Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
THE ART OF REFLECTIVE PRACTICE:
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR CAPSTONE PROJECT
REVIEW AND GUIDELINES FOR THE EXECUTIVE MPA CAPSTONE PROJECT
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION DIVISION
HATIFIELD SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENTPORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
December 2010
CULTIVATING THE ART OF REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Many practitioners, locked into a view of themselves as technical experts, find nothing in the world of practice to occasion reflection. They have become too skillful at the techniques of selective inattention, junk categories and situational control, techniques which they use to preserve the constancy of their knowledge-in-practice.....For these reasons ...reflection-in-action is critically important (Schon, The Reflective Practitioner, 1983).
If on starting to listen to music, I do not accept my own incapacity to judge correctly, I will never learn to hear, let alone to appreciate, Bartok’s last quartets. If on starting to play baseball, if I do not accept that others know better than I when to throw a fast ball and when not, I will never learn to appreciate good pitching let alone to pitch. In the realm of practices the authority of both goods and standards operate in such a way as to rule out all subjectivist and emotivist analysis of judgment (MacIntyre, 1984, 190).
Career administrators are uniquely situated to make a distinctive contribution to [the] ongoing [American democratic] covenanting process. In fact, ...they possess, through the mediating role they play between citizens and elected officials, a special kind of prudence, or what Aristotle called phronesis, that enables them to coalesce considerations of workability, acceptability, and fit....It is the capacity that enables one to recognize the right thing to do both in a world of particulars and variability. Within the framework of our constitutional polity, it is the deliberative capacity to know how to make the right thing work (Morgan, 1990, p. 74).
Imagination..., which transforms a visible object into an invisible image, fit to be stored in the mind, is the condition sine qua non for providing the mind with suitable thought-objects; but these thought-objects come into being only when the mind actively and deliberately remembers, recollects and selects from the storehouse of memory whatever arouses its interest sufficiently to induce concentration; in these operations the mind learns how to deal with things that are absent and prepares itself to ‘go further,’ toward the understanding of things that are always absent, that cannot be remembered because they were never present to sense experience" (Arendt in McCarthy, 1981, I, 76-77). Every reflection that does not serve knowledge and is not guided by practical needs is ...”out of order”....All thinking demands a stop-and-think.... (Arendt in McCarthy, 1981, I, 78).
05/07/23 2
Table of Contents
Section I Role and Purpose of Capstone Project
An Exercise in Reflective Practice
Opportunity to Apply Core Themes and Leadership Principles of EMPA
o Multiple leadership levels
o The Uniqueness of Public Service Leadership
o The Legacy Leadership Model: Serving as a Democratic Balance wheel
Section II Core Leadership Competencies
Being a Good Manager Leading in a Power-shared World Sustainable Development and “Wicked Problems
Section III Essential Elements for a Successful Capstone
Problem Identification and Literature Review
Research Design and Data Collection
Analysis Reflections on The Personal Meaning of Your Capstone for Professional Practice
Matters of Process, Form and Style
05/07/23 3
Section I: The Role and Purpose of the Capstone in the Executive MPA Program
Your Executive MPA Capstone project is intended to be a final culminating exercise in
the Art of Reflective Practice. This document is intended to contribute to this goal in several
ways. First, it serves as a summary review of the core themes and leadership framework for your
Executive MPA course of study. Second, it is intended to prompt questions that will help you
organize your capstone work activities with economy so that the preparation of the final written
product can be completed fairly easily.
The guidelines have been written as generically as possible to provide guidance for those
who may undertake a traditional research project, a “case study”, an organizational assessment,
or an implementation plan, just to mention a few of the more common possibilities. Whatever
format you choose, the Capstone is more than merely completing course credit. It is the vehicle
for applying the leadership lessons and principles you have learned in your coursework to
continually improve administrative practice, while at the same continually using what you have
learned from practice to improve your theories of public administration.
As an exercise in reflective practice, the Capstone outline takes you through a series of steps
that will require you to revisit and reflect on the following four distinguishing characteristics of
the Executive MPA degree experience:
Multiple leadership levels (Section IA): Leadership requires knowledge, skills and competencies to be successful at the individual, group, organization and larger community levels.
The Uniqueness of Public Service Leadership (Section I B): Public sectors leaders are measured by different standards of success than is the case for leaders in the private and nonprofit sectors.
The Democratic Balancewheel (Section I C): Public service leadership requires the courage and capacity to balance competing public values.
Core Knowledge and Competencies to Lead, especially in a Power-shared World (Sections II A and B): Public service leaders have to “masters of soft power” in order to broker cooperative agreement across organizational, jurisdictional and sectoral boundaries.
Sustainable Development and “Wicked Problems” (Section II C): Increasingly public leaders are judged by their capacity to build and maintain support for solutions to “wicked problems”, especially those associated with sustainable development.
05/07/23 4
A. MULTIPLE LEADERSHIP LEVELS
Leadership is not reducible to a single set of qualities or sensibilities. In fact, it is more useful to
think about the various roles that provide opportunities for leadership to be exercised. For
example, at an individual level leadership can be exercised at an interpersonal level when
interacting with others. It can also be exercised in ones role as a member of a group or team.
While interpersonal relationships are important for successful group and team-work, there is
additional knowledge, skills, competencies that come into play when operating in ones role as a
member of a team. The same is true when shifting ones focus from a group to the larger
organization. In ones organizational role, additional knowledge, skills and competencies are
necessary to successfully play a leadership role within an organizational setting. Finally, as one
moves to the apex of an organization, the leader becomes responsible for the strategic
positioning of the organization within the larger forces at work in the external community.
1. Individual Leadership – We often hear people say that “leaders are born”, not made. While
it is true that some individuals possess the sensibilities necessary for public service leadership
(high commitment to service, willingness to take risks, capacity to tolerate conflict and
ambiguity, ability to act in the face of uncertainty), it is also true that leadership can be learned.
That is why we pay attention to leadership assessments, leadership training, mentoring, and
coaching. These activities help us “learn who we are”, but they also help us understand areas we
need and are willing to develop. If we are unable or unwilling to develop some capacities for
public service leadership, at least we can surround ourselves with the kinds of people and place
ourselves in the kinds of settings that are most likely to build on our strengths rather than our
weaknesses.
