Dirty Work and Emotional Labor in Public Service: Why Government Employers Should Adopt an Ethic of Care

2021 ◽  
pp. 0734371X2199754
Author(s):  
Sharon H. Mastracci
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Dirty Work ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Consumer Sovereignty ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Service Expectations

This article combines theories on emotional labor in public service and dirty work to argue that organizations should adopt an ethic of care to support their workers. The economics of public services undermine the consumer-sovereignty narrative in government, particularly where public servants are agents of social control and enforcement. Public servants cannot and should not behave according to a customer-service ethos in many important areas of public service. Emotional labor is the process by which workers manage the identity-damaging aspects of public service. This article critiques individual-level human resource management (HRM) approaches and recommends dismantling customer service expectations that are inappropriately applied in public-service contexts.

Public Service Motivation in Public Administrations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wouter Vandenabeele ◽  
Carina Schott
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
Interaction Patterns ◽  
Public Performance ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Public Servant ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

Public service motivation (PSM) refers to an individual’s motivation to contribute to society. It relates to ideas about society, and about what public servants are and how they should behave, that have persisted for more than 2,500 years. Despite this heritage, PSM was only formally conceptualized in the 1990s. The concept of PSM has traditionally been linked to several beneficial outcomes, such as public performance and public servants’ satisfaction, but recently also to negative outcomes, such as burnout and rule-breaking. While PSM is an individual-level concept, the role of the social environment is crucial to understanding PSM. On the one hand, social institutions play an important role in creating individual-level PSM through socializing mechanisms. Institutions such as the family and workplace, and other structured value-based interaction patterns, correlate with the prevalence of individual PSM. On the other hand, to render outcomes, interaction with the environment—in terms of fit—is necessary, because PSM cannot exert influence outside a context where public values are prominent. As most research focuses on public servants in their work environment, this fit mostly entails a match of the individual public servant with the organization or the job. If this fit is lacking, little or no PSM occurs. Although PSM research was initially a theoretical and psychometric exercise, it is increasingly put to practical use.

PREPARING PUBLIC SERVANTS IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES: ARCHETYPAL APPROACH

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (14) ◽  
pp. 255-263
Author(s):  
Oleh Ivanovich Rohulskyi
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
German Model ◽  
Managerial Positions ◽  
A Chain ◽  
The Individual

The article describes the main components of the institutional framework of an archetypical approach to public administration. It is determined that the system of preparation of public servants is based on a chain of universal foundations of archetype, in particular, it is influenced by the principle of formation of personnel in the public service, formed on the basis of public opinion. Based on two basic principles relating to admission to public service, three basic models of training civil servants in the European country are defined: German. French and Anglo-Saxon. We analyze each of the models and define the archetypes that influenced their formation and development. The advantages of each model are determined, in particular, the benefits are: the German model of training managers is the balancing between the theoretical knowledge and practical skills that a public servant receives during training, but as a disadvantage one can distinguish the orientation of preparation for legal orientation, which limits the ability to hold managerial positions for many employees The French model of professional training of public servants should include a well-balanced understanding of tasks, namely: decentralization and territorial organization of public services, communication, support of territorial communities, in-depth knowledge and understanding of the need for cooperation with institutions of the European Commonwealth, high-quality human resource management and orientation towards environmentally friendly innovations, such a model of training of public servants is holistic, costly and effective; The Anglo-Saxon model of training of public servants is its orientation towards the implementation of the concept of public administration and the individual approach to employee training, taking into account all the specifics of its activities, providing for the formation of personnel capable of solving specific problems. It is concluded that today in most European countries dominated by mixed models that include elements of different models.

