Dear Lecturers, Researchers and Students,

The College of Economics, Law and Government (CELG) would like to respectfully invite lecturers/researchers/students to come and share your experiences at the CELG series of lecture and seminars

Seminar topic 1: Seminar on organizational models to enhance service quality and evidence based management

Presenter: Prof. Bowen McBeath

Time: 13.00 -17.00 , 1 October, 2023

Location: Vinh Long Campus

This interactive seminar introduces three models that are intended to help administrators and staff engage in organizational change, with a basic goal of improving the delivery of public services. These models include: (1) the evidence-informed practitioner model, in which agency staff seek to integrate the best available research, agency data, and other sources of information to promote strategic decision-making; (2) the link officer model, in which a designated agency practitioner (usually a middle manager) links the agency to an intermediary organization that provides research support services; and (3) the performance management model, in which agency leaders support the creation of a performance-oriented organizational culture through the development and systematic use of internal performance measurement systems. In the seminar, participants will receive an overview and examples of each model, and will then be invited to consider how each model can be applied to their own organizational setting.

Lecture session: Mixed method: project-based lecturing approach

Presenter: Prof. Bowen McBeath

Time: 8.00 -11.00 , 3 October, 2023

Location: B1.1001, 279 Nguyen Tri Phuong St., Ward 5, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City

This lecture is intended for participants who are interested in using mixed methods evaluations to support policy-program analysis and development. The lecture reflects a sequential mixed methods analysis of a specific case, involving a major change in the financing and delivery of public services for children and families in low-income urban districts. The policy-program analysis involved a process evaluation (mostly qualitative) that was linked to an outcome evaluation (mostly quantitative), and that took advantage of a natural policy experiment. The lecture provides an overview of the policy-program, describes the methodology and main findings of the evaluation, and offers implications for policy-program practitioners as well as for those researchers who seek to develop their own mixed methods evaluations.

Seminar topic 2: Seminar on public sector engagement in R&D and R&E

Presenter: Prof. Bowen McBeath

Time: 13.00 -17.00 , 7 October, 2023

Location: B1.302, 279 Nguyen Tri Phuong St., Ward 5, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City

This interactive seminar introduces the topic of Research & Development, and Research & Evaluation, in the public sector. R&D and R&E are increasingly used to promote the systematic use of evidence to support (a) public service innovation and improvement, (b) organizational change and transformation, and (c) interorganizational collaboration and competition. Yet public sector organizations can often lack needed infrastructure and other resources to promote R&D and R&E. As a result, public sector organizations can lack sufficient evidence to support their decision-making and strategic efforts.                                                              

The seminar is intended for participants who are interested in the use of various forms of evidence in their own organizations. The seminar will identify major barriers to engagement in R&D and R&E, and will identify different types of strategies for addressing these barriers. Participants will then be invited to consider how realistic and useful each strategy may be for their own organizational context.

About presenter:

Bowen McBeath is a Professor in the School of Social Work and Department of Public Administration at Portland State University. His research and practice efforts involve: understanding the environment of human service delivery; supporting human service practice, program, and policy development; and building spaces for organizational and managerial innovation and learning. He has received international and national awards and honors for his scholarship and research, co-edits the preeminent journal on human service organizations and serves on the editorial boards of other scholarly research journals, and advises human service organizations at the international, national, state, and local levels.