2. Group/Team Leadership – Increasingly organizations have come to appreciate the value of
working in teams and groups to solve a targeted problem. In fact, matrix management is a
technique specifically designed to bring the right kind of competencies and sensibilities together
to accomplish a given task. Once accomplished, members of the group return to their assigned
work units. The success of group/team leadership depends on learning how to use the distinct
qualities that each individual brings to the task and to integrate these qualities into a smooth
functioning unit that is able to accomplish both the task and social goals necessary to deliver a
product on time and on budget.
05/07/23 5
3. Organizational Leadership – Successful leadership at an individual or group/team level does
not mean that you will be successful at the organizational level. The reasons are probably fairly
intuitive to almost everyone. What it takes to move an organization to accomplish its mission
requires a different knowledge and skill set than what it takes to motivate at an interpersonal or
group/team level. Organizations have to be wired in the right way and staffed with the kinds of
individuals who can accomplish the unique mission of the enterprise. A public health
organization posses a different organizational leadership challenge than a Human Resources
Unit. What counts for success in terms of organizational structure and staffing is quite different.
Being good at one does not insure that someone will be good at the other and neither kind of
organizational leadership may have that much bearing on being a good leader at an individual or
group/team level. For this reason, leadership requires paying close attention to the kinds of
leadership knowledge, skills and competencies we are interested in developing.
4. Community/Political Leadership - Public service leadership, especially at the local level,
requires some understanding of the larger community context within which one operates. This is
true whether you are a first line supervisor of a road crew or the manger of a major department.
The difference between the two is that the department manager will be required to participate at a
community level in defining, redefining and legitimating the work of the organization. To the
extent this is required, the manger is exercising community and political leadership. The
challenge for those exercising leadership at the higher levels of the organization is to carry out
these responsibilities in ways that recognize the appropriate role and responsibility of others in
this partnership, especially the chief administrative officer of the organization ( if one exists) and
elected officials. Acquiring the knowledge, skills and competencies to carry out this shared
governance responsibility is the key to success of those who are in a position to exercise
community and political leadership.
B. THE UNIQUENESS OF PUBLIC SERVICE LEADERSHIP
Leaders in the public sector have a special responsibility for the common good. While difficult
to define with precision and constantly a “work in progress”, the public good at every level of
governance throughout the world is capable of being defined. This definition consists of the
following four elements, which are depicted visually in Figure 1: the formal and informal
governance structures and processes that define the legitimate exercise of public authority, the
05/07/23 6
values that these processes and structures serve, the contextual conditions (i.e., history, culture
and socio-economic institutions) that give specific meaning to the values and governing
structures to citizens at a given time and place, and the leadership competencies necessary to
transform public policy goals into organizationally effective and efficient results. Together these
four elements create authority and legitimacy, thus distinguishing public sector leadership from
leadership more generically or leadership that is specific to the market, nonprofit or civic sectors.
05/07/23
Figure I
7
In arguing that public service leadership is responsible for the achievement of the
common good we do not mean to suggest that civic, market sector and nonprofit leaders do not
contribute to the common good. Of course they do, but the leaders in these sectors do not have
responsibility for ensuring that all of the parts of the socio-economic order are coordinated to
maximize the achievement of the larger public good. In defining public service leadership in this
way means that all public service leaders are doing political work.
But most political systems around the world recognize the need to differentiate the kinds
of political roles that need to be performed by different kinds of leaders. For example, most all
political systems provide a place for leadership that is narrowly partisan or ideological in nature.
They also provide a place for leadership that relies heavily on professional expertise and
technical competence to achieve the public good. Water and sewer systems, regardless of the
partisan nature of the political system, require a minimum level of technical competence and
professional expertise to create and maintain the infrastructure system. But all of these different
kinds of public officials, regardless of the setting, share the aspirational goal of promoting a
larger public good that stands apart from their personal self-interest or the popular partisan
interests of the moment. The unique nature of the political work performed by public sector
leaders can be illustrated by contrasting market and nonprofit sector leadership from leadership
in the public sector.
On the surface there are many similarities between leaders in the nonprofit and market
sector and those in the public sector. For example, leaders in both sectors are agents of shared
values and they operate within structures of authority and require leadership competencies that
transform the policy goals of an entity into efficient and effective outcomes. The difference is
that public service leaders are responsible for the whole, not just a part of the public good.
Leaders of nonprofit, civic and market-based organizations can promote the values of their sector
or particular organization without having to worry about the consequences of their advocacy on
the market economy or upon the role responsibility of the public sector. Public service leaders
cannot do this because they have architectonic responsibility for how all of the parts of a given
political system can be made to function together to achieve the common good. This has been
well-illustrated by the recent and on-going attempt of the U.S. government to cope with the
collapse of the market economy and in prior decades to determine the appropriate role of
nonprofits in the delivery of public service. Public leaders carry the worry beads for figuring out
05/07/23 8
how all of the parts can be made to function in ways that promote the good of the whole and do
so in ways that are consistent with the fundamental values of the political order.
A second distinguishing characteristic of public service leaders is their need to make
decisions that are adequately informed by the past and take into account the impact on future
generations. Private and nonprofit sector leaders do not have this kind of intergenerational
responsibility, although they may instrumentally make use of the past and the future to garner
support and build the legitimacy for their organizational missions. But in doing so, they have no
fiduciary obligations that are inherent in their role responsibilities as governing agents.
We have no word that adequately captures the architectonic responsibility of public
leaders for the whole, for the common good. An older word that has fallen out of favor is
regime. In its older usage regime meant “way of life”, a phrase which adequately captures the
notion that public service leaders are responsible for preserving the distinctive way of life
represented by a given political system. Unfortunately, the term regime has lost favor because it
has become associated with a “fascist-like” regimen that imposes control over the lives of
individuals and all activities in the socio-economic domains. The older and gentler notion of
regime is what we have in mind when we refer to the distinctive moral responsibility public
officials have for the common good. Figure 2 below provides another way of pictorially
Figure 2
Place-based RelationshipsProposition: Public leadership for sustainable development is relational, requiring leaders to take into account the global consequences of acting within a place-bound institutional context.
