Local Public Servants Research Articles

The social psychologist as planner: the pioneering work of Oscar Oeser in urban and rural communities in mid-twentieth century Australia

ABSTRACT Oscar Oeser was a polymath import to the Antipodes, primarily known as a social psychologist and as the founding Professor of Psychology at the University of Melbourne. But he was also a very effective network builder, and an important conduit for overseas ideas – not least with respect to urban and rural planning. With interest in urban planning surging in the immediate post-Second World War period, Oeser undertook a joint project with the Head of Architecture at Melbourne, Brian Lewis, along with a number of other notable figures. The project involved surveying and re-imagining the down-at-heel suburb of Prahran. It was ambitious in its empirical scope, and it showcased Oeser's sensitivity to the ‘human elements’ in planning that prefigured current participatory models. Nonetheless, the Prahran project's impact was muted and ambiguous, its data selectively co-opted by local politicians and public servants to serve a pragmatic modernist agenda. Oeser's subsequent planning work featured innovative approaches to designing remote rural communities and indigenous housing. Oeser's overall legacy in planning was thus a historically contingent one: it tells us something about what might have been as much as what was.

When Perceptions of Public Service Harms the Public Servant: Predictors of Burnout and Compassion Fatigue in Government

Public servants’ mental health can impact how, how well, and to whom services are delivered. In this article, we extend the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework to consider whether employees’ perceptions of themselves, their co-workers, and beneficiaries predict higher psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a survey of state and local public servants ( n = 3,341), we report alarming rates of psychological distress: one in three employees are burnt out and one in five are experiencing compassion fatigue. Those who view government as the place to make a difference, and those who perceive co-workers as competent, are less likely to report distress. Those who attribute poverty to systemic factors, and not to individual flaws of beneficiaries, experience higher distress. These findings suggest an urgent need to prioritize public servant mental health, and show that individual perceptions of self and others can predict variation in psychological distress, even in periods of widespread crisis.

Public Service Motivation of Street- Level Bureaucrats Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Experiences in Implementation of an at-Home Vaccination Program

This article details public service motivation of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel within a local fire department in Texas, as they implemented an at-home vaccination program, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. EMS personnel were surveyed and interviewed to learn more about their professional experiences. Using mixed methods, this work finds that EMS personnel in the local department exhibit high levels of public service motivation in both deciding to participate in the at-home vaccination program and throughout their experience in administering the vaccine to community members. This research offers insight local public servants’ motives during a time of crisis and while working in a new, innovative capacity.

Public Servants’ Values and Mental Mediatization – An Empirical Study of Swedish Local Government

Public servants’ value dispositions is a central theme of inquiry in Public Administration research. Various trends and reforms in the public sector, New Public Management, the audit society, marketisation and mediatization, for example are expected to affect these values. This article analyses whether, and in what ways, mediatization affects public servants’ values. Drawing on survey data from local government officials, we explore the mediatization thesis at the level of individual public servants using the concept of mental mediatization. Regarding their values, we empirically establish a dominance of organizational professionalism rather than democratic professionalism among local government public servants. We then analyze mediatization at the level of individual public servants in local government, in contrast to previous research which has focused on the mediatization of politics and central government. While finding an interesting gap between strong beliefs in, but little self-assessed impact of, mediatization, the article rejects an expected correlation between mental mediatization and public servants’ value dispositions.

The Role of Universities of Georgia in Providing Continuing Education Courses of Local Self-Government Public Servants

The present-day rate of development of the society and technologies in any sphere requires from the employee constant raising of qualification and gaining new knowledge and skills – continuous professional development. Life-long learning, continuing education is equally important compared with initial degree education. This leads to the necessity of ensurng continuing education in especially significant areas for the country in which the country’s leading universities have to be actively involved. Provision of continuing education for local self- government public servants in recent years in the context of the self - government reform gained special actuality in Georgia. The aim of the article is to underline the significant role of universities of Georgia in developing and providing continuing education courses to public servants of local self-government and identifying those measures which will promote active involvement of universities in this process.

Cuts without conflict: The use of political strategy in local health system retrenchment in Sweden

