The Art Of Reflective Practice:

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 GOVERNMENT PORTLAND 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).

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

3 11/25/17 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.

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

5 11/25/17 functioning unit that is able to accomplish both the task and social goals necessary to deliver a product on time and on budget.

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

6 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 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. 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.

7 11/25/17 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 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

8 Figure 2

Public Leadership: Working Framework

Place-based Relationships Proposition: Public leadership for sustainable development is relational, requiring leaders to take into account the global consequences of acting within a place-bound institutional context. Continuous & Recursive Balancing Proposition: Public leadership requires continuous balancing of conflicting values in the midst of Visionary complex changing realities. Proposition: Public leadership requires the creation of visions that successfully link past, present and future realities and transforms them into possibilities.

Public Good Proposition: Pubic leadership requires selfless service for the sake of a larger public good. Multidisciplinary Competence & Continuous Learning Proposition: Public leadership requires Public Leadership Propositions: the competence to use and integrate multiple Executive Leadership Institute, Portland State University, 2009 disciplines in a continuous learning process. Photo Illustration: Jennifer McFarland

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.

9 11/25/17 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.”

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,

10 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 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.

11 11/25/17 Figure 3

D e m o c r a t i c B a l a n c e w h e e l

“ T h e K i n g G e o r g e P r o b l e m ” “ T h e E n g a g e d C i t i z e n P r o b l e m ” C o r r e c t i v e : R E S P O N S I V E C o r r e c t i v e : G O V E R N A N C E C I V I C G O V E R N A N C E

“ T h e G e o r g e W a s h i n g t o n P r o b le m ” “ T h e S h a y ’ s R e b e l l i o n P r o b l e m ”

C o r r e c t i v e : C o r r e c t i v e : A r t i c l e s o f C O M P E T E N T - E N E R G E T I C M I N O R I T Y R I G H T S & A C C E S S t o A n t i f e d e r a l i s t , C o n f e d e r a t i o n , G O V E R N A N C E G O V E R N A N C E G r e a t S o c i e t y J a c k s o n i a n & P o p u l i s t L e g a c ie s L e g a c ie s • C i t i z e n p a r t i c i p a t i o n • D e l i b e r a t i v e g o v ’ t • C o - p r o d u c t i o n • S m a l l e r / w e a k e r g o v ’ t • L o c a l c o n t r o l F e d e r a l i s t , P r o g r e s s i v e , & F e d e r a l i s t , N e w D e a l , • C i t i z e n l e g i s l a t u r e E n t r e p r e n e u r ia l G r e a t S o c i e t y — • D e c e n t r a l i z e d • O p e n g o v e r n m e n t L e g a c ie s S t r o n g L e g a l L e g a c i e s a d m i n i s t r a t i o n • I n i t i a t i v e p r o c e s s • F a c e - t o - f a c e g o v ’ t • P r e f e r e n c e f o r n o n - • S y s t e m a t i c p la n n in g • B i l l o f R i g h t s • S m a l l , f r u g a l m o n o p l i s t i c p r i v a t e • E f f i c i e n c y • E q u a l t r e a t m e n t g o v e r n m e n t m a r k e t s • E f f e c t i v e n e s s • D u e p r o c e s s • R e f e r e n d u m p r o c e s s • E n e r g e t i c g o v e r n m e n t • O p e n g o v e r n m e n t • C a r e e r c i v i l s e r v i c e • A c c o u n t a b i l i t y p r o t o c o l s • C o n t r a c t i n g o u t • I n t e r e s t b a l a n c i n g • C u s t o m e r s e r v i c e • F e d e r a l i s m / f i l t e r i n g

F E D E R A L I S M P L U R A L I S M

T H E E X T E N D E D R E P U B L I C

12 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. 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).

13 11/25/17 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

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.

15 11/25/17 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

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

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 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

17 11/25/17 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 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).

18 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

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?

19 11/25/17 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

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

20 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  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

21 11/25/17 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”.

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

22 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 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

23 11/25/17 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 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

24 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.

25 11/25/17 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.p df 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.

26 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

27 11/25/17 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

28 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

29 11/25/17 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.

30 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.

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