VisionaryProposition: Public leadership requires the creation of visions that successfully link past, present and future realities and transforms them into possibilities.
Multidisciplinary Competence & Continuous LearningProposition: Public leadership requires the competence to use and integrate multiple disciplines in a continuous learning process.
Public GoodProposition: Pubic leadership requires selfless service for the sake of a larger public good.
Continuous & Recursive BalancingProposition: Public leadership requires continuous balancing of conflicting values in the midst of complex changing realities.
Public Leadership: Working Framework
Public Leadership Propositions: Executive Leadership Institute, Portland State University, 2009
Photo Illustration: Jennifer McFarland
05/07/23
Regime values & structures
9
depicting the regime-centered focus of our public service leadership model. In Figure 2 leaders
occupy the center stage and are responsible for working with citizens, local governing partners,
and stakeholders in the various sectors to create a shared vision of the public good that is
informed by the past and is capable of being carried into the future. This work requires
balancing competing priorities and values, especially as the resources needed to sustain
continued economic development become more constrained.
Review:
PA 518, PA 517
Morgan, et.al. Foundations of Public Service, chapters 1 and 11.
Morgan, Ingle, Shinn, Public Service Leadership Handbook, available on-line at
course Blackboard website.
C. THE AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC BALANCEWHEEL
Every political system has a unique system of values that public officials are obligated to
preserve. This regime-centered approach to public service leadership means that close attention
needs to be given to the distinctive political values at the heart of a given political system and the
processes and structures put in place to preserve those values. America’s rule of law system
creates a unique structure of authority committed to the preservation of individual liberty and
protection against the following four dangers that could undermine its continued existence:
The threat of too much power in government, making it less responsive to the people and
more inclined toward executive tyranny—the “King George Problem”;
The threat of too little power in government, making it weak and feckless, as illustrated
under the Articles of Confederation—the “George Washington Problem”;
The threat of a tyrannical majority to the rights of a minority—the “Shays’ Rebellion
Problem”;
The threat to civic capacity and self-government posed by a system that ignores or
downplays civic virtue—the “Engaged Citizen Problem.”
05/07/23 10
The founders tailored correctives to each of these threats, and these have spawned distinct
administrative traditions that have evolved through important political eras over the course of
American history (see chapter 4 of Morgan et. al. Foundations of Public Service) and are now
thoroughly woven into the fabric of American governance. These traditions can be briefly
summarized as follows:
1. The correctives for the “King George Problem” prescribe more direct responsiveness to
the people, more deliberation and openness, popular initiatives, privatized alternatives,
and smaller, weaker agencies for carrying measures into effect. We have dubbed this set
of prescriptions the “Responsive Governance Tradition.”
2. The correctives for the “George Washington Problem” prescribe competent, unified,
energetic governance; effective career professionals; efficient customer service,
contracting out, and systematic planning. We have dubbed this set of prescriptions the
“Competent and Energetic Governance Tradition.”
3. The correctives for the “Shays’ Rebellion Problem” prescribe enumerated rights, strong
legal protection of those rights against overbearing majorities, due process and equal
protection standards, individual and interest-group access to decision makers, interest-
group balancing, appeals and other accountability protocols, and open-government
standards. We have dubbed this set of prescriptions the “Minority Rights and Access to
Governance Tradition.”
4. The correctives for the “Engaged Citizen Problem” prescribe enhanced opportunities for
citizen participation, cultivation of conditions to support participation, co-production of
public decisions and services, face-to-face interaction in governance processes, local
control, and small, frugal venues and jurisdictions. We have dubbed this set of practices
the “Civic Governance Tradition.”
Public administrators today may favor one administrative tradition over the others, but
the more they emphasize one tradition to the exclusion of other, the more likely they are to be
confronted by problems that require corrective practices from the other traditions. Figure 3
presents the main features of each administrative tradition as it has evolved and arranges them as
cells on a balancewheel. Each cell contains elements that have accreted characteristics of various
historical eras as legacies that now represent significant aspects or tools of administrative
05/07/23 11
practice for that tradition. As a graphic illustration, the cells may appear more distinct or separate
from each other than is reflected in everyday life. The cells overlap slightly as a reflection of this
reality. Moreover, all of the cells are joined to an anchor at the base of the model, reflecting the
pervasive impact of pluralism and federalism upon the entire American governing system. This
is James Madison’s “double security” against tyranny. The practices of each administrative
tradition are affected by the diversity of factions and the interplay of dual sovereignty, which
present additional coordinative and mediative challenges.
Figure 3
Democratic Balancewheel“The King George Problem”
Corrective:RESPONSIVE
GOVERNANCE
“The George Washington Problem”
Corrective:COMPETENT-ENERGETIC
GOVERNANCE
“The Shay’s Rebellion Problem”
Corrective:MINORITY RIGHTS & ACCESS to
GOVERNANCE
“The Engaged Citizen Problem”
Corrective:CIVIC GOVERNANCE
Articles of Confederation,
Jacksonian & Populist Legacies
• Deliberative gov’t• Smaller/weaker gov’t• Citizen legislature• Open government• Initiative process• Preference for non-
monoplistic private markets
• Referendum process
Antifederalist,Great Society
Legacies
• Citizen participation• Co-production• Local control• Decentralized
administration• Face-to-face gov’t• Small, frugal government
Federalist, Progressive, & Entrepreneurial
Legacies
• Systematic planning• Efficiency• Effectiveness• Energetic government• Career civil service• Contracting out• Customer service• Federalism / filtering
Federalist, New Deal, Great Society—
Strong Legal Legacies
• Bill of Rights• Equal treatment• Due process• Open government• Accountability protocols• Interest balancing
FEDERALISM PLURALISM
THE EXTENDED REPUBLIC
Review:
PA 518, PA 517
Morgan, et.al. Foundations of Public Service, chapters 3, 4 and 5, especially pp. 100-119.