Disinvestment in health services is seen as challenging by decision-makers as the public usually reacts strongly to rationing and retrenchments. Drawing on the literature on welfare state retrenchment – the reduction of public expenditure by cutting costs or spending – this article explores the development and implementation of a comprehensive retrenchment programme in one local health system in Sweden (a so-called region). According to theory, retrenchments are both electorally risky and institutionally difficult. Nonetheless, they take place and in the local health system we investigate, without too extensive public protest and without decision-makers having to resign. The main question in this qualitative study is: why and how was it possible to make such comprehensive retrenchments despite being unpopular and facing many political and institutional barriers? Interviews with 18 local politicians and public servants were carried out between January 18 and April 3, 2017, and analysed from the perspective of political strategy. They showed that the serious budget deficit, and a shared understanding of what the region's problems were, are important explanations for why the retrenchment programme was possible to develop and implement. Based on a thorough internal review of the health system, a crisis discourse developed which partly depoliticized the retrenchment programme. Justification and framing are keys to how it was possible. The retrenchment programme was justified by arguing that current service provision exceeded that in comparable regions, and framed as necessary saving the local health system and enhancing quality. Important strategies were thus to redefine the retrenchments and to blame-share, the latter through politicians and public servants claiming responsibility together after involving the clinic managers. In sum, our study shows that the retrenchment literature and theories on political strategy may be fruitfully applied to the health-care sector as well. By studying the local level, our findings contribute to the retrenchment literature, indicating that political strategy at the local level is more about justification and blame sharing, than blame avoidance.

윤리의식과 조직시민행동 간 공직동기의 매개효과에 대한 실증분석: 부산 소재 구청의 지방공무원을 대상으로

인구특성인 성별, 연령, 직급, 근속년수를 통제변수로 하여 회귀분석을 한 결과 윤리의식은 공직동기에 유의미한 영향을 미치고 윤리의식은 조직시민행동에 유의미한 영향을 미치고 공직동기는 조직시민행동에 유의미한 영향을 미쳤다. 이러한 회귀분석을 기초로 하여 실시된 3단계 매개회귀분석을 통해서 공직동기와 구성차원들이 매개변수로서 부분매개 역할을 하는 것이 입증되었으며 Sobel 검정을 한 결과 공직동기가 갖는 매개효과의 유의성이 확인되었다. 조직시민행동에 대한 관계에서 공직동기는 윤리의식과는 영향력을 부분적으로 공유하는 불가분의 매개적 관련성을 갖고 있다. 그러므로 조직시민행동을 높여 조직효과성을 확보하려는 전략에서 공직동기는 윤리의식을 대신하는 보완적 대안 정책수단으로 사용할 수가 있다.

팔당 상수원관리지역 주민지원사업 갈등의 프레임 분석 : 지역주민과 공무원 간의 인식 프레임 비교

팔당 상수원관리지역 주민지원사업 갈등의 프레임 분석 : 지역주민과 공무원 간의 인식 프레임 비교

기초지방정부 공직자의 윤리의식과 조직효과성에서 공직동기의 역할 탐색

기초지방정부 공직자의 윤리의식과 조직효과성에서 공직동기의 역할 탐색

A Study on the Measurement of the Education-Training Demand of Local Public Servants

A Study on the Measurement of the Education-Training Demand of Local Public Servants

The Effect of Local Public Servants` Public Service Motivation on Job Satisfaction and Organizational Climate: Focused on Busan Public Servants

이 연구는 공공봉사동기가 연동모델에 영향을 미치게 될 때, 직무만족 또는 조직 분위기의 매개효과를 살펴보는 것에 목적을 두고 있다. 이러한 목적을 달성하기 위하여 각 변수가 지닌 개념을 고찰하였으며, 외생변수가 내생변수에 미치게 되는 상대적 기여도를 실증 분석 하였다. 실증 분석을 위하여 공공봉사동기의 하위변수들이 연동모델에 영향을 미치게 될 때, 그 영향관계를 비교할 수 있는 구조모형을 설계하였다. 또한 영향관계를 비교할 수 있도록 부산광역시 산하 기초자치단체에 소속된 지방공무원들에게 `공익을 위한 헌신`과 `측은 지심`, `자기희생`, `직무만족`, `조직 분위기`의 수준을 설문지를 통해 측정하였다. 구조 방정식모델을 활용하여 공공봉사동기가 직무만족 또는 조직 분위기에 영향을 미치게 될 때, 직무만족 또는 조직 분위기의 매개효과를 검토하였다. 그 결과, 공공봉사동기의 하위변수들 중 공익을 위한 헌신과 측은지심, 그리고 자기희생이 직무만족의 매개효과 때문에 조직 분위기에 영향을 미쳤다. 한편, 공공봉사동기의 하위변수들 중 측은지심은 조직 분위기의 매개효과가 유의하지 못하여 직무만족에 영향을 미치지 못하는 것으로 나타났다. 하지만, 공공봉사동기의 하위변수들 중 공익을 위한 헌신과 자기희생은 조직 분위기의 매개효과 때문에 직무만족에 영향을 미쳤다.

