PAR Preview ▪ Issue 6 ▪ April 2012
PAR Preview is a monthly newsletter that calls attention to forthcoming articles in PAR.
PAR Preview provides brief summaries of content now available digitally in Early View,
Wiley's online publication system.
Perspective
The Leadership challenge in confronting complexity and creating unity of effort
Former Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard Thad W. Allen (George Washington University) emphasizes the importance of leadership for bringing efforts together and developing effective responses in large-scale, high-consequence crises. Based on his own leadership experiences in the responses to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and Hurricane Katrina, Allen suggests that the central concept in successful adaptation and response is a focus on working across traditional boundaries and understanding that trust, networks, collaboration, and cooperation are the building blocks. In addressing these nonroutine challenges, public leaders must commit to acquiring and integrating leadership skills, learning how to unite efforts from those who have a consequential role in the outcomes we seek. Link to PAR Early View
Citizenship and civic attachment: The case for a universal service lottery
Former Deputy Assistant to President Clinton and the APSA Hubert H. Humphrey Award recipient William A. Galston (Brookings Institution) points out that civic membership becomes weaker as society gets divided along lines of income, social status, politics, and ideology, and that citizenship is regarded as individual liberty without reciprocal responsibility. Galston proposes that some form of mandatory service, either military or full-time civilian service, would improve civic attachments of the citizenry by effectively promoting active, responsible citizenship. Furthermore, mandatory service will contribute to social solidarity across economic, social, and political differences by offering more integrative experiences and enhanced contact among the young generation. Link to PAR Early View
Research Article
Analyzing performance of different types of environmental management systems
Nicole Darnall (Arizona State University) and Younsung Kim (George Mason University) explore how variations in the adoption of environmental management systems (EMSs) are related to subsequent environmental performance on an international scale. The authors examine which types of EMSs are associated with greater environmental improvements by comparing environmental performance of ISO 14001-certified, complete (noncertified), and incomplete EMSs across multiple environmental media. An analysis of data from seven countries in North America, Europe, and Japan indicates that all types of EMSs are related to improved environmental performance, while ISO 14001-certified EMSs are associated with broader environmental improvements over other types. Link to PAR Early View
The impact of social capital on postdisaster recovery for women
N. Emel Ganapati (Florida International University) investigates the gender dimension of social capital in a postdisaster context by focusing on what kind of benefits social capital offers for women who are affected by disasters. From a qualitative case study of the city of Gölcük, Turkey, the author finds that social capital offers benefits for women during postdisaster recovery because it is therapeutic in nature and helps women survivors gain empowerment, attain civic consciousness, and avoid the stigma of public assistance. Understanding the gender dynamics of social capital would enable public administrators to recognize how to overcome the unique vulnerabilities of women and strengthen their capabilities in postdisaster recovery. Link to PAR Early View
Commentary on this article by Kanako Iuchi (World Bank) is available in Early View. Link to PAR Early View
A preliminary theory of informal accountability among network actors
Barbara S. Romzek (University of Kansas), Kelly LeRoux (University of Illinois at Chicago), and Jeannette M. Blackmar (University of Kansas) propose a preliminary theory of informal accountability in nonprofit service delivery networks. Based on the multiple case study design and in-depth interviews with nonprofit senior administrators, the authors examine the informal norms, expectations, and behaviors that facilitate collective action and promote informal accountability among organizational actors within nonprofit contract networks. The theory incorporates the shared norms and facilitative behaviors that foster informal accountability, the informal system of rewards and sanctions used to promote and reinforce behavioral expectations, and the challenges that may undermine the system of informal accountability. Link to PAR Early View
Book Reviews
The role of trust in public sector leadership
Montgomery Van Wart (California State University, San Bernardino) reviews The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships That Make Government Work, edited by Terry Newell, Grant Reeher, and Peter Ronayne (2012), and Teaching, Tasks, and Trust: Functions of the Public Executive by John Brehm and Scott Gates (2008). The two books, writes Van Wart, examine leadership and trust from very different perspectives with two different goals. The Trusted Leader uses a values-based leadership approach and seeks to provide concrete strategies and recommendations for practitioners about how to build trust in a variety of settings. On the other hand, Teaching, Tasks, and Trust is a scholarly analysis of transactional and supervisory-level leadership using an expanded principal-agent theory, which is based on a variety of data sets and a statistical methodology. In spite of divergent paths and objectives, the two sets of authors emphasize the importance and centrality of trust in leadership for effectively managing public sector organizations. Link to PAR Early View
Public Administration Review is published by Wiley on behalf of the
American Society for Public Administration.
Editor-in-Chief: James L. Perry ▪ Managing Editor: Michael McGuire
Indiana University, School of Public and Environmental Affairs
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