Morgan, Ingle, Shinn, Public Service Leadership Handbook, available on-line at course Blackboard website.
05/07/23 12
Douglas Morgan. 2009. “Public Service Leadership and Sustainable Development: The Legacy Leadership Model and Leading, For the Common Good”, available on-line at course Blackboard website.
Section II. CORE LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES
Public administrators are expected to possess a growing repertoire of leadership
competencies. In an earlier day, it was sufficient for public administrators to bring high
levels of technical expertise to bear in helping to define problems and identify solutions
and using this expertise to create high performing organizations staffed by highly
motivated and talented employees. But increasingly, this is not enough. In the face of
shrinking resources, decline in public confidence and a fragmented political landscape,
public administrators are expected to build agreement for collective action, or what we
prefer to call “leading in a power-shared world. Finally, as the forces of globalization
impact local communities, administrators are expected to assist in developing practices
that meet the test of sustainable development, or what we prefer to call “leadership for
wicked problems”. For purposes of this review document, we have divided these
competencies into the following three categories: 1. being a Good Manager; 2. leading
in a Power-shared World and 3. Leadership for Wicked Problems (which are discussed
in the section on Leadership for Sustainable Development, pp. 18-23).
05/07/23 13
A. Being a Good Manager – The Executive MPA Program has emphasized the
importance of viewing management as an integral part of one’s leadership role and
responsibilities. One builds and maintains confidence in public institutions by doing all of the
things we associate with being a “good manager”. Good managers know how to create high
performing organizations, staff them with talented and highly motivated employees and harness
the energies of these employees to a shared vision that resonates with the citizens in whose name
they act.
In undertaking your capstone project review all of your course work related to what it takes to
be a good manager (Organizational Theory and Behavior, Analytic Methods, Budgeting, Human
Resource Management, Administrative Law and Policy Implementation, Public Policy, etc.). Be
certain to incorporate appropriate materials from this review in your capstone analysis and
recommendations. The following sections summarize some of the questions and issues
associated with meeting the “Good Manager test.
1. Strategic Navigation: Sizing up the Driver’s of Change and the External Environment.
Leaders of organizational units and programs are expected to take responsibility for creating a
shared vision that will help anchor the organization as it takes an uncertain path toward the
future. A vision cannot be created without taking a cold, hard and accurate assessment of the
“drivers of change” that are likely to affect the operations of the unit into the foreseeable future.
This strategic navigation role necessarily requires that one become actively involved in the "great
game" of politics. What most people call "politics" has to do with the importance of the relative
position of an administrative agency within the larger context within which it operates. What are
the strategic implications of the project you have chosen for the work of the larger organization?
Is your project in alignment with the current strategic positioning of the organization or will it
require some changes?
More specific questions that can take you to answers to the above two general questions
include the following: How is the problem you have chosen affected by key “drivers of
change”? How will your project help deal with these drivers? How is the definition of your
problem affected by key stakeholders and how will your solution shape the external stakeholder
environment? What impact will your project have in shaping the future of your organization in
the face of external drivers of change? To what extent does your project reflect or need to take
05/07/23 14
into account any of the major social, political, economic and global trends currently shaping the
American political system?
2. Executives as Leaders of Complex Organizational Systems: In addition to “sizing up the
external environment”, leaders need to “size up the system of leadership roles and
responsibilities” that are needed to take successful leadership action. Administrative work
requires aligning the internal systems (human resource management, budgeting, MIS,
contracting, purchasing, etc) to best serve the organization’s internal and external stakeholders.
The scale, structure and processes of these organizations may vary from a mega-agency, like the
Department of Defense, to a local special park district with a staff of only three persons. But all
organizations are conditioned by their histories, internal structures and processes and the pattern
of relationships they have built with other organizational entities over time.
What impact will your project have on existing organizational systems? What kind of
knowledge of these systems is important to the success of your project? For example, if your
project is seeking to implement some kind of performance-based accountability system, what
does the literature on budgeting, human resource motivation and administrative law tell us about
the best way to structure performance-oriented frameworks into the work setting? To what
extent does your project take into account the relevant historical conditions that have shaped the
meaning and role of the larger organization? How has the history of the organization shaped the
problem you have selected for your Capstone project? What are the key administrative theories
that help you understand the nature of the problem you have chosen? What administrative and
public policy theories best explain the conditions for successful implementation of a solution to
the problem you have identified?
Your capstone review should include an examination of all of the organizational theories
and authors that might be relevant to your analysis and recommendations. These include classic
organizational theory (Weber, Taylor, Gulick and Urwick, Fayol), the Human Relations School
(Rothlisberger and Dickson, Follet, Maslow, Herzberg, McGregor, Follet, Hershey and
Blanchard, Argyris), Contingency Theory (Emory and Trist, Thompson, Mintzberg, Morgan)
and public organizational models (Hult and Walcott, Cooper, Lindblom, Wildavsky, Bozeman,
Stone, Scott). These authors and their contributions to public administration are summarized in
chapters 6 and 11 of Morgan, ET. Al. Foundations of Public Service.
05/07/23 15
3. Motivating Employees - Motivating employees is a critical piece of successful leadership.
But in the public sector this is complicated by the fact that a large percentage of those choosing
careers in public service are motivated by a desire to serve. In short, they are motivated more by
the intrinsic rewards of doing a good job than they are motivated by external rewards like better
pay and working conditions. Although better pay and working conditions help to remove
complaints, they are seldom sufficient to provide positive motivators. In the public sector
intrinsic rewards work especially well. For example, research has shown that recognizing
individuals within their workgroup for a job well done and doing so immediately does far more
good than giving someone a plaque at the end of the year. This means that motivating
employees is more a task of first line supervisors and work groups than it is a task for senior
managers and department heads (Bright 2005; Perry and Wise 1990). In undertaking your
capstone project, revisit the literature on employee motivation in the public sector as well as the
literature dealing with building and maintaining strong organizational cultures.
