Erin L. Borry

Linking theory to television: Public administration in Parks and Recreation

ABSTRACT The Master of Public Administration (MPA) classroom is ripe for teaching opportunities that link theory to practice. Film and television clips are one way to show “practice.” This article explores the use of NBC’s Parks and Recreation, the popular sitcom led by Amy Poehler, as a teaching tool that can be fun and beneficial for stimulating classroom discussion and fostering critical analysis skills. Through a content analysis, it is established that the series includes a vast amount of material that can be utilized in the classroom. Fifty-seven percent of the series’ episodes are applicable in whole or part to help illustrate course concepts and theories, exercise problem-solving skills, or serve as a catalyst for critical thinking. Three specific examples of the utility of episodes in the classroom are presented. Through this research, it is established that Parks and Recreation can enhance one’s teaching arsenal suited for the MPA curriculum.

A New Measure of Red Tape: Introducing the Three-Item Red Tape (TIRT) Scale

ABSTRACT Much empirical red tape research utilizes the General Red Tape (GRT) scale, which asks respondents to rate the level of red tape on a scale of 0 to 10 (Rainey, Pandey, and Bozeman 1995). Because “popular usage of the term ‘red tape’ requires no precision” (Bozeman and Feeney 2011, 3) and the GRT scale “assumes that respondents understand the terms to which they are responding” (101), evaluating red tape in this way may be theoretically disadvantageous. This article proposes a new measure—the Three-Item Red Tape (TIRT) scale—consisting of three items drawn from previous rules research on rule characteristics to which respondents characterize organizational rules by how burdensome, unnecessary, and ineffective they are. This measure has several advantages over existing measures: it includes several indicators; it does not include the term “red tape”; and it is drawn directly from Bozemans (1993; 2000) operational definition of red tape. Using structural equation modeling to model survey data from two local government organizations (n = 1,666), this article evaluates the theoretical and empirical validity of this TIRT scale, compares it with the GRT scale, tests its relationship with formalization, which is known as a distinct concept, and addresses implications of this scale on red tape theory.

Are Competencies Universal or Situational? A State-Level Investigation of Collaborative Competencies

Pioneering work on competencies provided evidence that traits, motives, and self-concepts predict success in a particular job context. Research furthered this line of investigation by identifying competencies that apply across jobs. Together, these competency studies introduced a question that endures today: “Are competencies situational or universal?” This research examines this question in the context of collaborative competencies. Given the contemporary emphasis on working effectively across boundaries, this state-level investigation identifies differentiating competencies and behavioral indicators that both support and expand existing federal-level research findings on collaborative competencies. This study’s answer to the enduring question is yes: There are universal collaborative competency dimensions and context matters in terms of application and interpretation.

Teaching Public Ethics with TV: Parks and Recreation as a Source of Case Studies

Codes of ethics seek to inspire public servants to work ethically, yet ethical misbehavior by public officials appears often in the news. While there exists a lack of consensus about whether ethics education leads to behavioral changes, public administration programs typically include ethics instruction anyway, as either a separate course or sprinkled throughout the curriculum. Student engagement is critical for ethics education, and audiovisual media are known to increase engagement and active learning. Parks and Recreation, a popular NBC sitcom, is proposed here as a useful source of ethics case studies and scenarios that instructors can use to supplement their ethics instruction. A content analysis of the series indicates that more than 35% of the episodes contain ethical content, much of which may be beneficial for the classroom. Three episodes are explained in depth and the utility of the show for ethics education is explored.

Automation in the Public Sector: Efficiency at the Expense of Equity?

Automation promises to reshape a variety of work contexts in the coming years and the public sector will not be immune. While technology broadly—and automation in particular—offers a range of potential benefits from standardization to operational efficiency to financial savings, the potential tradeoffs and ethical impacts should not be neglected. This article addresses potential implications of automation as they apply to the public-sector workforce and its expressed values. Using data on state and local government employee demographics and occupations, this article utilizes scholarly predictions to forecast the ways in which automation may impact the public workforce, including the sector’s commitment to equity goals such as equal employment opportunity and the cultivation of a diverse workforce. Based on this analysis, recommendations are offered for prioritizing these public service values in a swiftly changing context.

Organizational Rule Attributes and Compliance: A Multi-Method Green Tape Study

This study examines the attributes of organizational rules that influence compliance. Rule compliance fosters organizational effectiveness by aligning individual behaviors with organizational preference. While a range of theoretical explanations has been offered for compliance behavior, the characteristics of rule design and implementation have received less empirical attention. Borrowing from the green tape theory of effective rules, this study examines the influence of two particular characteristics – rule formalization and rule consistency – on compliance behavior. Three studies, two vignette experiments and a survey of two local government organizations, provide the data for the research. The results suggest that rule formalization and rule consistency independently increase compliance, with mixed evidence of interaction effects. The broad implication is that public managers must attend to both rule design and implementation to secure compliance from employees.