Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

 Course Description

The purpose of this course is to teach students about public organizations and the challenges facing contemporary public managers. We will learn about the evolution of the field of public administration, the way that public organizations differ from private organizations, how the "reinventing government" movement has affected public management and spawned counter-movements, how public managers interact with other actors and institutions in the political process and what is expected of effective public managers. There will be a specific focus on state and local government in California.

Note: This course requires students to access reading material on the World Wide Web and to communicate via email with me and student colleagues. It is imperative that each student have daily access to a computer with an Internet connection.

Course Objectives

There are four primary learning objectives:

1. Gain an understanding of the place of public organizations in a democratic society and the role of the public manager in the political environment
   
   We will learn how scholars think about and study organizations, how public organizations differ from private ones, how the fields of public management and public administration have evolved to where they are today, and how the relationship between citizens and their government is variously conceptualized.
   
   
2. Understand today's real world challenges of public management
   
   With attention focused on "reinventing government" in recent years, public agencies are expected to be customer-focused, efficient, productive, and accountable to the taxpayer. Public managers, therefore, are giving increasing attention to changing personnel policies, reallocating resources, reengineering processes, assuring quality, accomplishing cultural change within organizations, and measuring outcomes to account for the value of public services delivered. We will study these trends generally, with specific reference to California state and local government.
   
   
3. Learn some of the skills needed to be an effective manager
   
   Specific topics such as performance measurement, strategic planning, and ethics should contribute to your ability to assume leadership positions in the public sector.
   
   
4. Improve your analytical skills and enhance your success in the PPA program
   
   I want this course to contribute toward your successful progress through the PPA program by improving your ability to "read smart" and to critically analyze readings and form your own opinions. I want you to gain an understanding of how research questions are posed and studied, and to think of some interesting questions that you may want to pursue.

Seminar Format

With a compressed format and long days, it is important that we make the class as varied and participatory as possible. There will be some lecture/discussions, some group projects, student-led discussions, in-class exercises, and guest speakers. If you come expecting to be told what was covered in the readings, you will be disappointed and not very successful. My job is to select interesting and useful readings, orient you to them by providing background information and identifying key questions, and guide the discussion. Your job is to read the material, think about it, write about it, and come prepared to share your ideas with your classmates. We have the tremendous advantage that we all work in the public sector. In our class discussions we will relate, whenever possible, the theories and concepts from the readings to our workday experiences. You will have the opportunity to orient your assignments around issues of importance to you in your work, culminating in a case study of your organization with respect to issues of organizational effectiveness and public management.

Expectations, assignments and grading

There are four components to students' grades:

 · class attendance and participation - 30%

Students must attend all class sessions, all day, with no exceptions other than documented medical absences. In addition to "seat time," the quality of your participation in class discussions will be reflected in your grade. The class will work well only if you participate actively and thoughtfully.

 · five short papers (3-5 pages), each addressing one week's readings - 30%

You are to turn in a paper each week at the start of class covering the readings for that week. Sample questions are provided in the syllabus but students are free to address other issues. The purpose of the papers is to (1) make you think critically about the readings and (2) apply the concepts in the readings to your experiences and your organization. I am looking for evidence that you have thought about the readings and have engaged in integrative and critical thinking about how these ideas might relate to your organization. I don't want summaries of the readings (I have read them!). I want to know if you agree, disagree, see conflicts among various authors, find the ideas useful, not useful, and why. The paper does not need to include formal citations from the readings. It does need to be well-organized, well-written, and proof read. I have included two examples of good papers from last Fall to give you an idea of what I am looking for.

· Web site resource review (3-4 pages) - 10%

Over the course of the semester, review some of the web sites listed in the "Web Resources" section of the syllabus. Review of five of the sites, indicating whether and how they could be useful to you in your work or just for general interest. The assignment is due by the last class meeting but may be turned in at any time.

