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2010 Report
Contents The Watsonian Society is a CDC/ATSDR supported organization of Public Health Advisors (PHAs). Established in 1985, the Society has experienced phenomenal growth and success. The Society is proud that many Public Health Advisors look to the Society as their professional organization and that CDC recognizes the Society as a legitimate organization of CDC employees. Through a mentor program, PHAs reap benefits provided by more experienced members. Family Services has provided support during emergencies and crises and has kept members informed through the Watsonian network. Most Society members continue their membership into retirement and routinely participate in Society-sponsored projects and social events. However, the Watsonian Society, after reviewing available information, had serious concerns regarding the organization's ability to sustain future growth. In 1993, CDC ended its historical pattern for PHA recruitment, and few, if any, new PHAs are expected to be hired soon. Without the influx of new PHAs, sustaining the Society will be particularly difficult as it is currently established. The Watsonian Society is also keenly aware that many PHAs who are eligible to join are not members. Together, these two factors suggest that opportunities to influence and resolve these issues may ultimately determine whether the Watsonian Society can sustain the organization. These are compelling reasons for the Watsonian Society to review the current situation and to identify issues and options that will chart a long-term plan of action. To that end, the Society assembled a Task Force of individuals from programs and Centers at CDC to examine a variety of alternatives. With input of members who completed a survey questionnaire, the Watsonian Society Public Health Advisor Task Force 2010 reviewed the operations of the Society. The Task Force examined aspects including a revisit of the Society's statement of purpose, financial position, member services; personal growth opportunities, and organizational growth opportunities. The results of the Task Force are presented in this report, Watsonian Society 2010. The Task Force recognizes and acknowledges that there is, and will likely continue to be, continuing debate regarding what the primary focus of the Society ought to be. Members tend to relate to one of two positions - those who advocate for maintaining the existing membership criteria and for focusing on social camaraderie and on the esprit de corps of PHAs; or conversely, those whose position is that Society membership should be broadened beyond PHAs and that community service activities ought to be increased. Each position was expressed with passion and intensity. This report attempts to frame these differing positions and to provide options for consideration. The central question seems to be, "Is the Society willing to extend membership to non-traditional PHA-type public health professionals, and, if so, which professionals should be offered Society membership"? The decisions surrounding membership eligibility - exclusiveness verses inclusiveness - is the most critical issue for the Society to resolve.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Is there a need to change the Watsonian Society? As we enter a new millennium, a number of organizations have taken stock of where they are and where they ought to be. The Watsonian Society has undertaken similar introspection, but for even more compelling reasons. In 1996, 25% of the members in the society were retired. That number has continued to increase and is projected to be more than 35% by 2001. This is essentially the result of a CDC policy change in 1993 that curtailed a long-standing pattern of recruiting and hiring substantial numbers of new PHAs. This policy change also has effectively reduced the number of PHA positions and related job series opportunities for PHAs. With no additional PHAs hired, this policy has contributed to an increasing proportion of Society members who are retired. The Public Health Advisor series (PHS-0685) was once described as a major new initiative in the field of public health; that is, the hiring of nontechnical college graduates to be trained by CDC to assume responsibility for a variety of functions in the management and administration of public health/disease prevention programs once performed by medically trained and other technical staff members. The versatility and effectiveness of PHAs in the "old" VD Program have been widely documented and subsequently duplicated in a variety of public health programs at CDC, international agencies, and other federal, state, and local health departments. The formula for success included basic on-the-job and classroom training and experience in disease intervention programs. This formula included gradually increasing supervisory and program management responsibilities. Integral to this developmental training approach were multiple assignments in varied organizational and geographical settings. Finally PHAs had opportunities to apply their management knowledge and skills with other public health programs and policy development assignments at the regional or national levels. Senior-level management of CDC today is laced with PHAs or former PHAs who have gone through this process. The success of the Public Health Advisor series mirrors the success of Mr. William C. (Bill) Watson, Jr., who was among the first of six PHAs hired in 1948. Mr. Watson had the same kind of experience in program activities at the local and state levels that many of the traditional PHAs also had. His successes brought additional responsibilities to the series, and his contribution to the growth and success of CDC is well documented. Prior to his retirement, Mr. Watson served as the Deputy Director of CDC. The Watsonian Society acknowledges his many achievements and has proudly named this organization for Public Health Advisors in his honor. The Watsonian Society, as well as the Public Health Advisor series, is at a crossroads. There are those who would like the organization to continue in its current form, providing for the welfare of its members, arranging social activities, with some opportunities to participate in community and public service projects (e.g., Habitat for Humanity). But others are more interested in enhancing the professional diversity of the membership and in increasing activities that would better position the Society as the recognized leader for promoting and preserving excellence in the management of public health programs. PUBLIC HEALTH ADVISOR TASK FORCE 2010 The Watsonian Society Executive Committee, in responding to a member's proposal (Appendix A), charged a group of Watsonian Society members to establish a PHA 2010 Task Force to help guide the Society into the 21st century. A small working group identified interested members and recruited others to create a diverse and representative Task Force (Appendix B). Initially eight PHAs met, accepted the Executive Committee charge, and, on October 5, 1999, formally organized Phase I of Task Force 2010. There was agreement that all issues were "on the table" and that the opinions of members were of a high priority. It was agreed also that the Task Force would focus attention on reviewing all available information, but the Task Force recognized the importance of the group's