader’s attention to one of the themes in David Copperfield, the assumption that family business is the moral center of the economy, a theme that reflected the ideology of the time. Parkes asserts that Dickens shows in both novels that working-class children are not able to develop or even discover their natural talents as they are too involved in laboring for the family business. He points to Dickens’s place in the arena of British history, describing it as a time when there was a transition from family to corporate capitalism, thus necessitating the family’s use of the child’s talents in order to survive. Through the analysis of David Copperfield’s road in life and the close examination of Uriah Heep’s role in the novel, Parkes is able to show [End Page 259] that Dickens believes that social mobility is only possible for children born into solvent family businesses. He notes Heep’s experience in a charity school designed to turn working-class pupils into cheap and humble exploited labor. Heep recognizes the mixed message taught in the school, which also disseminated the idea of social mobility. When Parkes discusses Great Expectations he reiterates the danger to capitalist society...

ORGANIZACIJŲ VADOVŲ ATLYGIS IR JO POKYČIAI LIETUVOS VIEŠAJAME SEKTORIUJE

The article deals with contemporary executive’s rewards system in the Lithuanian public sector and its changes over time. This analysis includes high officials in civil service as well as heads of public service’s providers and managers of state-owned enterprises. The analysis bases on the reward dimension of the Public Service Bargains (PSBs) model which reflects different approaches to tangible and intangible reward elements. This theoretical approach is used to test the hypotheses that there is a clear public sector bargain on the executive’s rewards system, and this bargain was shaped by pre-planned reforms in the public sector. The analysis of the legal framework of the tangible reward system explains how egalitarian bargain was consolidated in the fragmented public service system, and pre-planned reforms added some hierarchical and individualistic elements to this system. The assessment of the Lithuanian public sector executives’ tangible rewards in the international context, differentiation among different types of Lithuanian public sector organizations and inside organisations itself provides clear evidences that the egalitarian reward type dominates in the Lithuanian public service. The refusal by politicians to align the reward system periodically with changes in economic conditions during growth times also strengthens this egalitarian element. Recent public deliberations allow to assess how divergent are approaches by politicians and high public officials to the contemporary executive’s reward system. On the one side, there is a broad political coalition which in a consistent way supports the egalitarian approach to the executive’s reward system. On the other side, high civil service officials follow the logic of the hierarchical system and use judicial measures to protect their interests. An overview of the intangible reward elements in the Lithuanian public sector also shows supporting evidence to the egalitarian reward system. In this context, notable is the failure to introduce a clear career path as the key element of the hierarchical system. This article concludes that the Lithuanian public sector executive reward system can be regarded as egalitarian and was largely shaped by incremental policy decisions, changes in economic conditions, and court decisions but not by pre-planned reforms.

Economic Policy, Does it Help Life Expectancy? An African Evidence on the Role of Economic Policy on Longevity

We evaluate the factors that affect longevity in Africa, with the aim of offering an insight on how government economic policy and consumption spending affect the lives of people in developing countries. Government economic policy was found to be contributing in a negative manner to life expectancy in the countries in our sample. We also find that apathy between the civil service (the embodiment of institutions) and political office holders to be the greatest stumbling block against the success of governmental economic policy, this creates a hole in institutions since they remain the pipe through which revenue is disbursed and policies are implemented for the general good of the populace. After interacting institution with economic policy we find that economic policy has significant effect on life expectancy it was likely that institutions were either circumvented or ignored, leading to possible short comings on the overall effect that government economic policy would have had on life expectancy. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n4p445

The Dilemma for the New Administrative Culture in Mexican Public Administration: Esprit de Corps or Individualist Bureaucracy?

Using empirical data from the first survey conducted with certified Civil Service Officials at the federal level in Mexico, this article discusses how a new administrative culture is already rising within this bureaucratic group. The Mexican civil service is a young institution; the law creating the sector was passed in 2003, after the dominant party that controlled the executive branch for more than 70 years (the PRI) lost the presidential elections for the first time in 2000. The general objective of the Civil Service Law of 2003 was to eliminate the spoils system, thus inaugurating a new era for Mexican public administration. However, this law seems to assume that a civil service is primarily a problem of “professionalization” of individuals, not recognizing any attempt to view the civil service as a group of persons developing a group morale and ethos. Still, this article argues that an esprit de corps is an inevitable outcome of the maturity of a civil service, and the Mexican case will not be the exception.

