Tag: public administration

A Student’s Perspective: The Voinovich Challenge

~ Madison Bartula-Henkle

mads iorem

For those of you who I have not met yet, my name is Madison, and I am finishing up my MPPA degree this year. As I am sure most of you know, one great part of this program is the amount of career and skill-building opportunities our professors and advisors share with us. Through this program, I learned about Dr. Khan’s nonprofit organization IOREM. Dr. Khan co-founded the International Organization for Remittances and Migration in 2020. This past spring, IOREM wanted to bring on a student intern, and I jumped at the opportunity to work in the nonprofit sector.

Since being with IOREM, I have been working wherever needed. I even got the opportunity to help plan and facilitate our Summer Workshop, which took place in August. Our biggest win thus far was taking home second place in the Voinovich Challenge for Public Innovation. The challenge is run by the Voinovich School at Ohio University, in collaboration with NASPAA (Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration). 

I was both terrified and elated when Dr. Khan asked me to present with him. I still get nervous when it comes to public speaking, and I knew how significant this opportunity was for IOREM. I was so honored that Dr. Khan trusted me enough for the job and the competition. We spent a lot of time fine tuning and practicing our presentation. On October 29th, Dr. Khan and I presented IOREM and our upcoming research project to a panel of esteemed judges, some of whom were former winners of the challenge. After all was said and done, we took home second place! 

Working with IOREM has taught me so much; not only about the industry but about myself. I have been able to build my professional and personal skills thanks to this opportunity. Ultimately, read your emails and take advantage of everything this program can give you! 

Resistance to mask-wearing: Can wearing masks be seen as not macho enough/“effeminate” behavior?

The latest issue of Administrative Theory and Praxis has an interesting article titled “Street-level bureaucrats under COVID-19: Police Officers responses in constrained settings,” by Rafael Alcadipani,  Sandra Cabral, Alan Fernandes, and Gabriela Lotta. They point out, based on inductive qualitative analysis that in a major Brazilian metropolitan area, conflicts concerning political, occupational culture, and material dimensions can “negatively impact police officers’ response in financially and institutionally constrained settings.”

Their paper is an interesting one in that they suggest something that is known among those who work on the front-lines: organizational values shape how people respond to crises. In the case of COVID-19, the paper elegantly shows how Brazilian policemen – much like others around the world – value machismo and bravery – and define their roles through this lens. When actions or values go against these two clashes, they are quick to fall back into what they know best: defending their machismo and perceived sense of “bravery.”

This is precisely what makes them reject masks and social distancing. Consider that for a cop, being seen as “tough” and “manly” is crucial. In a culture where wearing a mask is seen as being afraid of a virus and caring for one’s colleagues is seen as being effeminate, then such behaviors are punished by one’s peers, rather than supported. This is precisely what is going on in parts of the country.

mask-wearing
source: stanford.edu

And the authors point out that it doesn’t help when the President of Brazil does not encourage mask-wearing and has criticized social distancing (similar to former President Trump). The conflicting messaging at the federal/ central levels and local levels can create tensions that manifest in how local authorities perceive the message, the authors point out.

They point out that “COVID-19 has produced dual outcomes: on the one hand, police forces crime control values align with the political and occupational values. On the other, it can create a conflict,” (p.395) – especially on the three dimensions: political, occupational culture and material conditions.

Their suggestion is that discretion at the street level among these bureaucrats can be both a blessing and a curse. But of material resources, such as a shortage of PPE can lead to greater conflicts of vision and values within an organization. They call for greater coordination and alignment among all values in an organization and suggest that leaders have a big role to play in this process., to increase creativity and decrease divergence.