Public service values in NASPAA programs: Identification,integration,and activation

Abstract

NASPAA expects accredited public affairs programs to stress public service values in their educational program. This article examines the values that are included the mission statements of 125 public affairs programs. There is wide dispersion in the number and content of the values identified in these mission statements. Content analysis of the five universal competencies was conducted to determine the match between the values in the mission statement and the description of competencies. The results indicate a common need for better integration of key values and the content of the curriculum. Finally, an approach to strengthen the activation of values by relating them to ethical standards in the Code of Ethics of the American Society for Public Administration or another comprehensive code is demonstrated. Despite clear connections between the values in NASPAA competencies and the principles and standards in the American Society for Public Administration Code, few programs incorporate codes in their curriculum.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Box

R. C.

(2015). Public service values. Richard C. Box. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe.

Cooper

T. L.

(2012). The responsible administrator (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Cooper

T. L.

Menzel

D. C.

(2013). Ethical competence for public service leadership. New York, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

Denhardt

R. B.

Denhardt

J. V.

(2000). The new public service: Serving rather than steering. Public Administration Review, 60(6), 549–559. doi:10.1111/puar.2000.60.issue-6

Jacobs

R. M.

(2013). Developing ethical competence: An integrated pedagogical method. In Cooper

T. L.

Menzel

D. C.

(Ed.), Ethical competence for public service leadership. New York, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Chapter 5.

Jurkiewicz

C. L.

(2002). The influence of pedagogical style on students’ level of ethical reasoning. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 8(4), 263–274.

Jurkiewicz

C. L.

(2013). Advancing ethical competence through pedagogy. In Cooper

T. L.

Menzel

D. C.

(Ed.), Ethical competence for public service leadership. New York, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Chapter 6.

Kernaghan

(1994). The emerging public service culture: Values, ethics, and reforms. Canadian Public Administration, 37(4), 614–630. doi:10.1111/j.1754-7121.1994.tb00883.x

Kernaghan

(2003). Integrating values into public service: The values statement as centerpiece. Public Administration Review, 63(6), 711–719. doi:10.1111/puar.2003.63.issue-6

10.

Lewis

C. W.

Gilman

S. C.

(2012). The ethics challenge in public service: A problem-solving guide (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Jossey-Bass.

11.

Mandell

M. B.

(2008). Public values as a core element of NASPAA. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 15(3), 261–267. http://www.naspaa.org/jpaemessenger/Article/jpae-v15n3-01Mand.pdf

12.

Menzel

D. C.

(1997). Teaching ethics and values in public administration: Are we making a difference? Public Administration Review, 224–230. doi:10.2307/976653

13.

Nabatchi

(2011). Exploring the public values universe: Understanding values in public administration. In Public Management Research Conference, Syracuse, NY, June.

14.

NASPAA . (2001). Self study instructions. Washington, DC: National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration [note organization name changed in 2013].

15.

NASPAA . (2017). Self study instructions. Washington, DC: Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration.

16.

Raffel

Maser

McFarland

(2007). NASPAA standards 2009: Public service values, mission-based accreditation (September 12). Retrieved from https://naspaaaccreditation.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/naspaastandardsphilosophy09-12-2007.pdf

17.

Rokeach

(1973). The nature of human values. New York, NY: The Free Press.

18.

Rosenbloom

D. H.

(2017). Beyond efficiency: Value frameworks for public administration. Chinese Public Administration Review, 8, 37–46. doi:10.22140/cpar.v8i1.143

19.

Svara

J. H.

(2012). Macro-ethics in the code of the pan-generalist American Society for Public Administration. Public Integrity, 14(3), 229–246. doi:10.2753/PIN1099-9922140302

20.

Svara

J. H.

(2015). The ethics primer for public administrators in government and nonprofit organizations (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

21.

Turner

A. H.

(2015). Instilling public service values and professionalism through information literacy. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 21(1), 41–54.

22.

van der Wal

Huberts

(2008). Value solidity in government and business results of an empirical study on public and private sector organizational values. The American Review of Public Administration, 38, 264–285. doi:10.1177/0275074007309154