 · a final paper (12-15 pages) - 30%

With reference to your current organization, or another organization with which you are familiar, write a case study that describes how the organization and its leaders are dealing with contemporary issues of public management. This paper may build upon the papers you wrote in class and should address issues such as leadership, accountability, reframing the citizen-government relationship, performance measurement, organizational culture, organizational change, ethics, defining and creating public value, etc. The number of issues addressed and the specific topics are your choice. The paper must, however, describe the organization's condition and performance in select areas with respect to the norms and expectations presented by authors we have read. It should be a fairly comprehensive (rather than narrowly focused on one issue) assessment of how the organization is doing in meeting today's challenges. In addition to showing thought about your organization, it must demonstrate your understanding of the contemporary issues facing public organizations and their managers.

Along with your final paper, you are to submit a short (1-2 page) reassessment of the initial email description you submitted regarding your view of the effectiveness of the management of your organization. This should follow easily from the case study prepared for the final paper. This provides you with the opportunity to look back at your first thoughts and see if and how your attitude has changed. It is hoped that you have some more refined or sophisticated observations and opinions. Please write this with reference to your original comments.

Required Readings:

• David Osborne and Ted Gaebler, Reinventing Government, 1992, Plume.
• Mark Moore, Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government, 1995, Harvard University Press.
• Gareth Morgan, Images of Organization, 1997, Sage Publications.
• Jonathan Walters, Measuring Up, 1998, Governing Books, Washington, D.C.
• Reader - variety of articles
• Readings accessible through the Internet

 Class Schedule

 Week 1--May 14: Governance: Government and Citizens in a Democratic Society

 Topics:

• Introduction and course objectives
• Public management and public administration in historical context
• The reinventing government movement
• Reinvention as theory and its critics

 Readings:

• Osborne and Gaebler, Reinventing Government, entire
• Linda DeLeon and Robert Denhardt, "The Political Theory of Reinvention,"
• Hindy Lauer Schachter, "Reinventing Government or Reinventing Ourselves,"
• Smith, Gerald and Carole Huntsman, "Reframing the Metaphor of the Citizen-Government Relationship: A Value-Centered Perspective, "
• L. Elaine Halchin, "Market Citizenship: the Citizen as Customer"

 Optional Web References:

• The National Performance Review (NPR) web page
• Reinvention principles (1-page document)

Questions:

Why was Reinventing Government written when it was? Why has it found such a receptive audience? Does it present a balanced view of the costs and benefits of the changes it recommends? Which changes have the most promise for reforming the public sector? How does the reinvention movement challenge the traditional view of the role of the bureaucracy? To whom should the bureaucracy be accountable? What position does reinvention theory take on the politics/administration dichotomy?

Assignments:

• send me an email before the first class meeting telling me where you work, your position and general duties, and giving me your general perception of the effectiveness of your organization and its management (no names need be used of others in your organization)
• 3-5 page paper reacting to readings, with some reference to different models or understandings of the citizen-government relationship

Week 2--May 28: New Directions for Public Management

Topics:

• Public managers in a political environment
• Public value
• Managing organizational change

Readings:

• Mark Moore, Creating Public Value, entire
• Gerasimos A. Gianakis, "Reinventing or Repackaging Public Services? The Case of Community-Oriented Policing"

Optional Web References:

• Center for Leadership and Change Management
• Innovations in American Government

Questions:

What does the concept of "creating public value" contribute to the understanding of public management? Who defines public value for your organization? Does the public want bureaucrats to be technicians and experts, or to be the political strategists that Moore calls for? To whom would they be accountable for their value choices? How does Moore's view compare with Osborne and Gaebler? Do bureaucrats make public policy? Should they? Is the political management technique that Moore calls "public deliberation" attainable?

