Municipal Training Needs and Personnel Practices: Implications for Program Planning and Policy Making

• DOI: 10.1177/027507407400800101
• Date: 01 January 1974
• Author: Samuel A. Kirkpatrick,David R. Morgan,William Lyons
• Published date: 01 January 1974
• Subject Matter: Articles

3

Municipal

Training

Needs

and

Personnel

Practices:

Implications

for

Program

Planning

and

Policy

Making

SAMUEL

A.

KIRKPATRICK

DAVID

R.

MORGAN

University

of

Oklahoma

University

of

Oklahoma

WILLIAM

LYONS

University

of

Oklahoma

While

one

might

debate

Pope’s

famous

maxim

that

the

government

is

best

that

is

administered

best,

there

would

be

little

argument

that

governmental

effectiveness

is

significantly

influenced

by

the

quality

of

its

personnel.

In

recent

years

there

has

been

a

growing

awareness

of

the

im-

portance

of

attracting

well-qualified,

competent

people

into

local

public

service

and

insuring

that

they

are

provided

not

only

with

the

resources

but

the

know-how

and

training

necessary

to

perform

well.’

Social

scientists

have

also

become

increasingly

interested

in

measuring

and

evaluating

local

public

services

in

hopes

of

discovering

factors

that

might

be

related

to

more

effective

service

production.

Preliminary

results

from

certain

studies

have

already

begun

to

challenge

long-standing

assumptions

about

such

things

as

the

relationship

between

expenditures

and

service

levels2

and

between

resource

levels

and

policy

effectiveness.3

Clearly

these

findings

Samuel

A.

Kirkpatrick

(Ph.

D.,

Pennsylvania

State

University)

is

Director

of

the

Bureau

of

Government

Research

and

Associate

Professor

of

Political

Science

at

the

University

of

Oklahoma.

He

is

the author

of

a

variety

of

books

and

articles

on

urban

affairs,

research

methodology,

social

psychology

and

politics,

mass

attitudes

and

elec-

toral

behavior.

With

David

R.

Morgan,

he

is

coauthor

of

Urban

Political

Analysis:

A

Systems

Approach

(Free

Press,

1972).

David

R.

Morgan

(Ph.

D.,

University

of

Oklahoma)

is

Associate

Director

of

the

Bureau

of

Government

Research

and

Associate Professor

of

Political

Science

at

the

University

of

Oklahoma.

He

is

the

coauthor

of

Urban

Political

Analysis

and

is

the

author

of

several

articles

and

monographs

on

urban

affairs,

urban

management

and

metropolitan

integration.

He

has

also

been

engaged

in

teaching

and

research

in

the

area

of

public

policy

analysis.

William

Lyons

(M.

A.,

University

of

Oklahoma)

is

currently

a

Ph.

D.

candidate

at

the

University

of

Oklahoma

and

Research

Assistant

in

the

Bureau

of

Government

Research.

He

has

taught

in

the

area

of

American

politics

and

research

methodology

and

is

engaged

in

research

in

urban

affairs,

public

policy

analysis,

and

electoral

behavior.

1

Municipal

Manpower

Commission,

Governmental

Manpower

for

Tomorrow’s

Cities

(New

York:

McGraw-Hill,

1962).

2

Ira

Sharkansky,

"Governmental

Expenditures

and

Public

Services

in

the

Amer-

ican

States,"

61

American

Political

Science

Review,

(1967),

pp.

1066-77.

3

E.

Terrence

Jones,

"Evaluating

Everyday

Policies:

Police

Activity

and

Crime

Incidence,"

8

Urban

Affairs

Quarterly,

(1973),

pp.

267-79.