Mary Maureen Brown

Learning Organizations in the Public Sector? A Study of Police Agencies Employing Information and Technology To Advance Knowledge.

In an attempt to reap the purported benefits that “knowledge workers” bring to organizations, many police departments have shifted to a community problem–oriented policing philosophy. Rather than focusing on enforcement and incarceration, this philosophy is based on the dissemination of information to promote a proactive, preventative approach to reduce crime and disorder. In keeping with much of the contemporary literature on the “learning organization” (sometimes called the “knowledge organization”), police departments hope to deter crime through the knowledge benefits that derive from information and its associated technologies. With goals to stimulate productivity, performance, and effectiveness, police departments across the country are employing information technology to turn police officers into problem solvers and to leverage their intellectual capital to preempt crime and neighborhood deterioration. Many public and private organizations are striving to change their operations toward this same concept of the knowledge worker. Information technology is often touted as a vehicle for capturing, tracking, sorting, and providing information to advance knowledge, thus leading to improvements in service–delivery efforts. Based on an extensive study of police departments that have attempted to implement a knowledge–worker paradigm (supported by information technology initiatives), this research explores the feasibility, effectiveness, and limitations of information and technology in promoting the learning organization in the public sector.

Consequences of false-positive screening mammograms.

IMPORTANCE False-positive mammograms, a common occurrence in breast cancer screening programs, represent a potential screening harm that is currently being evaluated by the US Preventive Services Task Force. OBJECTIVE To measure the effect of false-positive mammograms on quality of life by measuring personal anxiety, health utility, and attitudes toward future screening. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The Digital Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (DMIST) quality-of-life substudy telephone survey was performed shortly after screening and 1 year later at 22 DMIST sites and included randomly selected DMIST participants with positive and negative mammograms. EXPOSURE Mammogram requiring follow-up testing or referral without a cancer diagnosis. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The 6-question short form of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory state scale (STAI-6) and the EuroQol EQ-5D instrument with US scoring. Attitudes toward future screening as measured by womens self-report of future intention to undergo mammographic screening and willingness to travel and stay overnight to undergo a hypothetical new type of mammography that would identify as many cancers with half the false-positive results. RESULTS Among 1450 eligible women invited to participate, 1226 (84.6%) were enrolled, with follow-up interviews obtained in 1028 (83.8%). Anxiety was significantly higher for women with false-positive mammograms (STAI-6, 35.2 vs 32.7), but health utility scores did not differ and there were no significant differences between groups at 1 year. Future screening intentions differed by group (25.7% vs 14.2% more likely in false-positive vs negative groups); willingness to travel and stay overnight did not (9.9% vs 10.5% in false-positive vs negative groups). Future screening intention was significantly increased among women with false-positive mammograms (odds ratio, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.54-2.93), younger age (2.78; 1.5-5.0), and poorer health (1.63; 1.09-2.43). Womens anticipated high-level anxiety regarding future false-positive mammograms was associated with willingness to travel overnight (odds ratio, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.28-2.95). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE False-positive mammograms were associated with increased short-term anxiety but not long-term anxiety, and there was no measurable health utility decrement. False-positive mammograms increased womens intention to undergo future breast cancer screening and did not increase their stated willingness to travel to avoid a false-positive result. Our finding of time-limited harm after false-positive screening mammograms is relevant for clinicians who counsel women on mammographic screening and for screening guideline development groups.

Understanding E-Government Benefits An Examination of Leading-Edge Local Governments

Past research on the topic of e-government activities is heavily rooted in describing technological innovation in terms of a maturational model. Apparently, technological innovation has occurred incrementally?and the benefits, if realized, are slow to accrue. This research examines the utility of maturational models in understanding the achievement of e-government benefits. The findings are predicated on a retrospective panel analysis of how public organizations realize the benefits of technological innovations. This study revealed that although a maturational model may be helpful for describing aggregate efforts, it is less useful in understanding the potential for individual gains. Based on the results of this sample, rapid advances, nonlinear activities, and permeable boundaries are important determinants of achieving the benefits of technological innovation and, thus, worthy of ongoing research.

Technology Diffusion and the “Knowledge Barrier”: The Dilemma of Stakeholder Participation

This study relates the findings of a survey of 28 state-level chief information officers regarding the role of stakeholder involvement in electronic government initiatives. Research efforts in the ...

Public Sector Information Technology Initiatives Implications for Programs of Public Administration

On the 10th anniversary of the recommendations published by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) on information system instruction in schools and departments of public administration, sweeping information management reforms were instituted throughout the federal sector by the passage of the Clinger-Cohen Act (CCA) of 1996. This research examines the extent to which these programs prepare students for the issues they will face in managing information resources in government. Based on a survey of 106 schools and departments of public administration, few programs are covering the topics recently mandated by the CCA or recommended a decade ago by NASPAA. If governments are to achieve the benefits of contemporary technological advances, schools and departments of public administration must reexamine their current approach to instruction in information resource management.

Revisiting the IT Productivity Paradox

Twenty-five years after Nobel Laureate economist Robert Solow observed “seeing computers everywhere but in the productivity statistics,” the question of productivity gains from information technologies (IT) remains unanswered. This study examines the role of IT on one of the major indicators of police productivity: crime clearance rates. Relying on a two-wave cohort panel research design of roughly 700 police agencies, the study reveals that significant IT advances were made between the pre and post time periods in the provision of computerized crime data, crime analysis capabilities, and real-time communications. Nonetheless, using multiple hierarchical regression analysis, the study provides robust evidence for suggesting that computerization had little influence on productivity gains. The results of this study raise several very important issues pertaining to the goals of public organizations. While this study is limited to policing, a narrow time period, and internal IT systems, the results are nonetheless noteworthy. The research illustrates that conventional explanations for the IT productivity paradox do little to explain the shortfall. In closing, the article offers rival, but yet untested, explanations that may prove worthy of additional research.

Computing in Graduate Education in Public Administration: An Assessment of Current Practices and Future Needs

This article addresses current practices and future needs in education in computing in graduate-level programs in public administration and affairs. Based on a survey of MPA-granting institutions, it shows that most public administration programs have incorporated computing applications into curricula beyond conventional courses in statistics and research methodology. To meet the needs of future public managers for computing skills, however, further enhancement of curricula will prove necessary. For this purpose, the article identifies a potential curriculum in computing in public administration. The curriculum is tailored to the distinctive demands and challenges of the public sector environment.