Reflection on How Master of Science in Public Administration Influenced My Opinions

My thoughts of public service prior to the MSPA program?
My thoughts about public service before I entered the Master of Science in Public Administration (MSPA) program at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), were most likely different from those of someone who received an undergraduate degree in Public Administration. My undergraduate degree was in Criminal Justice, and my thoughts of public service were conceived from my personal interactions I had with public service agencies and media portrayals. My thoughts on public service were that there was a massive hole in “customer” satisfaction, economic efficiency, and effectiveness causing a lack of confidence in the system.

One major factor was my personal interactions with public service agencies specifically the Housing Authority in the County of Los Angeles, Building and Safety in the City of Los Angeles, and the Bureau of Street Services in Los Angeles. In my personal interactions with these agencies, I came to learn that perception is reality. I found some of their processes to be antiquated, inefficient and costly. I found that the majority of the personnel had little to no regard for “customer” satisfaction. Some of the processes they had in place made no operational sense, they were subjective and contradicting.
In the past 13 years, I have held positions that required business to business and business to customer interactions and was able to quickly identify a few of their problems. These agencies were working with antiquated technology and processes and policies that most likely had not been reviewed in years. These agencies have the opportunity to update their technology and processes with electronic application to eliminate unnecessary paperwork. It wou...

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..., double dipping, favorable pension formulas, and low employee contributions. Although the investment risk and portfolio are managed by the employer no one would have imagined the economic downturn which caused a huge dent in these portfolios (Munnell, et. al, 2008).

My reflective essay might not sound as optimistic and excited about starting a new career in public service, but I am. I plan on taking my 13 years of experience working in the private sector and set the big goal of trying to make a difference in a public agency no matter the size of the accomplishment. I know that by taking the Taylorism mentality and other concepts that I learned in the MSPA program I can make a difference starting with the customer and making it a more customer-centric environment because at the end of the day, the trust in government will only allow better and bigger opportunities.