Articles from PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONMinnowbrook Conference III

What is the Minnowbrook conference at f irst place ?

A once-in-a-generation event held every twentyyears, the Minnowbrook conference bringstogether the top scholars in public administrationand public management to reflect on the state ofthe field and its future.Minnowbrook I (1968), II (1988), and III (2008) arewatershed events in the intellectual developmentof public administration.Before moving to Minnowbrook Conference IIIletzz have a look at first two

First MinnowBrook Conference -

1. It was organised in the backdrop of anger and unrest against theGovernment .

2. It was organised in opposit ion to Philadelphia Conference.

3. It had part icipants f rom department of Polit ical Science. Hence it s approachwas narrow and limited.

4. It focus was Change, Relevance, Social Equit y and Value.

5. It gave rise to the concept of Public Administ rat ion.

6. New Public Administ rat ion failed in pract ise.

7. It s theme, tenure, tone and temperament was more radical and ant iGovernment .

8. It s proceeding were combined in a report by Frank Marini in 1971 named

"Toward a New Public Administ rat ion:The Minnow Brook Perspect ive".

9. It was held under the chairmanship of Dwight Waldo.

Second Minnow Brook Conference -

1. It was organised when the economy of USA was upbeat and a sense ofeuphoria was present among the masses.

2. It was organised for the support and expansion of US Public Administ rat ion.

3. It s part icipants were f rom f ield of Public Administ rat ion, Polit ical Science,law, management , administ rat ion etc. Hence it was more broad-based andliberal.

4. It s focus was LPG - Liberalisat ion, Privat isat ion and Globalisat ion.

5. It gave rise to the concept of New Public Management .

6. New Public Management proved to be successful.

7. It was highly encouraging and support ive.

8. All it s proceedings were published in the essays in the Minnow Brookt radit ion edited by Richard T . Mayor and published by T immy Bailey - "PublicManagement in the Inter-Connected World:Essays in the Minnow BrookTradit ion." (1990)

9. It was held under the chairmanship of H George Fredrickson.

Minnowbrook Conference IIIThis conference took place during September, 2008. It was organisedwhen American economy was downgrading and global terrorism hadshown it s f irst ef fect . It was chaired by Rosemary OLeary.

Global Concerns :- global terrorism, economy and ecological imbalances etc.

Part icipat ion :- This invited part icipants f rom other count ries as well hence itwas global in approach focussing upon global challenges and problems ofPublic Administ rat ion.

Main Focus : - It s focus was upon st ructural and funct ional reforms or secondgenerat ion reforms.

Concept originated : - It gave rise to the concept of 3 E's - Economy,Ef f iciency and Ef fect iveness.

It was conducted in two phases.

The f irst phase was a pre-conference phase. In this conference, the youngand emerging scholars of public administ rat ion were asked to cont ribute a f ivepage crit ique of public administ rat ion. Almost 56 proposals were acceptedand considered. In this conference, a single formal crit ique of publicadminist rat ion was not being able to be developed rather a dozen of areas ofconcern in public administ rat ion were ident if ied such as

1. The Academic-Pract it ioner Relat ionship2. Democrat ic Performance Management3. Performance measurement4. Globalizat ion and Internat ional Perspect ive5. Administ rat ive ethics and values6. Informat ion technology and management7. Methodology and inter-disciplinary perspect ive

The second phase was conducted in a round table format . It was a get -together of senior scholars. The scholars were divided into various groupsbased on their areas of concern. Simultaneously, a number of issues relat ingto public administ rat ion were discussed. Finally, three major areas ofemphasis were ident if ied.

They are

1. It emphasized on Comparat ive Studies. In this conference, it wasacknowledged that because of impact of LPG and IT , no system could bemeaningfully studied in isolat ion. The systems across the world areinterconnected.

2. It emphasized on Act ion Research and Methodological Pluralism. In thisconference, there was an agreement that for the study of PublicAdminist rat ion to be meaningful, it is required that the teachings in PublicAdminist rat ion should include the teachings on methodologies and tools andtechniques to undertake research. It was realized that a discipline will becomemore and more enriched when there will be more R&D. If the students aremore equipped with the tools and techniques, they can independent ly carryout their own research. This will provide a robust foundat ion for the study ofthe discipline. It also emphasized that the f indings of the research should be

subjected to Peer Review. It also recognized the importance of Mult ipleApproach or Mult iple viewpoints towards the study of public administ rat ion.

3. It came out with a redef init ion of public administ rat ion. According to thisconference, public administ rat ion is considered as a socially embeddedprocess of relat ionship, dialogue and act ion to promote human f lourishing forall

Comparing it withMinnowbrook I & II

Minnowbrook conference in 1968 and 1988 discussed the need forincreasing RIGOUR and RELEVANCE in Pub Ad while preserving it sDIVERSITY and UNIQUE IDENTITY. The f irst two conferences can well be characterised as a search forident it y and legit imacy as a separate f ield of study.By the THIRD MINNOWBROOK CONFERENCE .....the crisis of IDENTITYwas no LONGER a cent ral FOCUS . The discipline already had it zz ownjournals and t rained PROFESSIONALs nd SCHOLARs. Rather much discussion focussed on DIVERSITY and infact many newscholars part icipat ing for the f irst t ime pressed for more diversit y inPERSPECTIVE and SUBJECT MATTER !! .

Articles from PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONMinnowbrook Conference III