Mixed methods approaches are increasing advocated for researching complex problems in the social sciences, but they are not widely used by postgraduate students of public management. This article describes a study where qualitative and quantitative methods lecturers worked collaboratively to design and teach both methodology courses in an…

This explanatory study explored what graduate programs should embrace in educating public serving professionals to become able to respond to paramount challenges unknown at the time of studies. For conceptual frameworks, the study employed: (1) principal-agent theory on how predominant philanthropic organizations pushed the creation of globalized…

Despite the fact that our knowledge on how policies are designed has substantially improved during the last two decades, prescriptive literature on policy formulation remains largely disconnected from these new findings. The article examines five major assumptions upon which policy formulation is still predominantly based: (a) there is one way…

When crises occur, revisiting given knowledge and practices seems sensible and necessary. For instance, the recent financial crisis in 2008 lead to questioning the role played by financial institutions and business schools in precipitating the crisis by allowing questionable professional ethics to go unchallenged. There is a current crisis in…

Future public administrators are predominantly entering the field as practitioners, and therefore, classroom work should have relevance in the field. Public administration educators need to find engaging ways to connect theory to practice, as well as creating culturally competent, ethical decision-makers, capable of sifting through information to…

There has been a rise in scholarship on using prime-time television as an educational tool for teaching opportunities that link theory to practice in a Master of Public Administration (MPA) classroom. However, one topic that has not been explored but would benefit from using television is leadership. This article explores the use of HBO's…

This article argues that law cases are rich raw material for analytical ethics education in public administration. While scholars acknowledge that law can play some role in teaching ethics, they have aimed outside the law for ways to engage students in developing a sense of ethical responsibility. Law cases are a readily available resource to…

The purpose of this article is to explore why work-experienced students with up to 20 years of experience may not change their perception of professional practice when subsequently participating in practice-based learning programmes in higher education. We investigated the role of the degree of codification as operationalisation in how students…

Research on student selection mostly focuses on accepted applicants and the effects of selection procedures. In this sense, most samples seem to be biased, which is well-reflected in the literature. The present study investigates student selection regarding students who had been initially de-selected but finally succeeded in the admission process.…

The civil service has seen dramatic changes over the last 50 years, symbolized by the shift from Traditional Public Administration, to New Public Management and now New Public Governance. Likewise, the role and nature of people management functions has changed with the development of Strategic HR and Human Resource Development (HRD). Finally, the…

Public policy is frequently characterised as a sub-discipline of political science which is practically oriented and concerned with what government does and does not do. Further, policy analysis can also be characterised as concerned with either the analysis 'of policy' or 'for policy'. This clearly has implications for the design and delivery of…

Normative management behaviors have resulted in the patterns of today--a lack of equity in leadership positions and policies that are less favorable toward women. Meanwhile, public service values, such as respect, equity, diversity, and inclusiveness, are central foci among the professional standards and norms within the public administration…

The effective public sector must facilitate relationships between the government and the public that reflect the increasing cultural diversity of their communities. With the reality of increasing diversity and heightened awareness of the impact of public policies within this expanding reality, public service programs must prepare future public and…

This article investigates transformations in public service education over the past 50 years, specifically: How have organizational forms evolved, and what lessons can we draw from that evolution? The organizational form construct originates in population ecology theory. We draw from a variety of evidentiary sources in answering the research…

In recent decades civil services worldwide have experienced exogenous forces that are transforming their work and workplace. In turn, these changes are altering the skills set associated with civil service employment. As professional degrees oriented towards careers in civil service these changes can have important ramifications on the curriculum.…