4. Building Legitimacy – Public service requires legitimacy in addition to high quality service at
an affordable price. This means that the private sector model is insufficient for measuring the
success of public sector leadership. In addition to the private sector standard of efficiency and
effectiveness, citizens measure the success of their leaders by additional criteria that include
responsiveness, protecting citizen rights, preserving expectations about fair and due process, and
maintaining accountability. As a result, public sector leadership requires an understanding of the
multiple and competing standards for measuring the legitimacy of government work and the
capacity and willingness to educate the community on the need to balance these competing but
equally important community values.
In undertaking your capstone project, think about how you will “measure the success” of
your proposed project outcome. How do your criteria for success compare to the Balancewheel
standards set forth in section IIC of this review outline? How do your standards compare to those
of the private or nonprofit sectors. How will project outcomes contribute to building legitimacy
of the political system?
B. Leading in a Power-Shared World
Increasingly, leadership in the public sector requires the exercise of informal rather than formal
authority. This is because (as we discussed above in the section on “Why Public Service
05/07/23 16
Leadership Matters”) too many problems fall through the cracks. Wetlands and watersheds
cannot be preserved because no one jurisdiction has the authority to do so. Typically, what is
needed to promote the community good is in the hands of civic organizations and the private
sector. Under these circumstances, if the public good is to be achieved power has to be shared.
This condition places a premium on leadership competencies that enable leaders to work
successfully across organizational and jurisdictional boundaries to create partnerships that
leverage resources and power (Morgan, et. al 2008, pp. 290-296, 303-305).
Figure 3 provides an example of what we mean when we speak of “leading in a power-
shared world”. Figure 3 poses the following leadership challenge: How do you facilitate and
sustain agreement among multiple jurisdictions and property owners to create a Green Necklace
Park? The answer is that administrators have to rely on a combination of formal legal authority
05/07/23 17
and the construction of informal agreement through what we call “conciliatory practices”.
These practices require an understanding of both the vertical and horizontal structures of
authority within which administrative leaders act. By that we simply mean that administrative
leaders have to simultaneously understand what is required to be successful within a hierarchical
structure of authority governed by laws, procedures and structures of accountability. At the same
05/07/23
Figure 3: Creating a Green Necklace Park
18
time they have to understand what it takes to be successful in a horizontal model that creates
authority through a process of collaboration, partnerships, bargaining, and cooperation. Both
models are in operation simultaneously.
One of the central and ongoing challenges for administrative leaders is to understand how
to function at the intersection of these vertical and horizontal models. “We want to collaborate,
but the law both mandates action and constrains discretion. We want to use market models, but
those models are limited by regulation and by institutional and organizational constraints. We
want to pursue cross-national arrangements, but historical tensions over the purpose and nature
of political action are and have for centuries been so different. We want units of organizations to
work together and whole organizations to cooperate in a manner that is responsive to changing
conditions and demands and yet those organizations have varied cultures and requirements for
their continued survival” (Cooper 2010). Operating successfully within this vertical and
horizontal nexus requires administrative leaders who understand how they can play an
appropriate role within the public policy process and use the right tools to facilitate agreement
across organizational, jurisdictional and sectoral boundaries.
1. The Leadership Role of Administrators in the Public Policy Process
Administrators who hold middle to senior level leadership roles in most of our local government
jurisdictions and special districts play a decisive role in the policy process. This is because part-
time elected officials and board members do not have the time and expertise to take initial
responsibility for most policy decision making. This means that they are mainly reactive to the
work undertaken by the senior administrative leadership of the jurisdiction or organization. If
this work is to be done well, senior managers need to be well informed about what it takes to
successfully develop and implement public policy. They need to work as a team to assist elected
officials with the following “sense-making” activities: 1. Interpreting and reconciling multiple
sources of authority; 2. Building public support and authority for government activities; 3.
Facilitating inter-organizational cooperation; 4. Initiating inter-jurisdictional collaboration; 5.
Negotiating inter-organizational service standards; 6. Interpreting the needs and culture of the
community.
In undertaking your capstone project review the work you have done on policy
development and implementation. What knowledge from this body of literature is relevant to
05/07/23 19
your project? For example, what policy models, if any, are relevant to your project? What
conditions need to be in place to guarantee successful policy implementation? What are the
leadership implications of your answers to the above questions?
2. Conciliatory Practices: Creating Authority in a Power-Shared World - Increasingly,
leadership in the public sector requires the exercise of informal rather than formal authority.
This is because (as we discussed above) too many problems fall through the cracks. Wetlands
and watersheds can’t be preserved because they may not be controlled by the same entity. In
addition, much of what is needed to promote the community good may be in the hands of civic
organizations and the private sector. In short, power is shared and problems can’t be easily
fenced within the legal boundaries of a given entity. This condition places a premium on
leadership that reaches across organizational and jurisdictional boundaries to create partnerships
that leverage resources and power (Morgan, et. al 2008, pp. 290-296, 303-305). Figure 4 below
provides a summary of conciliatory practice tools that can be used to help create authority in a
power-shared world. Review these tools with an eye to their relevance for your capstone project.
Figure 4
05/07/23 20
Summary - New tools are needed to assist public service leaders in dealing with the complex,
uncertain, interdependent and conflict-ridden environment they face. The old world of technical
expertise, reliance on organizational hierarchy, and emphasis on scientific policy analysis and
management are still essential to success, but they increasingly require these traditional
competencies to be supplemented with the tools necessary to lead in a “shared power”
environment. In undertaking your capstone project, you need to determine the extent to which
your “situation for leadership action” shares the characteristics of the “shared power”
environment we have discussed above.
Review:
All PA course work, especially PA 510 Collaboration for Sustainability.
Morgan, et.al. Foundations of Public Service, chapters 3-13.
Ingle, Shinn, Public Service Leadership Handbook, available on-line at course Blackboard website.
C. Leadership for Sustainable Development: What Competencies are Needed to Deal with Wicked Problems?
05/07/23 21
The Executive MPA Program has emphasized the importance of preparing leaders who are can
be responsible stewards of sustainable development. We have incorporated this emphasis into
the program because we believe that for the foreseeable future sustainable development will be at
the forefront of leadership priorities as the forces of globalization continue to heighten the
challenge of mitigating the adverse consequences of economic development on the environment.