A Study on the Turnover Intention of Local Government Public Servants

A Study on the Turnover Intention of Local Government Public Servants

An Empirical Study on the Impacts of Local Public Servants’ Union Commitment on Stability of Industrial Relations

An Empirical Study on the Impacts of Local Public Servants’ Union Commitment on Stability of Industrial Relations

지방공무원의 성과지향적 가치지향이 직무태도에 미치는 영향 -상관신뢰의 조절효과를 중심으로-

이 연구는 지방공무원들의 성과관리 관련 가치지향이 성과관리제도의 수용성을 통하여 직무태도에 미치는 영향을 분석해 보고, 이러한 인과경로에 있어서 공무원들의 상관신뢰가 조절효과를 지니고 있는지에 관해 실증분석해 봄으로써 정책적 시사점을 도출해 보는데 연구목적을 두었다. 이를 위해 지방공무원들을 대상으로 표본을 추출하여 설문조사를실시하였다. 분석결과, 지방공무원들의 성과지향적 가치지향은 성과관리제도의 수용성을 통하여 조직몰입, 직무만족 등의 직무태도에 유의한 영향을 미치고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 상관신뢰의 조절효과를 분석한 결과 개인주의와 업적주의 등에서는 상관신뢰가 조절효과가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 분석결과를 토대로 정책적 시사점을 제시하였다. This study is to suggest the theoretical and policy implications by analysing the moderating effects of trust for senior in the causal relationships among the research variables. For this study, 273 of the local public servants were sampled and surveyed. The results of this study showed that local public servants' performance oriented values affect job attitude through their acceptance for performance management system. And this study showed that trust in the leader moderates the relationships among individual orientation, performance orientation and job attitude. This study suggested some theoretical and practical implications on the base of the results.

Community Social Service and Public-Private Partnership

This study presents considerations for the provision of social services in the form of public-private partnerships in each region of South Korea. After identifying which local governments provide social services in the form of public-private partnerships I investigated how the public and private sectors that provide these services perceive such partnerships. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted on public servants and workers in private welfare centers in Gangdong-gu, Seoul; Nam-gu, Busan; Jangseong-gun, Jeollanam-do Province; and Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do Province, focusing on the Community Associations of Social Welfare, Hope Welfare Supporters, Dong as a Hub of Welfare project, and Public-Private Partnership cases. The results of my analysis reveal that it is necessary to adopt a two-track approach by distinguishing between “finding” and “supporting” those in need of help in order to effectively provide social services. Furthermore, the task of providing social services to people with diverse needs cannot be done solely by the public or private sector; rather, cooperation between both is necessary. In particular, this study found that local public servants must perceive public-private partnerships more positively.

A Structural Analysis of the Difference of Central and Local Public Servants' Cognitions of Governance

A Structural Analysis of the Difference of Central and Local Public Servants' Cognitions of Governance

A Structural Analysis of the Change of Local Public Servants' Cognitions about Local Governance - Focused on Public Servants of Chungju City and Hongcheong County Taking Service in 2005 and 2010 -

A Structural Analysis of the Change of Local Public Servants' Cognitions about Local Governance - Focused on Public Servants of Chungju City and Hongcheong County Taking Service in 2005 and 2010 -

Local Public Servants and Employees in the Republic of Croatia: Legal Position and Obligations

The topic of this paper is an analysis of the legal position of local public servants and employees in the Republic of Croatia as well as of their rights and obligations in the light of the enactment of the Public Servants and Employees in local and regional self-government Act. In this sense, the concept and characteristics of the status of the administrative public servant from the aspect of administrative theory and practice are analysed, a short comparative overview of different official systems in Europe is given, and the position of local public servants and employees in Croatia in the light of positive legal regulations is analysed. In the conclusion, an assessment of the existing officials system which is related to local public servants and employees in Croatia is given in the context of the stated modern systems of public administration. Also assessed is whether the enacted legal regulations will have a positive effect on the implementation of personnel policy, greater motivation and the work of local public servants and employees thereby finally resulting in a better and more quality functioning of local self-government. 
 
 Key words: • Republic of Croatia • public administration • local self-government • local public servants and employees

Analysis of Local Councils' Public Servants Satisfaction with Education & Training supporting for legislative activities

Analysis of Local Councils' Public Servants Satisfaction with Education & Training supporting for legislative activities

Local Government Public Servants Performance and Citizens Participation in Governance in Nigeria

This paper examines the performance of public administrators at the local government level in Nigeria. It traces the development of local governments in Nigeria from 1945 to present times. It argues that the shift in the critical decision‐making powers and functions of local government requires its public administrators to be better‐trained professionals. However, without citizens' participation in governance, public servants' accountability will be low. The study addresses the following questions: How do public sector performance and development of actions by citizens affect accountability in the local governments? How much training do public administrators in Nigeria's local governments have in public management? What is the relationship between performance and citizenship participation in local governments' development process? The question of interests in this study is how public administration at the local government level can better serve Nigeria's communities and in so doing develop authentic relationship with citizen groups, and equitably enhance public trust, legitimacy, and performance of the public sector in the nation.