Change in the White House – Four Maxwell PAIA Faculty Members Named to Management Task Force

Maxwell faculty weigh in on best practices for presidential transitions.

Four PAIA faculty members have been named to a management task force recommending best practices for presidential transitions.

The IBM Center for the Business of Government and the Partnership for Public Service together have launched a “management roadmap initiative” to develop, by next fall, recommendations for the transition of power and knowledge between departing and incoming presidential administrations.

Among those contributing to the Ready to Govern initiative are four faculty members from Maxwell’s Department of Public Administration and International Affairs: Ines Mergel, Tina Nabatchi, Sean O’Keefe, and David Van Slyke. The Maxwell contingent is larger than that from any other school.

They were among academics, government leaders, and other stakeholders convened for an

Professor Ines Mergel

April 24 launch event in Washington, D.C. “Almost two years before the new administration comes in,” says Mergel, an associate professor, “we brainstormed about the public management innovations that a new administration should keep — or are worth transitioning — and we came up with the themes, which set the stage for follow-up meetings.” Follow-up will be conducted by subgroups formed from the April gathering. Key theme areas will include developing human talent, harnessing innovation, strengthening decision-making processes and establishing collaborative governance networks.

Eventually, recommendations will be available to presidential candidates as an executive summary, briefings, podcasts, reports, and in other forms.

Associate Dean and Professor, David Van Slyke, Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business & Government Policy

“The focus is really how can we help a new administration understand that you can’t get good policy implemented if you don’t think about management,” says Van Slyke, Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business and Government Policy.

Professor Tina Nabatchi

For Nabatchi, an associate professor, Ready to Govern is also important for creating broader awareness about public management and bureaucracy. Though, for many, the concept has a negative connotation, bureaucracy is “critical to our progress as a nation,” she says. “I want people to see public management as a necessity and not assume that bureaucracy is bad, but instead ask how can we make it better.”

Sean O’Keefe
Phanstiel Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership

“This is what we’re all about: teaching the next generation how to be effective public administrators and public servants,” says O’Keefe, Phanstiel Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership. “This was an invitation to practice what we preach.”

Reprinted from “The Oath”  News and Reports from the Public Administration Degree Program, SU, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, (October 2015), written by Renee Gearhardt Levy.