This is not only an issue of managing scarcity and calculating the strategic consequences on the
interests of communities and the socio-economic wellbeing of different parts of society, but with
global warming sustainable development has become an issue of the survival of the planet and
the species who inhabit it. As Figure 5 illustrates, what is perhaps most notable about
“leadership for sustainable development” is that there are no clear or final solutions and every
solution produces adverse consequences in the short run, such as restricting economic
development, increasing the cost of living, or disproportionately advantaging sectors of the
population at the expense of others. This is why sustainable development has been characterized
as a “wicked problem”. Wicked problems are defined by the list of characteristics summarized
in Figure 6.
Figure 6: Wicked Problem Checklist
05/07/23
Figure 5: The Sustainable Development Challenge
22
Complex - difficult to analyze and understand all of the interrelated factors
Integrated – the parts are connected and combined
Interdependent – the parts are mutually dependent
Indeterminate – problems and solutions are indefinite, vague, unclear
Unbounded – the problem is not bounded, both physically and temporally
Polycentric – problems do not have one clear causal center
Unpredictable – problems are erratic, random, changeable
Intractable – problems are difficult to deal with or solve
Discontinuous – The factors making up the problem are broken, sporadic, irregular
Nonlinear – Problems undergo change due to unpredictable influences of individual factors
Wicked problems like sustainable development require leaders who have the ability to:
think in terms of “systems interdependency”(i.e., see the whole while working with the parts)
realize and assess the potential for catastrophic risks
think in terms of both the present and the future, balancing equally important but competing values
manage trade-offs
build authority in a power-shared world
realize that “solutions” are only temporary approximations
recognize unintended consequences and surprises
act with prudence
learn and adapt
For purposes of further elaboration we have grouped the above list of competencies into the
following five core leadership competencies that are important in dealing with sustainable
development issues.
Systems thinking and action
Deciding and acting to create “proximate” solutions
05/07/23 23
Getting good at multi-level government and institutional leadership
Getting comfortable with the responsibility to balance competing moral values
A sense of urgency.
1. Systems Thinking and Action – Sustainable development places a premium on integrated
systems analysis and action. It requires an “ecological mindset” where all of the parts are
viewed as having an interdependent relationship with one another and with a larger organic
whole. This approach stands in contrast to the traditional instrumental and management centered
training that has been at the core of public service education for the last 75 years. That is why
the Executive MPA Program has assigned readings and used pedagogical techniques that put
your body and mind in “strange places” that defy deconstruction into meaningful traditional
boxes. To assemble meaning in this kind of environment requires learning how to take advantage
of multiple perspectives. And it requires participants who are willing and able to change their
views in group-centered advisory and decision making settings.
2. Deciding and Acting to Create “Proximate” Solutions – Leadership for sustainable
development requires leaders who are willing to decide and act in the face of large amounts of
uncertainty about the results of their actions. While uncertainty is inherent to the task of public
service leadership, especially in fragmented political systems, it is even more the case when
dealing with sustainable development issues. This is because the web of interdependent factors
that affect the desired outcome are “polycentric”, much in the way a spider web has many
centers of interdependence. While a web may look to have a center, this is only an illusion, since
intervention into any part of the web sets off a chain of interactive influences that are felt by
every other part of the web. With this kind of organic relationship of the parts to the whole, the
outcome of a given intervention at any one point along the web of interdependence cannot be
known for certain. As a consequence, leaders have to take a “let’s try this approach” with
enough confidence that if the course of action does not produce the desired result or actually
makes things worse, they are willing to take responsibility for the outcome and have the courage
and fortitude to rally support for the “next best solution”. In preparing you to lead in this kind of
setting, the Executive MPA curriculum and faculty have frequently put you in settings where you
are asked you to figure out “what is going on”, how to craft an agreeable path forward with
partners in the exercise, and, in general to make you comfortable with “messes”.
05/07/23 24
3. Sustainable Development Requires New Competencies for Multi-Level government and
Institutional Leadership – Sustainable development problems have many of the dispersed-
power characteristics we have discussed above (see pp. 15 ff.) Economic growth, social equity
and environmental stewardship require collaboration across multiple organizational,
jurisdictional and sectoral boundaries. This is because resources to solve the problem may be
dispersed, there may be competing interpretations of what counts for “economic growth”, “social
equity” or “environmental stewardship”. There may also be conflicting priorities among those
who can create and sustain a successful outcome. Whether it is preserving a watershed, meeting
the social needs of a target population or advancing economic growth, there is a need to create
agreement among conflicting views in order to harness the resources to advance the sustainable
development agenda. Leaders need to know how to operate successfully in this horizontal set of
relationship where power is dispersed and where authority has to be created, rather than
assumed.
One of the characteristics of sustainable development is that it affects all individuals
where they live. It is not an abstract notion held by a few leaders at the top and given expression
in vague policy documents that are not viewed by many as having any daily impact on their lives
of individuals. For this reason, there needs to be visible local examples where people see why
sustainable development is important and how it can be done. When this occurs, it can inspire
others to take advantage of the numerous opportunities for individuals at the local level to
exercise leadership, whether it is in their formal governmental roles, in their individual and civic
capacities or through their work.
However, the degree to which individuals become a “thousand points of light” in the
service of sustainable development depends not only on visible signs of its importance where
they live, but also on the kinds of examples that are set at the policy levels by political leaders at
every level of government. Without active leadership on behalf of sustainable development by
political leaders, the potential army of soldiers that can be enlisted into service will never realize
its potential, a particularly lamentable outcome given the urgency and breadth of global action
that is required.
4. Moral Balancing Becomes More Complicated – We have argued that one of the unique
responsibilities of public service leaders is their need to balance a larger repertoire of moral
05/07/23 25
values that are in tension than is the case for leaders in the market, civic and nonprofit sectors.
In section IIC (pp. 9-11) of this review we summarized the dynamic tension among the following
core values that are at the center of America’s multiple systems of democratic government:
responsiveness, efficiency/effectiveness, protecting minority rights, and an engaged citizenry.
Sustainable development adds to the complexity of this task of balancing competing and equally
important moral values, as is illustrated by Figure 5 above.
