TITLE:
Public Service Engagement: Resting Ground for Specialized Ability or Garden for Multidisciplinary Talent?
AUTHORS:
Stephen M. Modell
KEYWORDS:
Public Service, Governmental Service, Nongovernmental Organization, Voluntarism, Public Health, Genetics, Public Deliberation
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Service Science and Management,
Vol.15 No.6,
December
19,
2022
ABSTRACT: This paper aims to answer the question of whether public
service rests on single discipline, specialized ability or multidisciplinary talent.
The method used is exploratory by illustration with case examples, some
governmentally related, others nongovernmental yet service related. Case series
are hypothesis generating, in this instance, identifying the nature of abilities that sustain
public service. I support the inferential process with Horvath’s tripartite
approach [space (e.g., service locale), time (taking into account project
evolution), and person (as the center of multiple service projects) models],
which raises a number of sub-driving questions. The sequence followed is to
first consider whether public service can be
either paid or voluntary, then examine whether public service projects are
static and delimited or dynamic and evolving, in what way the comprehensiveness
of the service demanded varies with one’s position with respect to
leadership, and whether compounding levels of responsibility entail the evolution of public service involvement for the
individual. The examples used, including the author’s experience with public
health genetic policymaking in the public domain, suggest a flexible notion of
public service that is connected with government but need not be or can be
indirectly associated. Public service projects and involvement in public
service are dynamic when granted the opportunity and at a high level of
undertaking show convergence of project efforts. While public service may start
out depending on individuals exhibiting single, specialized abilities,
multidisciplinary talent is required as projects progress and link together.