The Professional Edge

The new context and character of public service - shifting values, entrepreneurship, information technology, multi-sector careers - require enhanced technical, ethical, and leadership skills. This concise and readable work describes what it means to be a consummate professional public servant. It sets standards for everyone who conducts the public's business and links them with performance management, human resource administration, and information technology skills. The authors identify the ethical foundations of public service and how to integrate them in practice. They also address individual leadership, what it means, and how it is based on a foundation of technical and ethical skills. Filled with original illustrative examples and case studies from government, the non-profit sector, and business, The Professional Edge is an ideal supplement for any introductory course in Public Administration or Ethics in the Public Service. List of Tables, Figures, and Exhibits, Preface, Acknowledgments, 1. Public Service Today: Complex, Contradictory, Competitive, 2. The Technical Professional: Developing Expertise, 3. The Ethical Professional: Cultivating Scruples, 4. The Consummate Professional: Creating Leadership, 5. The Future of Public Service: Cases and Commentary for the New Millennium, References, About the Authors, Index