James Thompson
Associate Professor Emeritus
Public Policy, Management, and Analytics
Contact
Building & Room:
2120 AEH, MC 278
Address:
400 S. Peoria St.
Office Phone:
Email:
Related Sites:
About
Professor Thompson is interested in issues of organizational change and reform in the public sector. He also does research on the civil service, civil service reform, and human resource management. He teaches courses in public management including human resource management and organization theory. Prior to receiving his Ph.D., Professor Thompson worked in city and county government in New York State.
Selected Grants
IBM Center for the Business of Government, Federated Human Resource Management in the Federal Government: The Intelligence Community Model, Co-Principal Investigator
IBM Center for the Business of Government, Designing and Implementing Performance-Oriented Payband Systems, Principal Investigator
IBM Center for the Business of Government, Flexibilizing the Federal Workforce, Co-Principal Investigator
Selected Publications
“Value shifts in public sector human resource management: A congressional perspective.” Review of Public Personnel Administration. 2017.
“The federal civil service: Demise of an institution.” Public Administration Review. 2006
“Leadership and the transformation of a major institution: Charles Rossotti and the Internal Revenue Service.” Public Administration Review. 2006.
Service to Community
Professor Thompson teaches the MPA Capstone Course in which students work on projects for governmental and nonprofit organizations throughout the Chicago metropolitan area.
In 2018, Professor Thompson served as a member of Cook County President Precwinkle’s Open Communities Focus Team on Operational Excellence.
In 2009, Professor Thompson testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on a report he co-wrote for the IBM Center for the Business of Government on , “Federated Human Resource Management in the Federal Government: The Intelligence Community Model.”
Professional Leadership
Editorial Board, Review of Public Personnel Administration
Editorial Board, Public Performance and Management Review
Editorial Board, International Review of Administrative Science
Notable Honors
2005, Best article, Review of Public Personnel Administration (with S. Mastracci) for, “Nonstandard work arrangements in the public sector: Trends and issues.”
2001, Best article, Review of Public Personnel Administration for, “The civil service under Clinton: The institutional consequences of disaggregation"
2000, Best article by an academician, Public Administration Review for, “Reinvention as reform: Assessing the National Performance Review"
Education
Ph.D. in Public Administration, Syracuse University, 1996.
Masters of Public Administration, State University of New York at Albany, 1977.
B.A. in History, Swarthmore College, 1973.
Professional Memberships
American Society for Public Administration