Public Problem Solving Research Articles

Gaining those important lab skills:Three different training programs at a liberal arts college

Hands‐on biology experiences beyond the classroom are powerful pedagogy tools. Their value is even greater at a liberal arts college, since these experiences foster biology proficiency without sacrificing liberal arts education. These experiences benefit students beyond the provision of scientific knowledge by enhancing public speaking, problem solving, and time management skills, along with self confidence. Here we outline three training opportunities available to students in the undergraduate biology program at Marymount Manhattan College. The first begins in a “Lab Skills” workshop that trains newer students in basic laboratory skills. Students may follow this by participating in undergraduate research where they are guided by faculty members and upper‐classmen in a structured training program focusing on skills specific to the research project. They also learn how to analyze primary literature, develop and execute a research project, and present research findings. An alternate opportunity allows students to train under the Laboratory Supervisor, where students acquire knowledge in chemical hygiene, biological and general lab safety, and hazardous waste management. Students are introduced to compliance standards and learn to apply these standards in the laboratory. Our analysis reveals that alumni of these programs have positive post baccalaureate scientific outcomes.

Tracing the identity of public administration in light of Minnowbrook’s echoes

As there are crucial and determining periods in the life cycle of every scientific discipline, which sometimes change the destiny of that discipline, the first Minnowbrook conference can be considered as one of these decisive events in the history of administration science. The outcome of Minnowbrook was the commencement of a dialectic conflict that gave rise to five distinct approaches as its synthesis. These approaches culminated in the development of “new public management”, “good governance”, “e-government”, “reinventing government or entrepreneurial government”, and “new public services”; although the main identifying school of this dialectical conflict was ignored to a great extent– a school that can be investigated in light of justice-oriented approach of new public administration. Key words: Minnowbrook, new public administration, theoretical dialectics, killer syntheses, public problem solving.

More public and less experts: a normative framework for re-connecting the work of journalists with the work of citizens

The potential of journalists to build a habit of participative and informed political discussion between government and citizens and between citizens and citizens has been eroded by a breakdown in trust between citizens and journalists. This breakdown is in part due to journalists being seen as experts favouring other experts as sources and marginalising the views of citizens - not just in relation to the covering of events but also in the investigation of possible solutions to public problem solving. This mirrors technocratic and expert-driven tendencies in government which further alienate citizens from the political process. This essay uses three theoretical frameworks - democratic professionalism, public journalism and deliberative democracy - to explore the effects of expert-driven professionalism both in the state and in journalism and the implications of this approach for the relationship between journalists and citizens. It proposes that a shift in the way journalists consider their professional role could lead to a re-assessment of the political work of journalists and the political work of citizens and build new habits of participation and discussion in the political process of communities.

Teaching and learning civility

AbstractIncivility can obstruct constructive public discourse and problem solving. Restoring civility is a task for higher education, but it may require tradeoffs with other democratic values.

A Good Coalition

A Good Coalition

Why It Is Imperative To Strengthen American Democracy Through Study, Dialogue and Change In Higher Education

In July 2007, about 40 people – faculty from across disciplines, campus leaders, and civic leaders – gathered for several days at the University of New Hampshire to discuss the role of higher education in American democracy. While we gathered out of concern for the way our democracy seemed to be working, we were also encouraged by promising experiments in democratic dialogue, deliberative politics, and public problem solving, efforts that seem strategic and designed with a strong democracy in mind. Many of the academics in the group were already experimenting with approaches to civic learning, political engagement, democratic dialogue, and programs in leadership or conflict resolution, but in many cases, they didn’t know about each other or even the networks of individuals doing similar work. We agreed to form The Democracy Imperative, a network of educators and who would work together to strengthen democracy in and through higher education.One of our first priorities was to publish a paper framing the nature of the problem and our vision for higher education as a vibrant partner in democratic renewal work. We published that paper in late 2007, but this is a fast-moving field. This 2010 version is an updated version of the Democracy Imperative's original framing paper.

Integrative leadership and the creation and maintenance of cross-sector collaborations

This article presents a theoretical framework for understanding integrative leadership and the creation and maintenance of cross-sector collaborations that create public value. We define integrative leadership as bringing diverse groups and organizations together in semi-permanent ways — and typically across sector boundaries — to remedy complex public problems and achieve the common good. Our framework highlights in particular the leadership roles and activities of collaboration sponsors and champions. The framework is illustrated with examples from the development of MetroGIS, a geographic information system that promotes better public problem-solving in the Minneapolis–St. Paul region of the US. A set of propositions is offered to guide further research and to prompt reflective practice.

Interdisciplinary Problems and Agency Boundaries: Exploring Effective Cross-Agency Collaboration

Interagency collaboration is frequently described as a pivotal element of environmental and public health problem solving; yet, there is little systematic evidence to document the conditions under which interagency collaboration is effective. If, as is widely believed, collaboration can promote comprehensive problem solving, then understanding the determinants of interagency collaboration is fundamental to improving environmental quality and promoting public health. This article examines factors promoting or inhibiting effective working relationships between environmental agencies and state and local public health departments in Wisconsin on a range of environmental and public health policy problems. Data collected using a web-based Internet survey of agency personnel are analysed. The results suggest that previous collaborative experience is important for public health departments at the state and local level, and structural incentives to collaborate are systematically linked to effective interagency collaboration.

Teaching the crisis management/communication course

Crisis management is not a specific content area mentioned in A Port of Entry, The Report of the Commission on Public Relations Education issued in 1999. However, crisis management moves the public relations role to the managerial function and requires the development of many skills and knowledge points mentioned in the report. A course or unit in crisis management/communication is an excellent way of teaching public relations theory, management concepts, information management, problem solving, and communication management. Crisis management also reinforces the value of following current events as real-time crises can be integrated into teaching. Through a unit or a course, crisis management/communication provides an engaging mechanism for teaching management-oriented concepts that every organization needs.

