Linda deLeon

The Political Theory of Reinvention

In this article, we examine the implications of the reinvention movement for democratic governance, broadly defined. The most basic premise of the reinvention movement is a belief that the accumulation of the narrowly defined self-interests of many individuals can adequately approximate the public interest. By “narrowly defined,” we mean the interests of individuals as they privately apprehend them, unmediated by participation in a process of civic discourse. To illustrate the centrality of this assumption to the implicit theory of reinvention, we consider three of its elements—its use of the market model, its emphasis on customers rather than citizens, and its glorification of entrepreneurial management. We then examine the implications of the self-interest assumption, which entails a rejection of democratic citizenship, civic engagement, and the public interest, broadly conceived.

Accountability In A ‘Reinvented’ Government

Whether ‘reinvented’ government implies worker empowerment, increased managerial discretion, or decentralization, it is widely thought to mean diminished accountability. A two-dimensional typology (based on clarity of goals and certainty of cause-effect knowledge) of decision-making processes and their associated organizational structures is compared to Romzek and Dubnick’s typology of accountability relations. The article argues that accountability mechanisms can be matched to public problems and agency structures and that changes in perceptions concerning the nature of public problems is at the root of contemporary enthusiasm for non-hierarchical modes of organizing.

The Democratic Ethos and Public Management

One of the few issues on which public management scholars agree in theory is the centrality of the democratic ethos. Public policy has recently paid attention to more democratic forms of policy making (e.g., participatory policy analysis), and public administration has periodically studied and advocated increased citizen participation in the processes of government. But the field of public management scholarship has yet to make a similar commitment to the democratic ethos, despite some contemporary practices (flattened hierarchies, self-managing teams) that represent democratization in public organizations. This essay reviews reasons why public management should be more democratic, some ways in which it is not, and proposes some ways in which the focus of scholarship and practice should be directed.

Expectations and Job Satisfaction of Local-Government Professionals:

Based on theories of job satisfaction and the motivating potential of professional work, we would expect public-sector professionals to express a level of satisfaction higher than that of other workers, yet this is not clearly the case. While some previous research has found that professionals have higher levels of job satisfaction than lower-level workers, other studies indicate that publicsector professionals are less satisfied than their private-sector counterparts and are no more satisfied than blue-collar workers. This study surveys local-government professionals (N = 125) in Colorado to determine their job satisfaction and their expectations of intrinsic satisfaction from work. They rated their work much higher in motivating potential than comparable groups of professionals and expressed significantly higher job satisfaction. Although most said their expectations for interesting work were more than met on the job, a major fraction expressed unmet expectations for power and authority and for recognition. The findings confirm previous research showing the importance of social relations and intrinsic factors in predicting job satisfaction but fail to support the generalization that public-sector professionals experience problematically low job satisfaction or that they find their jobs relatively low in motivating potential.

Comparing Modes of Delivery: Classroom and On-line (and Other) Learning

Abstract This article shifts normative pedagogical inquiry from whether on-line education is beneficial or harmful to exploring the conditions under which one or another instructional method works best. The strengths and weaknesses of six educational modalities—lecture, collaborative learning, experiential learning, learning contracts, televised courses, and web-based learning—are examined within a conceptual framework of preferred learning styles. Conclusions include recommendations to improve practice and suggestions for future research.

Ethics in the information age

Ethics in the Information Age requires an awareness of abstracted reasoning just as information itself is the integration of abstracted data. Recent works by Gibson and Boisot are employed to introduce the rise of an information society and the abstraction of information upon which we base our knowledge. Several ethical problems of the Information Age are discussed, including personal privacy, the specter of alternate personae in the virtual world of computer networks, the quality of information, even disinformation, and codes of conduct. The ethical problems inherent in the notion of intellectual property reveal themselves through application of John Lockes natural law of property right juxtaposed against the dilemmas encountered by fictional characters (in William Gibsons Idoru) living in a virtual world set just a few years from now. An ethical analysis for the Age of Information applies philosophical tenets found in deep ecology, social ecology, communitarianism, and anarchy to the current problems of ethics. In conclusion, the greater degree of abstraction required by ethical behavior in the Information Age requires even greater attention to the philosophers of the past, as well as the philosophies of the presen