CREDENTIALING PUBLIC MANAGERS: COST OF AMATEURS TOO HIGH

During the 25 years following World War II, the US government expanded into many areas of human affairs and was rapidly becoming a welfare state. The 1980 presidential election brought an end to any further expansion of government along this trend. Big government was overloaded as its efficacy in dealing with human and social problems was questioned. Never before did public managers have a better opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities. However, to the detriment of the country, they did not rise to the occasion. The reason for their dismal performance is that public management has fallen into the hands of amateurs. Unlike business, government's technical operating core consists of a variety of professionals and paraprofessionals crudely held together by amateur-type public managers. To remedy government's weakened ability to perform, there must exist a corps of professionally trained, credentialed public managers who operate within an established framework of general management. The task of personnel agencies in matching managerial competency with agency requirements would be greatly facilitated if public managers were duly credentialed as is the case with a growing number of other public professions.