JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - naspaa

Operation PSA: The Action Learning of Curiosity and Creativity
Major questions focus on broader levels of concern, such as where, who,
when, and what. Minor questions, in contrast, dig deeper into
understanding the specific concerns for why, how many, and how much.
While action learning typically occurs at the major level of questioning,
it also follows that the greater the significance of the problem or issue,
the greater the need for clarification pertaining to details involving
cause, effectiveness, and efficiency.
It should be noted that action learning is an educational process predicated
on the wealth of an individual’s own experiences. As such, action learning is a
theoretical model conducive for adult learners, as opposed to those within the
K-12 curricula, because without adequate real-world challenges and successes,
individuals cannot guide their future actions and improve performance. “Q”
recognizes the relevance of listening as a key component of action learning,
because humans spend more time listening than they do in any other form of
communication (i.e., 70 percent) (Ruben & Stewart, 1998).
Just as action learning is distinguished from conventional modes of teaching,
so are action-learning PSAs, which (1) deliver evidence that change has been
made, (2) emphasize the role of communication, (3) demonstrate how
organizational goals are realized through group activity, and (4) reflect the needs
of multiple communities across stakeholder boundaries. In order to understand
how action-learning PSAs are connected to developing the boundary-spanning
skills of public and nonprofit administrators, the next section delineates the
importance of boundary spanning in public administration.
BOUNDARY-SPANNING MANAGEMENT
Boundary spanners perform two general functions: informative
processing and external representation (Aldrich & Herker, 1977).
Within these two functions, they perform five important activities: (1)
they present organizational information to the outside environment and
bring environmental information into the organization; (2) they filter
both organizational outputs and environmental inputs; (3) they scan the
environment and decide what information to bring into the
organization; (4) they buffer the organization from external threats; and
(5) they represent the organization (Pepper, 1995, p. 180).
Boundary-spanning PSAs reproduce and transform public administration,
while simultaneously advancing leadership competencies, in three ways. First,
PSAs, as defined in this paper, illuminate community interests because
individuals work in teams to alter their communications and share
responsibilities in the creation of focused messages for change. Second, faculty
members are not always aware of how their own communications hinder the
acquisition of knowledge. In particular, they do not understand what boundary-
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