Re-Focusing Public Administration for Improved Service Delivery: The Need to Strenghten Ethics (Published)
There are wide ranging accusations that public administration in recent time have failed to live up to the expectations of the growing population of Nigerians. This is in view of the persistent cases of under-performance, deepened corruption, lack of professionalism, inertia and general insensitivity to the increasing public service needs and demands of the people. Public administration in the immediate post-colonial era was perceived more disciplined, accountable and responsive and performed better. These concerns have reduced public trust and confidence on public administrators and their capacity for efficient, productive and accountable public services. This article however, acknowledges this high level of dysfunctionality and the implications on service delivery, more especially where there is the collapse of ethics in the public sector. The article is therefore, an attempt to propose for the re-focusing of public administration through ethical culture where unethical standards result in negative consequences. The public sector ethics are a set of standards that guide behaviours of public administrators. Ethical behaviour is therefore, imperative in ensuring that the administrators understand and carry out the business of governance in the most professional, efficient and accountable manner within the scope of public expectations. The paper further suggests ways of deepening and improving ethical behaviour in the country’s public administration for improved service delivery.
Keywords: Ethics, Public Administration, Service delivery
Is the Brazilian Civil Service Reform About to Succeed (Published)
In late 2017, Brazilian president Michel Temer commissioned a survey about civil service and government expenditures at the World Bank. The results were catastrophic: The Brazilian government spends significantly more than it collects and allocates its resources in an inefficient way, impacting negatively the Brazilian economy growth. One of the villains pointed by the report is precisely the size of the government, the inefficient Federal Civil Service, especially the high salaries, and disproportional benefits from the Executive branch, especially regarding the Social Security regime. The initiative is part of the Federal Government to follow through a controversial reform on civil service, under current Congress debate, in a year of presidential elections. Will the reform succeed? We analyzed the challenges and pitfalls on the Brazilian Civil Service, and its reform proposals, in comparison to: (a) private service, and (b) to equivalent civil services from other countries. Finally, we addressed the discussion on its implications to the Brazilian economy, and brought recommendations for public managers, as well as future research.
Keywords: Brazil, Civil service, Public Administration
Albanian Gender Challenge of Public Administration and European Integration of Albania (Published)
The purpose of this paper is to present the current situation in Albania, regarding women’s representation in public administration, in front of European integration challenge. Women’s representation in public administration is analyzed in this paper, with special focus at senior management position as well as in decision-making bodies, compared with the standards of gender quota in Albania and European Union countries. This analysis is based on secondary data; reports or other studies which are processed and analyzed through the statistical comparison. The methodology used is the descriptive and comparative one. There are different findings regarding the different levels of public administration. Women’s representation at low and middle level of public administration, marks significant achievements, exceeded national and European gender quota standards, while at senior management level and decision making bodies it is still in critical level.
Keywords: Albania, Decision Making, European Union., Gender Equality, Gender Quota, Public Administration