As Figure 5 illustrates, sustainable development places in conflict the values of economic
growth, social equity and the protection of the environment. How leaders manage this tension
depends on a multitude of factors, including where a community is along the development
continuum, the ability of a community or nation to extract raw materials from within and outside
its boundaries, the confluence of international and internal political pressures, the overall stature
of a nation within the international community and the contextual forces at work within a
leader’s local sphere of authority and influence.
How success is defined in managing the sustainable development tensions varies widely.
As Figure 5 indicates “bearable” impact on the environment, “equitable” social outcomes and
“viable” economic development have quite different meanings to different people in the far
reaches of the globe and at different points in their history. For example, there are parts of the
world where sustainable development is a “way of life” as opposed to a public policy that is in
competition with other policies that are in contention for the allocation of scarce financial
resources.
5. Sustainable Development Adds a Sense of Urgency – Sustainable development adds a sense
of urgency to the task of public service leadership, although the motivating factors for this
urgency may be not always be the same. For global warming specialists, the urgency lies in the
geometric impact that small temperature changes have on the planet’s flora, fauna and geo-
political transformations. For political leaders the urgency is driven by a combination of internal
and international pressures that can produce quite divergent outcomes. For example, the United
States is being pushed by the less developed nations of the world to assume a disproportionate
role in reducing its carbon footprint on the globe. These nations argue that the developed nations
need to bear a bigger share of the burden in reducing global carbon emissions in order to allow
the developing countries to “catch up”. In the short run, economic growth could be sacrificed in
05/07/23 26
the more developed nations for the sake of protecting the environment and promoting greater
global social equity. The sustainable development agenda, regardless of how it may be dealt
with by individual leaders, has created a sense of urgency that makes it increasingly difficult for
leaders to avoid taking responsibility for managing the problem.
Summary and Conclusions The Legacy Leadership Model provides a strategic framework from which to organize specific
leadership actions at all levels of an organization, at all places within a community and at every
level of government. In structure and flow, the Legacy Leadership Model follows a three-phase
process depicted in Figure 7: (1) identifying a problem that requires action and creating a vision
that gives the problem meaning; (2) generating support for the vision; and (3) making the vision
a reality through implementation and institutionalization.
The model is an iterative process, which requires that at multiple stages of the process,
there are opportunities for the problem to be redefined as a result of enlarging the circle of
support and learning from the experience of taking action. It is modeled after the theory of
“double loop learning” in which participants in a problem-solving activity are encouraged to
learn from what they have done by taking into account failures and mistakes as well as what has
worked (Schon 1983). This learning is accomplished by asking participants to take time out to
make explicit their theory in use (first loop) and then take time out again after applying what
they know to capture the “lessons learned (the second learning loop) from the application phase
of the process.
As Figure 7 indicates, the Legacy Model is understood as a political process that requires
the mobilization of political support, the arbitration of competing values, and the transformation
of these values into an agreement that is given institutional form. Without creating an
institutional framework for holding these values and giving them meaning over time, leaders
cannot create legacies; they can only create projects.
05/07/23
Institutionalization of the Leadership
Figure 7: Legacy Leadership Model
27
Legacy Leadership is hard work and not for the lazy or faint-harded. It requires the
development of a complex array of leadership competencies and the personal courage,
perseverance and selfless service to others that is more akin to a “calling” than a job or
profession.
Review:Robert E. Horn and Robert P. Weber. 2007. “New Tools for Resolving Wicked Problems:
Mess Mapping and Resolution Mapping Processes, MacroVU(r), Inc. and Strategy Kinetics, LLC. http://www.strategykinetics.com/files/New_Tools_For_Resolving_Wicked_Problems.pdf
Douglas Morgan. 2009. “Public Service Leadership and Sustainable Development: The Legacy Leadership Model and Leading, For the Common Good”, available on-line at course Blackboard website.
The Netherlands. Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations, “Resilience and Emergence in Public Administration”, International Roundtable Report, The Hague, March 24-26, 2010.
PA 510 Collaboration for Sustainability
PA 510 Global Leadership
Morgan, ET. al., Foundations of Public Service, chapter 11.
Schon. 1983. The Reflective Practitioner.
05/07/23
Vision Enlarging Support for the Vision Institutionalization
Institutionalization of the Leadership
28
SECTION III: WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS FOR A SUCCESSFUL CAPSTONE PROJECT?
There is no uniform template required for all capstone projects. This is because the organization
and presentation of your capstone may take a wide variety of forms, such as an in-depth case
study, a more traditional applied research project, an organizational assessment, an
implementation plan, just to mention a few of the more common possibilities. You will work
with your adviser to decide upon an organizational structure that is best suited to the purposes
and audience for your capstone project. With this flexibility in mind, all projects will be required
to include the following component parts: 1. a clear statement of the problem, question or thesis
of your project that is grounded in an appropriate literature review; 2. a strategy for collecting
evidence with an explanation of why this strategy is the most appropriate one for your project.
3. an analysis of the data you have collected and summary conclusions. 4. Final reflections on
the leadership implications of your capstone and its importance for your professional growth and
development.
A. Problem Identification and Literature Review - The first part of your Capstone should
provide the reader with a descriptive summary of the case or research problem that is the focus
of your capstone project. The key to a successful project is precision in formulating the research
question you would like your proposal to answer or the hypothesis you want the project to test.
Typically, students spend considerable time in narrowing the topic and in drafting precise
wording so that the data collection and analysis will be sufficiently narrow and clear to be
completed in a timely fashion. Most topics start out being too broad and too imprecise for
purposes of undertaking data collection. You will find that considerable time is spent on
case/research problem selection in order to identify a “rich case/problem” that can be completed
within a 2-3 month time-frame and to frame it in a sufficiently narrow fashion so that the data
collection is in alignment with the question and the anticipated analysis. It is also important that
you select a topic that provides fruitful opportunities to discuss the theories and leadership
“lessons you have learned” in the course of your Executive MPA program of study.
