ASPA International Public Administration Award 201

The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) International Public Administration Award 2014 was presented to Ludmila Gajdosova, NISPAcee‘s Executive Director, for sustained commitment, dedication and service internationally. The Award Ceremony was held during the last ASPA Annual Conference held in Washington, DC, on March 14-18, 2014. Ms. Gajdosova accepted the Award with great honour, and saw it as an evaluation of the achievements of the whole organisation, headed by her, for the last twenty years.

From the right Mirko Vintar, Ludmila Gajdosova, Marius Profiroiu, Meredith Newmann (Former President of ASPA), Geert Bouckaert (IIAS President) Allan Rosenbaum (ASPA President)

For more information on the Award see:

http://www.aspanet.org/public/ASPA/Opportunities/Awards/International_Public_Administration.aspx

This year’s conference was a special time for ASPA, since the 2014 Annual Conference marked its 75^th Anniversary. Several special events were organized for the celebration of the occasion, including aSuper Panel: ASPA and Public Administration at 75: An International Perspective. Ms. Gajdosova was also invited to participate in this special panel. She spoke about public administration development within the NISPAcee region over recent years and the implementation of the MoU signed with ASPA in 2011. ANISPAcee panel has been regularly organized during the ASPA conference since that time, based on the MoU.

NISPAcee Panel

Theme: Strategic Management in Public Organizations and Local Communities: Pitfalls and Opportunities

Chair: Professor Constantin Marius Profiroiu, profiroiu@amp.ase.ro

Dean, College of Administration and Public Management, Bucharest-University of Economics Studies (ASE), Romania

The environments in which public organizations operate have become uncertain and tightly interconnected. These public organizations (and communities) should embrace strategic management as a way to improve performance. Without performance criteria and information, the organization cannot objectively evaluate the relative effectiveness. Change in public organizations is mirrored by the volatility experienced in all industry sectors.

The panel offered guidance on applying the process of strategic management within organizations, across organizations and communities: How can the managers of public organizations cope with the challenges? How can they formulate strategies and implement them, and how can they describe examples of successful strategic management practices?

The goal was to facilitate a dialogue between and amongst scholars and practitioners to cover areas of strategic management of public organizations, including public strategic thinking, managing change and innovation, managing change and innovation in public organizations and broader environments and their related outcomes.

Six papers were presented and discussed during the panel:

The Use of Performance Measures in Strategic Management

Author: Professor Maria P. Aristigueta, mariaa@udel.edu

Director, School of Public Policy and Administration

Charles P. Messick Professor of Public Administration

Vice President, American Society for Public Administration

Innovative Strategic Planning in Modern Cities: Cluj -Napoca, Romania

Author: Professor Calin Emilian Hintea, hintea@fspac.ro

Dean, College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences

Babes Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Strategic Management for a Strategic Partnership

Author: Roger E. Hamlin, hamlin@msu.edu