Assignment:

• 3-5 page paper reacting to readings

Week 3--June 11: Organizations: Arenas for Managing the Public Enterprise

 Topics:

• Organizational theory in historical perspective
• Public versus private sector organizations
• Different ways to understand organizations
• Organizational learning and change

 Readings:

• Gareth Morgan, Images of Organization, Chapters 1-6
• Kofman and Senge, "Communities of Commitment: the Heart of Learning Organizations"

 Optional Web Reference:

• The Learning Organizations homepage

Questions:

Which of the metaphors best capture how the leaders of your organization seem to understand it? How do the different metaphors bring to light different issues facing your organization? What makes "learning organizations" different from other organizations? What changes would you make (if you were in charge) to move your organization toward becoming a learning organization? What is the relationship between leadership and organizational culture? How is power best attained and used in your organization? How do decentralization and information technology affect power relationships in organizations? Is it more difficult to change and innovate in the public than the private sector?

Assignment:

• 3-5 page paper with some reference to more than one of the metaphors for viewing organizations

Week 4--June 25: Practice: Contemporary Challenges of Public Management, Part 1

Topics:

• Accountability
• Performance measurement
• Performance based budgeting
• Total Quality Management
• Strategic Planning

 Readings:

• Jonathan Walters, Measuring Up
• Osborne and Gaebler, Appendix B
• David Ammons, "Overcoming the Inadequacies of Performance Measurement in Local Government: the case of libraries and leisure services"
• Korukonda, Watson, Rajkumar, "Beyond Teams and Empowerment: A Counterpoint to Two Common Precepts in TQM"
• California Department of Finance, Strategic Planning Guidelines, 1998 (on Internet)
• Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Strategic Plan (please make sure you read the chapter called "Goals, Objectives, and Agency Performance Measures")
• California Department of Parks and Recreation Performance Based Budget Click on "MOU" at the bottom of the linked page (read through page 21)
• California State University Strategic Plan (on Internet). Hard copy also provided
• Sacramento Bee article on high school graduation rates, June 20, 1999

 Optional Web References:

• Total Quality Management (TQM) Resources
• Public Sector Continuous Improvement Site
• Managing for Results
• Case Study of U.S. Coast Guard GPRA pilot program (select case study # 3 from list)

Questions:

Why has accountability become such a large part of public sector reform? How is accountability different in the public and private sectors? How does accountability relate to innovation? Are there dangers in focusing on performance measurement? What is the connection between performance measurement and accountability? What characteristics of a plan or a planning process increase the chances that a plan will actually be used? What does it mean to use a plan? What is a vision and how do public managers best contribute to its adoption?

Assignment:

• 3-5 page paper with some reference to planning, budgeting, accountability, or performance measurement in your organization

Week 5--July 9: Practice: Contemporary Challenges of Public Management, Part 2

Topics:

• Privatization
• Civil Service
• Leadership
• Ethics
• Wrapping Up

Readings:

• Kettl, "The Myths, Realities, and Challenges of Privatization
• Robert Dilger, Randolph Mofett, Linda Struyk, "Privatization of Municipal Services in America's Largest Cities"
• Legislative Analyst's Office, "Reinventing the Civil Service" (on Internet)
• Little Hoover Commission, "Of the People, By the People: Principles for Cooperative Civil Service Reform" (on Internet)
• Gareth Morgan, Chapters 8, 10-12
• Zajac, "Reinventing Government and Redefining Leadership"
• ASPA code of ethics (on Internet)
• Montgomery Van Wart, "The Sources of Ethical Decision Making for individuals in the Public Sector"
• Mary Kweit and Robert Kweit, "Ethical Responsibility for Reinvented Bureaucrats: Working for Customer/Citizens," paper delivered at American Political Science Association annual meeting, August, 1997

Optional Web Reference:

• Ethics and Public Administration

Questions:

What values are driving the push for privatization? How do these reforms affect the public manager's relationship with the external domain? What values are paramount for civil service reformers? How do these values relate to those embodied in the reinventing government movement? How important is leadership, compared to institutional reforms, in making the changes being called for in state and local government? How does the reinvention movement affect the expectations for leaders? Does successful government reform require "heroic" leaders? How has the reinvention movement affected the focus of public sector ethics? Are ethical challenges different in the public and private sectors?

Assignment:

• 3-5 page paper on some of the week's reading topics

FINAL PAPER AND WEB SITE REVIEW DUE FRIDAY, JULY 16th

Last updated June 23, 1999