THE ROLE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE IN THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF NIGERIA

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiemeka Onyema
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
National Development ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Business Policy ◽  
Technological Base ◽  
Development Plans ◽  
Ease Of Doing Business ◽  
The Right

The goal of berthing Nigeria’s full-scale industrial revolution is yet to be achieved. All the industrial development plans have so far failed to accelerate the nation’s industrialization, hence the country’s low industrial base which has kept her in the league of developing nations. In fact, Nigeria has in recent times been experiencing deindustrialization, as several industries have collapsed and some others, such as Unilever and Michelin, have relocated to other countries. Several factors are responsible for Nigeria’s low industrial development and they include: inadequate infrastructure (particularly, energy), poor technological base, multiple taxes and levies, and, the shortage and high cost of foreign exchange. Despite a growing body of literature on industrialization in Nigeria, not much has been written about the link between Public Service Reforms and industrialization in Nigeria. This paper examines the links between the implementation of the Service Compact (SERVICOM) Charter and the achievement of Nigeria’s industrial development policies, especially the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ Policy. The paper makes the case that the goal of industrializing Nigeria will not be fully realised without an efficient Public Service. Furthermore, the paper highlights the need for Nigerian public servants to have the right work attitude, and to be morally upright and patriotic, in order to create a business-friendly environment and to build investor confidence, so as to facilitate and accelerate the country’s industrialization and overall national development. The author recommends that the Nigerian government should strengthen the implementation of the Servicom Charter and also incorporate the Charter into the industrialization plan.

Professional and Communicative Proficiency of a Mentor as a Tool of Image Building in Public Service

Communicology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-88
Author(s):  
D.A. Kemenev
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Servant ◽  
Professional Business ◽  
Image Building

The article investigates the imageological aspect of mentor’s communicative competence in public service and reveals the communicative functions of mentor’s image in relation to the mentees. The author determines the communicative skills necessary for the mentor in all processes and stages of this personnel technology. Based on the analysis of scientific publications, the author discloses and justifies the role models of mentor’s behavior in relation to the mentees from the perspective of the mentor’s image, authority, and communicative competence. The author has conducted an expert survey among public servants, which allowed identify the main professional, business, moral, psychological, and integral qualities that are the most effectively developed by the public servant in the process of performing mentor’s functions. As a result, the author suggests a structural-logical model of the communicative competence of a mentor in the public service in the process of perceiving its communicative knowledge, skills, and competencies for achieving the effectiveness of mentoring.

Servant Leaders in Public Service: Christian Spirituality in Practice

Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Willa Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Servant Leadership ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Christian Spirituality ◽  
Servant Leaders ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
American Society

Relying on a survey of members of the American Society for Public Administration, servant leadership is examined through the lens of Christian spirituality.  Findings indicate that citizens can have confidence in the dedication and committment of public servants.

Wonks and Warriors: Depictions of Government Professionals in Popular Film

Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth A. Wielde ◽  
David Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Popular Film ◽  
Feature Films ◽  
Perceived Reality ◽  
Recent Government

The importance of studying public service portrayals in popular film lies in theimportance of popular culture itself. Popular culture defines generations, both creating and reflecting trends. It provides a window to worlds that may otherwise be a mystery. Popular film messages merge with other media and environmental factors to form a perceived reality for many (Kelly and Elliott 2000).This article examines the depiction of non-elected public servants in movies. It seeks to identify how these individuals are depicted in film and to determine if there are any specific stereotypes or patterns that emerge regarding how Hollywood describes nonelected government officials. It will do this by undertaking a content analysis of a small sample of recent government-themed feature films, ones that have entered into the popular culture mainstream since the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as certain earlier films that have entrenched themselves into the popular culture vernacular.

Public Service Motivation in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Mastracci
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Buffy The Vampire Slayer ◽  
The Public ◽  
American Popular Culture ◽  
Public Servant ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual

In this paper, the author examines public service as depicted in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS). First, she shows how slaying meets the economist’s definition of a public good, using the BtVS episode “Flooded” (6.04). Second, she discusses public service motivation (PSM) to determine whether or not Buffy, a public servant, operates from a public service ethic. Relying on established measures and evidence from shooting scripts and episode transcripts, the author concludes Buffy is a public servant motivated by a public service ethic. In this way, BtVS informs scholarship on public service by broadening the concept of PSM beyond the public sector; prompting one to wonder whether it is located in a sector, an occupation, or in the individual. These conclusions allow the author to situate Buffy alongside other idealized public servants in American popular culture.

Emotional Labor: Putting the Service in Public Service

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 108
Author(s):  
Victoria Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Emotional Labor

Reviewed by Victoria Gordon

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