Suchergebnisse

Abstract
A majority of US cabinet departments now have an assistant secretary for public affairs. As a subcabinet office, such appointments are presidential nominations and require Senate confirmation. Given Congress's general hostility to public affairs in the US executive branch, how did such a position first come into being, thereby creating the precedent and a template for other departments? This historical inquiry identifies the US State Department as the first with an assistant secretary for public affairs. However, the office only gradually emerged as a staff position, with Congress never having an opportunity to vote on the principle of creating such a subcabinet office. Once established, other cabinet departments gradually followed suit, to the point that such positions are now routine in Washington, DC.
Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

AbstractNonprofit organizations have a compulsory external accountability (largely involving financial reporting) to government agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service and state regulators. They also have a pragmatic "must‐do" accountability to their funders, clients, and other obvious stakeholders. But are nonprofits also accountable to the public at large? If so, how can such accountability be implemented, given the diffuseness and breadth of the public as an audience? This article suggests that nonprofits should consider the citizenry as a stakeholder, if only due to the substantial taxpayer subsidy of the sector. The theory of public reporting that emerged in public administration literature beginning in the 1920s and 1930s can be helpful. Using principles, templates, and examples from public administration, nonprofit organizations can pursue more vigorous public reporting as one method to increase citizen confidence in their activities and in the sector as a whole.

The Certified Public Manager (CPM) program has attracted some attention in the modest published literature on noncredit continuing education in public administration. However, this body of scholarship has not paid comparable attention to noncredit certificates affiliated formally or informally with CPM programs and awarded in the process of earning the full certification. This article presents results of an exploratory survey of these noncredit certificates. The results indicated that about a third of all CPM programs offer at least one midpoint certificate prior to a student's completion of the full certification. There were wide variations in titles, duration and price of the pre-CPM certificates. On the other hand, these certificates usually focused on required workshops rather than elective ones, on grading and on elements of pedagogy besides classroom attendance. Eight noncredit certificates in general public administration were not formally linked to CPM, but about a third of them had an informal relationship to the local CPM program, permitting the transfer of some or all of these workshop hours toward the full CPM certification. The results of this exploratory research indicate that this little-known phenomenon of pre-CPM certificates and other noncredit certificates that often have links to CPM may be emerging as a component of the CPM process and, therefore, might deserve a higher profile from pedagogues.

AbstractPublic reporting is a requirement for public affairs practitioners in public administration because of the democratic context in which government operates. By reporting to the public‐at‐large on agency activities, government agencies contributed to an informed citizenry, the essential foundation of a democracy. For public affairs in business administration and non‐profit administration, public reporting is desirable rather than mandatory. Public reporting was traditionally accomplished indirectly, through news media coverage of government. However, recent research suggests a diminution of interest by the media in fulfilling its role as an instrument of democracy. This means that the public reporting obligation of public affairs professionals in public administration needs to shift to direct reporting, through such products as annual reports, newsletters, TV programmes, Internet websites etc. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.