Evaluating the Effectiveness of Public Works Accreditation on Quality of Service

Tzoumis, Kelly; Delaney, K.

doi:10.1177/1087724x9934005

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Similarly, accreditation for fire departments arose from discussions in the 1980s between the International City/County Managers Association (ICMA) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs and resulted in the creation of the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI); its accreditation program was initiated in 1996. Accreditation for public works departments began with the American Public Works Association (APWA), which began accreditations in 1997 (Tzoumis and Delaney ).…”

Section: Professionalism Accreditation and Political Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional Cities: Accredited Agencies, Government Structure, and Rational Choice

McCabe

Ponomariov

Estrada

2017

Public Administration Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Accreditation, long used to signal quality among hospitals and universities, has been available to police, fire, and public works departments since the late 1980s. For public service departments, accreditation is a voluntary process that demands significant organizational resources without a guaranteed outcome. Why would city officials devote scarce resources to such an endeavor? Two explanations are examined. First, accreditation may be a rational response to a history of trouble or the potential for future crisis. Second, municipalities may use accreditation to build a reputation for professional administration of public services. The authors use Poisson regression to test these explanations on a new data set of midsize cities.

show abstract

Section: Professionalism Accreditation and Political Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional Cities: Accredited Agencies, Government Structure, and Rational Choice

McCabe

Ponomariov

Estrada

2017

Public Administration Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Improving public works operations and management through establishment of nationally recognized practices

Ross¹

2000

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Municipal E

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Public works agencies are under increasing pressure to be more accountable for effective operation and management of public infrastructure and the services related thereto. In the United States and Canada, the American Public Works Association (APWA) has developed over 400 recommended management practice principles that address virtually every aspect of public works. APWA has now published the third edition of the Public Works Management Practices Manual and has developed a self-assessment methodology by which public works agencies can document their existing practices against the nationally recognized policies, practices and procedures. Across the United States and Canada, hundreds of public works agencies are engaged in evaluation of their operations and management against the recommended practices in the Management Practices Manual. Many of these agencies have also committed to becoming accredited by APWA. The self-assessment process provides a systematic approach to evaluating both management and technical aspects of providing infrastructure services necessary to support urban and rural communities. Most agencies conducting these self-assessments find that the process of systematically reviewing every policy, practice and procedure is very beneficial. Often, areas of duplication or gaps are identified and immediately corrected. Agencies frequently find that there are conflicting interpretations about an agency's official policy. Differences between printed policies and actual practice are frequently identified and can be easily rectified. Operational personnel are frequently invited to participate in redefining what an agency handles and how it handles the day-to-day issues. Some managers have likened the process to the ISO 9000 process of certifying quality assurance. The self-assessment process does provide a mechanism for continuous improvement through the accreditation process, which requires re-evaluation every three years.

show abstract

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Public Works Accreditation on Quality of Service

Cited by 2 publications

References 5 publications

Professional Cities: Accredited Agencies, Government Structure, and Rational Choice

Professional Cities: Accredited Agencies, Government Structure, and Rational Choice

Improving public works operations and management through establishment of nationally recognized practices

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About