Identifying and developing desirable soft skills for public service

2020 ◽  
pp. 014473942093155
Author(s):  
Chad Kinsella ◽  
Brandon Waite
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Academic Program ◽  
High Performing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Graduate Employment ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
Do So

One of the key goals of any academic program is to ensure that skills taught in the classroom apply to post-graduate employment. Failure to do so can impact an academic department’s recruitment and retention efforts, strain relations with alumni and damage the institution’s reputation. Using interviews conducted during a faculty externship at a high-performing municipal government, this paper identifies soft skills employers expect students to have when entering the public-sector workforce, and offers suggestions for how to best prepare students for public-sector employment in light of these findings.

Family Transmission of Social Capital: Differences by Social Class, Education and Public Sector Employment

2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 92-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muriel Egerton
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Religious Activities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Graduate Employment ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
Civic Activity ◽  
Parental Class

This paper investigates the role of families in the transmission of tendencies to engage in social and civic activities. The relationship between parents' social class, sector of employment, education and social engagement with their children's civic and social engagement is investigated. It was provisionally hypothesized that graduate parents, particularly those working in the health, education or welfare services, would be more likely to be involved in civic activities, and that they would transmit this pattern to their children. Other forms of social engagement were also examined. Data was drawn from the British Household Panel Study. The survey yielded a sample of approximately 1500 young people and approximately 1200 families. It was found that middle-class parents (particularly professionals) were more likely to be involved in civic activities and that this was also true of their children. A similar effect was found for involvement in religious activities, although the rates of religious activity were low. Little difference by social class was found for Sports and Social activity, although there was a trend towards more involvement for children of managers. The children of managers were involved in a wider range of social organisations. Models exploring the effects of parental class, education and public sector employment were fitted. These seemed to suggest that parental education, particularly mother's education, has an especially strong association with civic activity among children. However, the association was only there for graduate (or sub-degree) mothers who work in the public sector. It seems likely that a particular configuration of professional graduate employment in the state sector has developed in the twentieth century which is associated with civic activity. The results are discussed in the light of the recent university expansion and shift of graduate employment from the public to the private sector.

ISO 9001 and the public service: an investigation of the effect of the QMS on the quality of public service organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Armando López-Lemus
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Iso 9001 ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the influence exerted by a quality management system (QMS) under ISO 9001: 2015 on the quality of public services organizations in Mexico. Design/methodology/approach The methodological design was quantitative, explanatory, observational and transversal, for which a sample of 461 public servants from the state of Guanajuato, Mexico was obtained. To test the hypotheses, a structural equation model (SEM) was developed through the statistical software Amos v.21. For the analysis of the data, software SPSS v.21 was used. Regarding the goodness and adjustment indices of the SEM (χ2 = 720.09, df = 320, CFI = 0.933, TLI = 0.926 and RMSEA = 0.05) which, therefore, proved to be acceptable. Findings According to the results obtained through the SEM model, the QMS under ISO 9001: 2015 is positively and significantly influenced tangible aspects (β1 = 0.79, p < 0.01), reliability (β2 = 0.90, p < 0.01), related to response quality (β3 = 0.93, p < 0.01), guarantees (β4 = 0.91, p < 0.01) and empathy (β5 = 0.88, p < 0.01) of the quality related to public services in Mexico. The study’s key contribution is that it discovered that implementing a QMS in accordance with the ISO 9001: 2015 standard has an impact on the quality of public services, with the most influential quality of response. Similarly, the assurance and dependability of service quality turned out to be important in providing public service quality. Research limitations/implications In this paper, the QMS was only evaluated as a variable that intervenes in the process of obtaining quality in public service under the ISO 9001 standard in its 2015 version. In this regard, the results’ trustworthiness is limited to the extent that the findings may be generalized in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico’s public service. As a result, the scientific community is left primarily focused on service quality to promote new future research. Practical implications The ISO 9001: 2015 standard’s QMS is one of the tools for success in both the commercial and government sectors. However, there are practical limitations, which focus on the time during which managers exercise their vision in the public sector: first, the dynamics that managers play in public policy; second, the length of time they have served in public office; and third, the interest of directors of public institutions to improve the quality of service provided by the government. Other practical consequences concern organizational culture and identity, public servant commitment, senior management or secretaries of government, as well as work and training. Originality/value The findings of this paper are important and valuable because they foster knowledge generation in the public sector through the ISO 9000 quality area. A model that permits the adoption and implementation of a QMS based on the ISO 9001: 2015 standard in public organizations that seek to provide quality in their services offered to the user is also presented to the literature. Similarly, the paper is important because there is currently insufficient research focusing on the variables examined in the context of public service in Mexico.