Accountable Autonomy: Toward Empowered Deliberation in Chicago Schools and Policing

In 1988 and 1995, the Chicago Public Schools and Police Department implemented governance reforms that dramatically increase opportunities for citizen engagement in neighborhoods, devolve operational authority to those in individual police beats and school councils, and create deliberative local planning processes. This article conceptualizes these arrangements as an accountable autonomy. Local groups of public officials and citizens are autonomous by virtue of their authority to set public goals, develop strategies to reach those, and then implement those strategies. This autonomy, however, is not license. Local groups should be held accountable by central administrators and the general public for both the democratic quality of their decision processes and their operational effectiveness. The paper explores the degree to which the two reformed Chicago institutions approximate accountable autonomy and potentials for enhancing civic participation and public problem solving. Surprisingly, residents of poor neighborhoods participate at rates equal to or greater than those from wealthy ones. Participation rates across neighborhoods are generally high enough to sustain deliberative problem-solving activity. In some neighborhoods, deliberation between citizens and local officials has yielded innovative strategies that neither group would likely have developed on its own.

Diversity and public problem solving: Ideas and practice in policy education

Diversity and public problem solving: Ideas and practice in policy education

Diversity and public problem solving: Ideas and practice in policy education

Diversity and public problem solving: Ideas and practice in policy education

New Challenges Facing Agricultural and Resource Economics Departments in the Twenty-first Century

Land/grant colleges were established to serve the public via a tripartite system of teaching, research, and extension. Agricultural economists have played a key role in this system in meeting agriculture's needs and are expanding this role to better cover the areas of food, natural resources, and the environment. The declining economic importance of agriculture and the growing interest in relegating agriculture to free market forces has resulted in declining formula funding for the land grant system, greater emphasis on competitive funding, demands for greater accountability, and demands for a return to greater focus on public service, problem solving, and stakeholder involvement in the definition of research, teaching, and outreach agenda. Simultaneously, the demand for the traditional “agricultural economics” graduate is declining. This paper reviews the current and long-term issues and trends facing agricultural economics departments, explores the futures of their teaching, research, and outreach programs, and highlights the challenges that will be faced as these departments explore new teaching, research, and service opportunities in the areas of food, natural resources, and the environment. The paper concludes by arguing that for forward thinking agricultural economics departments, these pending changes will represent opportunities for better scholarship, more balance, and more effective service.

Frame multiplicity and policy fiascoes: Limits to explanation

The dynamics of intractability, frame multiplicity and intense controversy not only characterize policy formation struggles, as described by Schon and Rein, but also affect the evaluation of policies and government action. Policy analysts play an important part in the politics of policy evaluation. This article demonstrates that they tend to produce very different explanations for controversial, failing policies. Such differing explanations imply different causal attributions, different allocations of blame, and different lessons for future policy-making. Such differences are not random occurrences; they are embedded in the analytical frames that evaluators use to reconstruct policy processes and to explain their outcomes. It is shown that at least three deep-rooted frames can be reconstructed: fiascoes as failures of public problem solving, fiascoes as institutional imbalances, and fiascoes as system artefacts. One of the great epistemological challenges is how to deal with multiple analytical frames. The final part of the article discusses various strategies.

The Study of American Local Governance: A Need for More and Better ‘Backyard‘ Scholarship

Occasional references to the old radical teaching that “all politics is local” notwithstanding, American political scientists have by and large treated the study of local politics as a subject of much lesser importance than national politics. The standard introductory course in “American democracy” has a national focus—often it is exclusively national. Briefly, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the study of “urban politics” occupied a more prominent place in the discipline, but interest has waned. The priority concern in both teaching and research continues to be American national government and politics.This narrow focus leads to a distorted and truncated view of American democracy. Despite increased nationalization, state and local government has been and remains a basic element in the practice of American politics. The productivity and creativity of democracy in America are outcomes, not simply of a national political process, but of a complex system of governance in which local collective action provides much of the energy and initiative for addressing public problems. A vast amount of political activity in the United States is channeled through state and local institutions, where much of the work of public problem solving is done.

STATE LEGISLATIVE CONSTRAINTS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF WATER RESOURCES POLICY1

ABSTRACT: Legislative constraints on the development of water resources policy fit into three broad categories‐political, institutional, and informational. The political category encompasses constituency needs and preferences, satisfaction with existing water management practices and policies, and the necessity for legislators to blend political ambition with public problem solving. Constraints fitting into the institutional category include differences in legislative behavior and attitudes that stem from one's location in the legislature (e.g., senate‐house, leader‐follower, or committee activity), the dynamics of scheduling and organization, and the capability to manage complex issues. Informational constraints refer to the availability of information and the use to which it is put by lawmakers in formulating decisions on waterrelated issues. These constraints are approached from a behavioral perspective by examining several constituency, institutional, and information hypotheses that “explain” legislative involvement with water resources issues. The data are drawn from a recent study of water resources decision making in West Virginia. Eighty‐three of the 134 members of the 1975–76 West Virginia Legislature participated in the study.

Decision Theory in Medicine: A Review and Critique

Decision theory's role in medicine will lie between the extremes of naive optimism ("a Rosetta stone") and unmitigated pessimism ("a computerized Ouija board"). Its application to public health policy, research, and administrative problem-solving is established; experience offers some guidelines for more limited use in clinical practice.

Public Choice + Public Decision Making + Public Policy Making + Public Problem Solving + Public Organization = Public Administration

Public Choice + Public Decision Making + Public Policy Making + Public Problem Solving + Public Organization = Public Administration

On making social research relevant to public policy and national problem solving.

On making social research relevant to public policy and national problem solving.