WINTER 2012 - National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and ...

Yahong Zhang, Robert Lee and Kaifeng Yang
(c) to analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems, and make decisions; (d)
to articulate and apply a public service perspective; and (e) to communicate and
interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry. The
new accreditation standards reveal that NASPAA has shifted its emphasis from
specific knowledge and skills to more general competencies in a complicated
environment; it has also realized the policy-making responsibilities for public
administrators. Of course, the NASPAA accreditation standards serve for career
managers in general, not for local government managers per se.
Denhardt (2001) suggests that all career administrators need three types
of personal development—cognitive knowledge, interpersonal skills, and
intrapersonal skills; but each type of development has different contents/
requirements as administrators move from technical to managerial and
institutional positions. As such, he proposes that each MPA program should
contextually identify its students and then provide different types of students
with different combinations of theory- and practice-focused training. According
to Denhardt, city managers would need greater knowledge of organizational
environments and the process of policy development, as well as more skills in
negotiating or brokering across organizational boundaries.
Koven, Goetz, and Brennan (2008), through analyzing 46 of the top 50
MPA programs identified by U.S. News & World Report in 2006, find that the
leading core courses were “organizational concepts and institutions” and “policy
evaluation” (both courses were required by 87% of all programs), “budgeting and
finance” (85%), “public administration” (74%), “ethics and leadership” (59%),
and “politics and legal institutions” (52%).
Lazenby (2010) examines 42 MPA programs with a concentration in
local government. He finds that these MPA programs provide good coverage
of competencies associated with administration, legal/institutional system,
and technical/analytical skills. However, they are less likely to provide
trainings of “soft skills,” the competencies associated with ethics, interpersonal
communications, human relations, leadership, group processes, and community
building. Nevertheless, since
formal graduate education is only one component of preparing an
individual for a senior management role in local government. . . .
Given a finite number of hours available in a 2-year professional
degree program, it makes sense to focus this time on the kinds of
competencies that lend themselves well to “book learning.” (Lazenby,
2010, p. 351)
Lazenby also suggests that courses on policy analysis and analytical skills
are less important than those on managing public organizations, and thus
they should be eliminated from the curriculum in MPA programs with a
concentration in local government.
188 Journal of Public Affairs Education