Mohamad G. Alkadry

Deliberative Discourse between Citizens and Administrators If Citizens Talk, will Administrators Listen?

This article examines the potential for discourse between citizens and front-line administrators—those who directly deal with citizens. Critics of technical rational organizations question the ability and willingness of administrators to act on citizen feedback. Therefore, the article explores theoretical arguments about organizational rationality and the effect of the “bureaucratic experience,” resulting from administrator-bureaucracy interaction, on administrator ability and willingness to be responsive to citizens. Data from a survey of 147 front-line administrators are analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The Social Costs of Career Success for Women

Women in the workforce, especially those in professional and management positions, are doubly burdened by social traditions that expect workers to meet masculine standards at the office while maintaining their feminine role of nurturer at home. This article studies the social costs of female career progression using a survey of 1,600 respondents from different levels of the public sector. The results show that working women have an increased incidence of being single or divorced, married working women tend to have more housework responsibilities, and working women have fewer children or are childless. The article concludes that government and business organizations need to pay serious attention to this hidden problem of social costs that affect women and men disproportionately.

Stroke awareness among rural residents: the case of West Virginia.

Abstract Stroke is the leading cause of disability and the third leading cause of death in the United States. There are modifiable and non-modifiable stroke risks and proper management of some of these risks could significantly reduce the risk of stroke incidence. However, proper management of stroke risks requires public awareness of these risks and awareness of appropriate approaches to managing them. In case of stroke incidence, it is also important for patients to be able to recognize stroke symptoms and get immediate emergency medical attention. In this article, stroke awareness is studied as awareness of stroke warning signs, proper management of stroke risks, and awareness of what to do in case of stroke. The article analyzes mail questionnaire responses from 1,114 West Virginia residents. Respondents were mostly not properly managing stroke risks such as diabetes and hypertension. There was also a lack of awareness of severe stroke symptoms such as loss of vision in one eye and sudden severe headache. While 83% of respondents reported that they would call 911 if they thought they were having a stroke, only 20% of respondents could correctly identify all stroke warning signs. The study has some limitations, but remains an important study of stroke awareness among rural residents in Appalachia.

Aloofness or Dirty Hands? Administrative Culpability in the Making of the Second Ghetto

This article takes a critical look at the actions of American public administrators affecting African Americans in inner cities in the mid-twentieth century. It compares these actions to those of British imperialist functionaries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We argue that domestic American administrators and imperialist functionaries shared an ethos of serving expansion and capital, sometimes as a means to achieve what they deemed to be the public interest. They also shared the use of race as a weapon in their drive to suppress the masses of what they viewed as superfluous expendable subject races—imperialized natives by British administrators or African Americans by U.S. administrators. Using Hannah Arendts The Origins of Totalitarianism, this article traces the role of administrators in the alliance between mob and capital that resulted in the resegregation and dispossession of African-American communities in much of urban America. This article argues that the combination of racism and public administration was used to subjugate and control subject races in British imperialized territories and in urban America.

The impact of rational organizations on public administrators: A structural equation model

The rational organization has long been an important tool in public administration (Weber, 1968; Simon, 1964; Alkadry, 2003). It is often identified with positive characteristics such as objectivity, expertise, efficiency, fairness and formalization. However, these same positive characteristics can contribute to a “darker side” of rational organizations. Hummel (1994) articulates this as a “bureaucratic experience” resulting from the interaction between administrators and bureaucracy, while others articulate it as the “organization man” experience. In this article, a conceptual model of the relationship between organizational rationalization and administrator experiences is developed. This model is tested using a survey of front-line administrators and a structural equation model of the relationships between these two concepts. The article concludes with a discussion of alternatives to technical rationality.

Public Administration, Diversity, and the Ethic of Getting Things Done

New public management, in its focus on outcomes and performance, provokes a question on whether there is a value-tradeoff between ethics and performance. The new–old creed of administrators have arguably been focused on a need to produce results—to get things done—to the extent that they could sometimes overlook unethical implications of their actions. This happens at a time when ethicists are looking at ways to emphasize non-teleological ethical reasoning, which creates a problem for public administration. This article uses the case of Overtown, a predominantly African American neighborhood near Downtown Miami that was once dubbed the Harlem of the South, to explore the ethics of administrative actions. Administrative actions, often driven by the pressure to get things done, in Overtown were behind the demise of this neighborhood. The article makes the case for ethics testing to accompany any moves to institutionalize managing-for-results in cases of community development, education, housing, health, and other areas that affect people directly.

Constructive Conflict, Participation, and Shared Governance

This article discusses citizen participation in the governance process in light of two theoretical approaches: hooks’s talking back as a way to empower citizens and Mary Parker Follett’s constructive conflict as a form of participation founded in political dialogue. The authors argue that constructive conflict not only allows citizens and government to jointly define and redefine the governance process in truly collaborative ways but also permits the joint construction and delivery of effective public programs. The point of contact between citizens and administrators presents an ideal opportunity where citizens are most willing, by virtue of their physical presence in the routine interaction between citizens and administrators, and most able, by knowing something about their situation and the program/policy that affects them directly, to participate.

Counternarratives as Critical Perspectives in Public Administration Curricula

This article argues for the inclusion of critical perspectives in public administration curricula to explore the historical and contemporary processes that contribute to disparity and injustice. The counternarratives examined in the article include social construction, inclusive feminism, critical urban planning, and democratic cultural pluralism. Critical perspectives or counternarratives are presented as challenges to hegemonic scripts that will aid in creating a workforce that is not only equipped to operate within a global society but understands the economic and social context that operationalize “others” in society.

A Systematic Review of the Gender Pay Gap and Factors That Predict It

This study conducts a systematic review of 98 peer-reviewed journal articles that empirically investigate the presence of the gender pay gap along with factors that espouse it in organizations. The purposes of this study are threefold. First, it aims to explore trends in recurring themes that surface as factors that engender the gender pay gap in the workforce. Second, based on identified themes, the review summarizes and compares the gender pay gap by sector. Finally, the study presents a discussion on how the public sector fairs out in closing the gender pay gap and factors that predict it.

Reframing Workplace Spirituality to Reduce Career and Social Costs to Women

Women tend to sacrifice career, family life, or both in ways men do not. Studies have shown repeatedly that these career and social costs are higher for women than men. This article argues that career and social costs only exist because workplace policies and practices are based on values that are grounded in beliefs derived from scientific, religious, and spiritual sources. The authors employ three ontological ideal-types to examine workplace policies that affect men and women differently. The analysis considers how different ontological assumptions might lead to more socially equitable policies and outcomes. Characteristics associated with one type in particular may lead to more desirable workplace policies than the others. Therefore, when scholars generically promote “workplace spirituality” in an effort to generate more desirable individual and workplace outcomes, it is important to be specific about which particular beliefs are being promoted and which are being left out.