Public Affairs is split into two different concentrations, public policy and public administration. Public policy deals with how government decides, or doesn’t decide, how to fix issues. Public administration is the implementation of these policies made by congress. There are many different components to public administration; concepts I found to be central to my thinking of public affairs is leadership, honor, ethics, accountability, and social equity. Over this course, I have grown personally and intellectually by the different perspectives and concepts shared in this class.
Leadership
Leadership is defined as, “The exercise of authority… in directing and coordinating the work of others” (et al. Shafritz). This simplistic definition defines
…show more content…
Goodwill’s mission statement is to help end generational poverty, to help accomplish this goal; they have multiple programs to help anyone achieve success despite the potential barriers they may face. Some of these programs include helping individuals receive their high school diploma-despite their age, helping ex-offenders transition into the professional work force, and assigning certified nurses to single teen mom’s to help raise their children. Our goal was to raise 5000 clothing items with the help of IUPUI’s body. To achieve this goal, we formed four groups that were each responsible for a different task. Leaders were selected to represent each group. As our class worked as a team to accomplish this collective action, I observed how each of the leaders interacted with the members of their group. The ones who were the most effective and successful were the ones who took the time to ask their colleagues for input and ideas of how to successfully complete each task the group was responsible for. In addition, the leaders who showed to be the most effective did not use their power to suppress or coerce their colleagues into completing tasks but, simply allowed each colleague to express their talents through the tasks that appealed to them the …show more content…
Starting with the end of slavery in 1865, African-Americans suffered greatly throughout the late 1800 to mid-1900. It wasn’t until 1955, during the civil rights movements when the government began programs to help assist and compensate for their wrong doings. In 1965, President Johnson issued, by executive order, Affirmative action. Affirmative action sought to “remove the artificial barriers underrepresented groups faced” (et al. Shafritz). This was a huge step in providing social equity in both higher education and the workplace. In today’s society, we still have improvements to make in regards to social equity in the public administration. As previously mentioned, there are aspects of the public sector, which is outwardly helping minorities, and other aspects that are outwardly discriminating against
Affirmative action is a label for a large range of programs, but all of these methods began for one reason: as a way to fight racism. There were voluntary efforts and mandatory laws enacted in order to accomplish this feat (Wu par 6). It was begun under President Johnson with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and was followed by his Executive Order 11246, both of which emphasized the fair treatment and employment of minorities. Two years later, women were added to the list. Today affirmative action benefits women, racial and ethnic groups, and the physically, mentally or emotionally disabled to the detriment of white males (“affirmative action” par 1). Due to affirmative action’s efforts, doors have been opened allowing for the equalizing of opportunity in the United States, seen in the types of people working in places such as police and fire departments, as w...
The government thinks that implementing affirmative action will repair inequality, but it cannot. In the midst of tying to promote equality, they are promoting discrimination. Discrimination is the violation of one’s human rights based on gender, sex, race, ethnicity and/or relation. President Johnson felt that blacks being free and able to go to the same school as Caucasians were not just enough for the past discrimination and turmoil the African Americans went through. Affirmative action was used as a cure to remedy lost times. Sandal made some valid points; he noted that th...
Leadership is the ability that someone has to motivate, guide and empower a group of people, in the particular case the personnel of an organization, in order to achieve specific goals.
A definition of leadership by Mumford is “the influence of others towards a collective goal” (Mumford, 2010). Some other definitions of leadership include; leadership is a force that leaders posses that causes followers to act and head in the intended direction of the leader (Hogue, 2013). Another definition by Gary Yukl is leadership is influencing others to understand what need to be done and how to go about getting it done (Yukl, 2006). Leadership requires the inevitable use of power to influence the thought and also the actions of other people. (Zalezink, 1977).
According to Business Dictionary.com, leadership is defined as the individuals who are the leaders in an organization, regarded collectively. It also can be define as the activity of leading a group of people or an organization or the ability to do this. Leadership involves the establishing of a clear vision, sharing the vision with other so that they will follow willingly, providing the needed information, knowledge, and methods to realize the vision and coordinating and balancing the conflicts interests of all members and stakeholders.
Leadership is derived from the Latin word laedere, which roughly translates as “to show the way” and if someone were to look it up in the dictionary, it would come up as “the position of a leader, the ability to lead, and direction.” However, for some this word can be arguable because everyone thinks differently. Leadership or leader itslef can be described or defined as someone promoting good character, a trustworthy person as well as a person who has dedication and takes responsibility for not only him or herself but also takes responsibility for the people surrounding them.
I define Leadership as a person’s ability to guide or shepherd a herd through/to a common destination – a destination of common beliefs. The leader possesses qualities/traits that can persuade others to follow them because they believe and trust them – regardless of their “human” traits and imperfections. The herd trusts that they will stay on course to the common destination.
Signed in an executive order by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity was created to ensure that hiring and employment practices are free of racial bias. Three years later, President Lyndon Johnson presented the Civil Rights Act in 1964 prohibiting discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin (Wang & Shulruf, 2012). Later that same year, President Johnson gave a commencement speech attempting to give an ethical response to the losses both materially and mentally to the African-Americans in slavery in the United States (Chace, 2011). Within the later years of the 1960s, higher education institution administrators, in an effort to boost under-represented groups of minorities, introduced the affirmative action concept into the admissions processes (Wang & Shulruf, 2012). What has been the effect of these monumental milestones for minorities and under-repre... ...
Leadership is a process by which an individual influences others to accomplish a mutual objective and most scholars can agree that leadership can be defined as the nature of the influencing process. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and ski...
There are lots of definitions and interpretations for the term LEADERSHIP. One is “A relationship through which one person influences the behaviour or actions of other people” (Mullins, L.J. 2002, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 6th Edition, FT Publishing, p904). Another popular definition would be, “the process of influencing an organization or groups within an organization in its efforts towards achieving a goal” (Johnson, Scholes & Whittington, 2005, Exploring Corporate Strategy, 7th Edition, FT Prentice Hall, p.519)
A definition of leadership from the Management Study Guide (MSG) says that leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the behaviour and work of others towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given situation. (Brown,A. 2014)
Leadership is the ability of an individual to influence, motivate and inspire others (Gill, 2006). It is therefore defined as a process whereby a leader influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2013). A leader has to make a decision for something to happen and provide his followers with clear direction (Rost et al, 1991). It will evoke feelings of challenge, excitement and involvement for the followers to proceed with the task (Gill, 2006).
Public Administration involves the development, implementation and management of policies for the attainment of set goals and objectives that will be to the benefit of the general public. Since Public Administration involves taking decisions that affect the use of public resources there is often the question of how to utilize public resources for maximum public good. The National Association of Public Administration has identified four pillars of public administration: economy, efficiency, effectiveness and social equity. These pillars are equally important in the practice of public administration and to its success. This paper seeks to explain the role of each of the pillars in the practice of public administration.
Public administration as a field of study and as a practice has continually evolved with American society. The United States has survived and thrived through major cultural shifts, varying degrees of economic climates, and both civil and world wars. Through out all these changes in our country, one thing has always remained the same, the fact that we are an ever evolving and always changing nation. Theories and forms of practice of public administration have also evolved parallel with the history of the United States. There have been numerous events in American history have lead to changes in society and the practice of public administration has both led and followed in the adaptation process of such monumental changes.
Many people believe that leadership is simply being the first, biggest or most powerful. Leadership in organizations has a different and more meaningful definition. A leader is someone who sets direction in an effort or task and influences or motivates people to follow that direction. The power point presentation explains leadership is the influence that particular individuals exert on the goal achievement of others in an organizational context.