The University of Texas Arlington's online Master of Public Administration (MPA) program prepares students to tackle the many challenges leaders in public services face. An essential focus of UTA's MPA program is addressing the needs of underserved populations in urban areas that have long gone unmet by traditional public services.
In the minds of many, public administration reform is necessary in order to successfully support disadvantaged populations, promoting equity in access to robust and effective services. Innovation is key to driving such reform and is therefore central to the current discourse in public administration.
Why Is Public Administration in Need of Reform and Innovation?
In a sense, the complexities and challenges of modern public administration are compounded by traditional approaches to public service.
American public sector services have evolved within the context of the country's development, values, politics and institutions. The United States' democratic ideals promote access to a high quality of life for all. Yet, American institutions and a societal structure based on individualism, capitalism and generational wealth perpetuate and reinforce long-standing socio-cultural and economic inequities.
Public services directly aim to address these inequities. However, traditional approaches to public service reflect the institutions and dominant culture out of which they were created, often including the ingrained biases and historical prejudices of that culture.
This is to say that, to a degree, some traditional public sector services have become ineffectual or even harmful to many of the people they serve. Thus, public administration reform and innovation are needed to improve public service's positive impact on society.
What Kinds of Innovations Could Improve Public Administration?
Current innovations in public administration are promising. At the root of many are concepts like co-creation, co-production and co-design. These ideas essentially refer to bridging the gap between public services/policies and the people served.
This means all stakeholders (citizens, public servants, community organizations and politicians) should be involved in designing, creating, executing and evaluating public policies and services. Advocates argue that the very people affected should be central to discussions regarding what services they need and how they can best access those services. Policymaking should similarly include and represent the people that policies impact. Ideally, this system of collaboration fosters more democratic, accessible and engaging representative public services and policies.
Modern technologies are also spurring public administration innovation. Traditionally, the public service approach to solving a problem might be fairly simplistic or reactive, addressing symptoms of a problem with little structural change and long-term efficacy. Analyzing and addressing the many intersecting, correlational factors at the root of a whole system can be dizzyingly complex.
However, modern technologies driven by artificial intelligence (AI) can gather and analyze vast quantities of data in extremely complex, relational ways. These technologies can provide insight into correlational and causational relationships between otherwise disparate datasets, such as social and economic conditions, people, behavior, demographics and environmental factors, to name a few.
This degree of multi-layered data analysis can help researchers and public servants uncover the underlying factors that intersect and lead to a given problem. Leaders in the field can then use these insights to strategically design services that address the root of such problems, resulting in more positive, long-term impacts.
What About Risk Management in Public Administration Innovation?
Innovation in any setting comes with risks, especially when considering public service and the community well-being. A large-scale public administration strategy that is poorly implemented or ineffectual in practice could negatively impact large populations. A mismanaged strategy could even worsen the problem it is meant to address.
AI-driven analytics, for example, can learn and perpetuate biases due to poor datasets or implicit bias ingrained in programming parameters. To mitigate this risk, software vendors and users must be vigilant in monitoring, detecting and addressing potential biases in programming, data and analysis.
Public administration professionals must consider these risks when implementing any strategy into practice. Leaders must address and identify potential flaws in the design and constantly monitor and assess potential impacts during execution.
Managing innovation and reform in public sector policies and services is not a simple task. It involves taking risks, challenging institutions and deconstructing systemic inequities. But creative, strategic innovation in public administration has the potential to disrupt antiquated patterns and social structures. Leaders who drive this change can be instrumental in helping overcome the many challenges society faces today.
Learn more about The University of Texas at Arlington's Online Master of Public Administration program.
Sources:
European Commission: Innovation in Public Administration
PA Times:
Innovation Risk Management
Linking Theory to Practice in Public Affairs Education: Tradition and Innovation
Science Direct: Innovation and Public Reform
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