Of Poetry and Ethics

Ethics is an important determinant of good governance. However, ethical value is hard to observe, and selecting employees and officials based on ethics can be a challenging task. Ancient Chinese philosophy suggests that poems reflect their authors’ “inner purpose.” During the Tang, one of the most prosperous dynasties in China, the government had a practice of selecting government officials based on the artistic quality of their poems. We thus hypothesize a positive association between the quality of poetry and its author’s ethics. Using historical archival records of civil service officials’ ethics and the artistic quality of their poems during China’s Tang Dynasty, we find a positive association between poetry and ethics and thus preliminary circumstantial evidence that ethical people can be a basis for good organizations.

Unleashing “Civilian Power”: A New American Diplomacy through Neglected Tropical Disease Control, Elimination, Research, and Development

In a November/December 2010 article published in the influential journal Foreign Affairs, United States Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton articulated a new vision for American diplomacy and development through the strengthening of what she terms ‘‘civilian power’’ [1]. Stated briefly, the new doctrine calls for the creation of a new cadre of civilian experts who could jointly pursue diplomacy and international development for purposes of solving global challenges related to health, agriculture and food insecurity, environmental degradation, drugs and organized crime, energy, and climate change [1]. Through joint programs between the US Department of State and its United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the additional hiring of more than 1,000 Foreign and Civil Service Officers in each organization, and reflecting the results of a new Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, in the coming years the State Department and USAID would now work more closely to enhance global development in the context of diplomacy. The world’s conflict and post-conflict zones and fragile states would represent key targets for international development efforts [1]. In this new doctrine, Secretary Clinton proposes that together the State Department and USAID would establish a premier global civilian service for responding to complex diplomatic and development challenges [1]. Achieving such an ambitious goal would also mandate that USAID look beyond its walls to embrace business, philanthropist, and citizen groups, with dual emphases on partnering with some of the large emerging market economies (EMEs), i.e., China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, and South Africa, for joint problem solving, and harnessing selected technologies, such as rapidly expanding cell phone access, for establishing a sustainable and lasting impact [1]. The control and elimination of the world’s major neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) represents a substantive global health and economic challenge, yet one that with a well-coordinated assault in the mode as proposed by Secretary Clinton could become the first major victory for civilian power. The NTDs are the most common infections of the world’s poor, and almost all of the ‘‘bottom billion,’’ i.e., the 1.4 billion people, who live on no money, are infected with one or more NTD [2,3]. In addition to causing a level of global disability that compares with that of HIV/AIDS or malaria, NTDs actually cause poverty through their ability to impair child development, pregnancy outcomes, and agricultural productivity and food security [3]. These diseases also destabilize communities and promote civil and international conflicts [4]. There are a number of reasons why taking on the NTDs would be a worthy early first test for civilian power. It is now possible to control or in some cases eliminate one or more of the seven most common NTDs, i.e., ascariasis, hookworm infection, trichuriasis, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and trachoma, through mass drug administration using a ‘‘rapid impact package’’ of drugs that are either donated by the major pharmaceutical companies or available as low cost generics and administered as a part of national control programs [2,3,5]. Mass drug administration for NTDs through rapid impact is one of the lowest cost and cost-efficient mechanisms for both improving maternal child health [6] and lifting the bottom billion out of poverty [3]. The United States government (USG), through its Global Health Initiative (GHI) and USAID’s NTD Program, is already providing financial support for 12 national NTD programs, more than all other countries combined, with additional programs scheduled in the coming years [7]. With assistance from the Department of State, the USAID NTD Program can now reach out to the major EMEs listed above in order to join forces on global NTD control efforts. A USAID–EMEs link makes sense on two fronts: First, it has already been noted that Nigeria has the largest number people infected with the seven NTDs among the sub-Saharan African countries, while South Africa suffers from high rates of some of the soil-transmitted helminth infections and schistosomiasis [8]. Similarly, China, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan have the largest number of ascariasis, trichuriasis, hookworm, lymphatic filariasis, and trachoma cases, as well as other NTDs such as leprosy in Asia [9,10]. Working jointly with experts from USAID and other branches of the USG and GHI, a focused effort on NTDs in the EMEs could ultimately double the total number of at-risk populations receiving rapid impact packages. In addition, China invests billions of dollars in sub-Saharan Africa annually and could also make substantial contributions