Public Adminsitration and Professionalism

Public Administration and Professionalism
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PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PROFESSIONALISM
Over the years since the introduction of the first graduate program in public administration, the field has gone through various scrutiny and evolutions. From the debate on whether to make it a profession or not to present where a local district has been forcing its employees in the public administration to choose between their job and the positions on elected school boards. This follows a policy prohibiting the government employees from taking political positions. Further, the policy prohibits employees from the municipal from serving on the associations in the local community, federal as well as the provincial constituency associations. Reeve said that the policy is in efforts to ensure put a clear distinction between the municipal district and the organizations it deals with in terms of finances and politics (Negoita, Palade, & KES. 2003).
Therefore, here in is a discussion on the policy of the municipal employees and its relevance in ensuring professionalism in the field of public administration in relation to aspects such as the traditional values of public administration, management values, new public management values, ethic of structure and ethic of neutrality, and ICMA code of ethics. The policy goes too far in prohibiting the employees from the municipal district to participate in other local community activities (Ranga, Sinha, & Indian Public Administration Association. 1987).
Despite the fact that over the years scholars have revised and considered various attributes of professions, there is no one common definition of professionalism and what elements constitute professions (Bowman, & Menzel, 1998). However, generally a profession refers to as a special kind of occupation where occupation is a kind of work that comprises various duties and tasks in various industries and organizations performed in order to earn a living by individuals with competence, ability and expertise that is based on education, personal attributes, experience and training. Therefore, it is vital for the government employees and civil servants especially the individuals in the public administration to be of high professionalism (Bowman, 2004). On the other hand, local government administration comprises of thousands of public servants who are employed by the local government in the country. Various members of the public department are in various levels and departments such as planners, engineers, librarians, lawyers and accountants among others. However, the question stands, is the implementation of the policy prohibiting government employees from having political stand and not engaging in the local community association effective in enhancing professionalism in the public administration field?
Talking of professionalism, people have a traditional model at the back of their minds, the traditional model that was ...