One of the most important parts of section A is the literature review. The purpose of this
review is to identify the body of research and writing that is relevant to your project and where
your project fits into the body of related theory and practice. After undertaking the literature
05/07/23 29
review, the reader should understand 1. Why the topic is important; where your study fits into the
literature on the subject and 3. What your project will contribute to the body of literature.
For those undertaking a research problem, Part A should include a clear statement of the
problem and an explanation of where and how this problem fits into the literature relevant to
your study. For those undertaking a Case Study, Part A should include an account of the
relevant history and background conditions that created the problem, the relevant organizational
context and the various internal and external stakeholders who have a vested interest in a
successful resolution of the problem. Section A is largely descriptive and needs to include all of
the factual material that is necessary for the reader to understand your subsequent data collection,
analysis and synthesis in parts B, C and D.
B. Research Design and Data Collection - In part B you need to explain what kind of data you
collected to answer the question or thesis you have posed for your project. Who did you collect
the data from? What was your sampling strategy? What kinds of instrument did you use to
collect your data? How did you assure the validity of the data? You need to explain why your
data collection plan was the most appropriate for your project. This explanation will require
knowledge of other alternative data collection strategies and an understanding of the comparative
advantages and disadvantages of the strategy chose.
Part B should include a discussion of the problems that you encountered in collecting the
data and the implications of these problems on using the data for interpretive and analytic
purposes.
C. Analysis – The analysis section of your Capstone should tell the reader what your data
collection means. What are your conclusions? Why are you making these conclusions? What is
the significance of your conclusions for your research question or case study problem? What are
the implications of your findings for your literature review? What are the implications of your
findings for administrative practice? For administrative theories? For administrative leadership?
D. Reflections on The Personal Meaning of Your Capstone for Professional Practice: The
final part of your Capstone provides an opportunity for you to “show case” “the art of reflective
practice”. Sometimes called "double-loop learning," reflective practice requires constantly
05/07/23 30
asking oneself the following questions: "What do I think is going on here?" “How does public
administration theory help me understand ‘what is going on here’?” How does my
understanding of ‘what is going on here’ change my theoretical understanding”? How has my
understanding been informed and guided by my coursework? How has my project changed or
added to my coursework understanding?
In addition to the professional dimension of the Capstone project, there is also a personal
dimension. Our careers are to some important extent a reflection of our personal narratives.
Thinking about how your capstone and larger organizational role as an administrator fits into
your life story is a good way of clarifying your intentions and improving your ability to be a
good practitioner and administrative leader. Alasdair MacIntyre argues that the real issue at
stake in all professional practice is whether ones practice is an element in a good life for your
kind of person. In short, you are encouraged to think about how your Capstone project and the
larger role you have “plotted out” for yourself in pursuing the Executive MPA degree squares
with the "kind of person" you are.
E. Matters of Process, Form and Style
1. Process for Completion of the Capstone Project – You will be separately provided with
some timeline benchmarks for successful completion of your Capstone in time to graduate with
your fellow-cohort members. Your success in meeting these benchmarks requires closely
working with your faculty advisor who is responsible for “signing off” on meeting each of the
required benchmark assignments. You can expect multiple revisions of each stage of your
capstone work. For example, you can count on 2-3 drafts of your capstone proposal and
each of your chapter drafts. You need to build this into your timeframe for completing the
various stages of your work. You also need to coordinate your timeline with the schedule of
your faculty advisor, who may be unavailable to assist you for extended periods because of
other assignments, some of which may take him/her out of the country.
2. Proper Form, Writing, Documentation and Submission
a . Length, Style, and Other Matters - The report must be typewritten; it must be between 30 and
50 pages long (excluding bibliography, endnotes and appendices); it must be composed in the
05/07/23 31
style prescribed by the American Psychological Association or Turabian Style Manual (also
known as the Chicago style). Two copies of your final Report must be submitted to your faculty
advisor. One copy will be kept on file in the Public Administration Office for review by faculty
and students. The other will be evaluated by your faculty advisor and returned to you.
b. Bibliography, Endnotes and Appendices - Your Capstone needs to include a complete
bibliography of the literature you relied on and cited to complete your Capstone project. It
needs to provide proper footnoting and include Appendices of the materials essential to make
sense out of your project. You will work with your Capstone advisor to determine the exact
amount and kinds of materials that are necessary to include.
c. Quality of Writing, Argument and Evidence - Considerable emphasis is placed on the
quality of your argument, evidence and writing. The aspirational goal is to make the
Capstone the “best piece of thinking and writing” you have ever done. This standard will be
used by the faculty, which explains why you can expect 2-3 revisions of most everything you
submit to your adviser for their review.
05/07/23 32
References
Argyris, Chris and Donald Schon. 1974. The Reflective Practitioner.
Bright, Leonard. 2005. “Public Employees with High Levels of Public Service Motivation: Who Are They, Where Are They, and What do They Want?”, Review of Public Personnel Administration 25(June): 138-154.
Cooper, Phillip C. “Ph.D. Core Examination Question #3”, 2010.
MacIntyre, Alasdair. 1984. After Virtue. 2nd ed. Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press.
MacroVU(r), Inc. and Strategy Kinetics. “Mess Mapping and Resolution Mapping Processes” http://www.strategykinetics.com/files/New_Tools_For_Resolving_Wicked_Problems.pdf
McCarthy, Mary. Editor. 1981. The Life of the Mind. 2 vols. Boston, MA: Mariner Books.
Morgan, ET. al., 2008. Foundations of Public Service. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
______. 2009. “Public Service Leadership and Sustainable Development: The Legacy Leadership Model and Leading for the Common Good”, available on-line at course Blackboard website.
_______. 1990. “Administrative Phronesis: Discretion and the Problem of Administrative Legitimacy in Our Constitutional System.” In Images and Identities in Public Administration, ed. Henry D. Kass and Bayard L. Catron. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
The Netherlands. Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations, “Resilience and Emergence in Public Administration”, International Roundtable Report, The Hague, March 24-26, 2010.
Perry, James, and L. Wise. 1990. “The Motivational Basis of Public Service.” Public Administration Review 50: 367–73.
Schon, Donald. 1983. The Reflective Practitioner. New York, NY: Basic Books.
05/07/23 33