Een nieuw en flexibel personeelsbeleid in de lokale besturen in Vlaanderen ?

Res Publica ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-97
Author(s):  
Trui Steen
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Personnel Management ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
Personnel Policies

Personnel management in localgovernment in Flanders bas undergone some major reforms during recent years. We examine the purposes and the extent of these reforms. Also, the new personnel management in Flemish local government is evaluated in terms of flexibility. The Flemish civil service can be considered as an Internal Labour Market. The rigidity which characterises the Internal Labour Market in local government in Flanders is shown by the fact that local government lacks discretion in elaborating the personnel statute, which still constitutes the basis of personnel management. However, the thesis that the public sector employment policy is too rigid has to be nuanced. The civil service is familiar with irregular forms ofemployment. Infact, in Flemish local government only half of all personnel are employed according to a statute.Despite some constraints on the development of more flexible personnel policies, it is still possible to find opportunities which provide hope for the development of new and modern personnel management strategies in local government.

scholarly journals Transformational leadership in the South African public service after the April 2009 national elections

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manasseh M. Mokgolo ◽  
Patricia Mokgolo ◽  
Mike Modiba
Keyword(s):  
Transformational Leadership ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Job Performance ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Measuring Instruments ◽  
Full Time ◽  
National Elections ◽  
The Public ◽  
Unstable Environment

Orientation: The implementation of transformational leadership in public services after national elections has been well recorded in other parts of the world. However, this is not the case in South Africa. Research purpose: The purpose of the study is to determine whether transformational leadership has a beneficial relationship with subordinate leadership acceptance, job performance and job satisfaction.Motivation for the study: Leadership is a critical issue that the public sector needs to address in order to survive and succeed in today’s unstable environment. According to Groenewald and Ashfield (2008), transformational leadership could reduce the effects of uncertainty and change that comes with new leaders and help employees to achieve their objectives.Research design, approach and method: The sample comprised 1050 full-time employees in the public sector based in head offices. The measuring instruments included the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), the Leadership Acceptance Scale (LAS), the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) and the Job Performance Survey (JPS).Main findings: Transformational leadership had a positive correlation with subordinate leadership acceptance, performance and job satisfaction.Practical/managerial implications: Managers can train public sector leaders to be transformational leaders because of the adverse effect lack of transformation can have on employees’ attitudes in areas like satisfaction, performance and commitment.Contribution/value-add: This study makes an important contribution to our understanding of transformational leadership processes and to how the public service can improve its practices in order to render quality service to South Africans.

MPA Graduates and the Dilemma of Job Satisfaction: Does Crossing the Sector Line Make a Difference

1991 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barrie E. Blunt ◽  
Kris Anne Spring
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Work Satisfaction ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
State Regional

This study examines levels of job satisfaction for MPA graduates employed in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Findings are based on a survey and indicate that MPA graduates derive greater satisfaction with pay and promotion opportunities in the private sector than in the public or non-profit sectors. No significant differences were noted between the sectors with regard to work satisfaction or satisfaction with supervisor or co-workers. Further, no differences in levels of satisfaction were noted between four categories of public sector employment; federal, state, regional, or local.

scholarly journals Whistleblowing: Impediments to effective implementation within the South African public sector

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nirmala Dorasamy ◽  
Soma Pillay
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
The South ◽  
The Public ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
The Cost

This purpose of this article is to explore impediments to effective whistleblowing as a strategy for promoting anti-corruption practices within the South African public sector. Corruption, which violates the public service code of conduct; deters foreign investment, increases the cost of public service delivery, undermines the fight against poverty and unnecessarily burdens the criminal justice system. The article addresses the question on whether legislation on whistleblowing is adequate to encourage whistleblowing in the public sector. A review of literature determines that the effective implementation of whistleblowing legislation is largely dependent on addressing the challenges identified in the article. The quantitative research method was employed in the study to ascertain the views of employees in the public sector on whistleblowing. Empirical findings confirm the hypothesis that the protection of whistleblowers through legislation is inadequate to encourage whistleblowing. The article provides a conceptual framework for the effective achievement of the intended outcomes of whistleblowing in the public sector.

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