personal knowledge and experience. This Phase I work group recognized the need to focus their discussion, and then later in Phase II, to develop recommendations for five major areas of interest: purpose of the organization; funding; member services; growth opportunities for members; and growth opportunities for the Society as a whole. Task Force 2010 adopted a two-phase approach and involved a total of thirty-one members. Phase I, which began in October 1999, lasted three months and developed the member survey questionnaire. Phase II began in January 2000, lasted six months, and conducted four general session meetings, while three work groups held fourteen additional meetings. Overall, it is estimated that Task Force members volunteered more than 350 hours to develop these recommendations. The sixteen recommendations produced by the Task Force are discussed in the section "Task Force 2010 Recommendations and Rationale." A summary of the Task Force recommendations is in Appendix C. Phase I of Task Force 2010 was responsible for initiating a member survey (Appendix D) of both Watsonian Society members and selected nonmember PHAs (Appendix E). Phase II of Task Force 2010 accepted the responsibility for conducting work group discussion and for obtaining expert consultation when necessary. Each work group used as a guide the responses generated from the member survey (Appendix F). These activities culminated in the recommendations presented in the present report. The Task Force believes that an important component of this report is the rationale for each recommendation. These recommendations provide a greater understanding of the context and dialogue from the work groups and Task Force. The Task Force supports the concept that in any organization, communication with members is critical and therefore encourages the Executive Committee to make this report available to the membership. The strength of the Society depends on its commitment to establish and maintain effective communication with its members and for members likewise to commit to provide support and guidance to the organization. The Task Force is fully aware that some recommendations may not be popular and that attaining complete agreement of the members is not likely. However, this report attempts to frame the debate on how best to sustain the Society. The Task Force further recognized the need to focus its review and work group discussion on selected issues. We did not attempt to address all the issues that were raised, and for some particularly complex issues the Task Force was unable to explore all the implications and possibilities fully. The Task Force encourages members to become more involved in the activities of the Society and to express their opinions related of the recommendations to the Executive Committee. The Task Force was very much encouraged by the overwhelming response of the members in support of the Society. There was a sense of pride and a strong commitment to preserve the integrity of the Public Health Advisor series. At the same time, the Society should move forward into the new millennium with bold new initiatives, the better to position the Society to take on new and expanded responsibilities, and to increase the Society's visibility and PHA opportunities in the future. The Watsonian Society was established as an organization that stands for excellence in public health management, and that concept remains both the purpose of the Society's existence and the chief tenet upon which it will be sustained and flourish. The Society is sensitive to the needs of all members and encourages active involvement, while providing social and community service opportunities and an established network of public health professionals to support each member's career needs and interests. In November 1999, the Phase I work group developed an opinion survey to query Watsonian Society members regarding five major issue. The work group determined that some discussion of issues-areas may be beneficial if additional members' opinions could be elicited. The survey also was a mechanism to allow selected PHAs to contribute to the discussion of the work groups. The survey "Assessing the Society as an Organization and Shaping its Future" was conducted from mid-November 1999 through mid-January 2000. The survey focused on the following issue-areas:
The work group decided that, given the time line for completion of a final report, the total number of survey participants should be limited to no more than one hundred and that participants be selected from three categories. The three categories of participants and the number selected (N=99) for the survey are shown below:
Primary participation would focus on PHA members; however, the Task Force tried to get additional responses that would reflect the existing Watsonian Society membership base. In addition, the survey sought to elicit responses from PHAs who were not currently Society members. On November 20, 1999, the survey was sent electronically through the Watsonian Society e-mail list. During the eight weeks that ended January 14, 2000, participants received follow up notices via telephone, fax, and an electronic reminder message approximately half way through the survey period. During mid-January, the survey results were compiled to provide the Phase II work group with data to begin discussion with recent information from participating members. The overall response rate was 35%, but most encouraging was the fact that the category representing those who were both Society members and PHAs recorded the highest response rate. On January 31, 2000, the first meeting of the Phase II work group was convened, and members organized themselves into sections. Some sections were consolidated to better focus on the survey data, unsolicited suggestions, and personal experience and knowledge of the Society and the "CDC environment." The members consolidated issues into three major sections, elected a chair, and coordinated discussions leading to the recommendations. The three sections were:
The Task Force recognized the problems of the validity associated with non-random surveys and small data sets. The Task Force is not suggesting that the survey was scientifically designed. The questions were not tested for validity, and the responses may not be representative of the entire membership. However, the data are current, and they provided an opportunity for selected members to contribute to the work group dialogue. In spite of the many limitations, the Task Force was willing to accept the inherent risks, and work groups proceeded with discussion, taking into account relevant portions of the survey data and incorporating their best judgments. The Task Force was encouraged by the response of Watsonian Society members to the survey. It was very apparent that some issues enjoyed overwhelming support, while others were clearly rejected by the responding members. It is important to note that the Task Force encouraged each work group to fully consider the individual questions results and to be particularly sensitive to the strength of responses. In almost all cases, the information generated from the member survey was accepted by the Task Force and was incorporated into the recommendations. A complete summary of the survey questions and "weighted" results are shown in the Appendix D and F. |
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