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PSCI 501 Public Administration Syllabus Master of Public Administration Program
Fall 2009
/ Mondays in LA 337 at 4:10 p.m. Office: LA 356 / Office Hours: M, 3 - 4 p.m. and T,Th, 2 - 3 p.m. This syllabus has been adjusted to use the 8/e and 9/e of the Stillman text. COURSE DESCRIPTION & OBJECTIVES This course is designed to allow students to develop an understanding of public administration as a field of academic study and an area of professional practice. This course is considered to be the "foundations class" for the MPA program. Specifically, it focuses on the evolution of public administration as an academic discipline and a profession in the real world, the context in which public administration takes place, the meaning of public service in a democratic society, and the importance of personal and professional ethics. The course will be conducted as a seminar. Students must be prepared to discuss reading assignments and participate in analysis of case studies.
1) Knowledge of public administration as a field of
study
Assessment of these competencies will be based on evaluating contributions to class discussions, five article summaries, and two papers (described below). REQUIRED TEXTS: There are 4 required books Public
Administration: Concepts and Cases. 8/e
by Richard Stillman Bureaucracy by James Q. Wilson Classics of
Public Administration
(4/e, 5/e, or 6/e may be used; the syllabus uses the 6/e)
edited by Shafritz & Hyde. There are minimal differences between the
editions and copies of the 4/e and 5/e will placed on reserve in the
Mansfield Library. The UC
Bookstore will have the 6/e. The requirements for the class includes reading James Q. Wilson's Bureaucracy, writing five article summaries from Classics of Public Administration, and writing two five-page papers (described below). The structure of the course is simple. Each week the class will focus on one major concept of public administration that will be illustrated in the readings and any assigned articles. The case study approach will be used to highlight the concepts. STUDENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL ASSIGNED READINGS. After completing the course, students should understand the major concepts of public administration included in this course. Grade Weights
New Grading System at UM Please note that the University of Montana now uses a Plus/Minus grading system. That is, you can receive an A, A-, B+, B, B- and so on. There is not an A+ in the grading system. To accommodate the Plus/Minus system a new grading scale will be used. In PSCI 501 grades will be assigned based on the following grading scale. This scale and system is more complex than the system used in the past but rewards As only to those students whose performance in the class is "exceptional."
Papers Write a five-page paper on the following assignments. The papers are due the last session.
Article Summary Guidelines The Shafritz and Hyde text contains a variety of articles. Articles will be assigned on the first night of class. The summaries constitute 20 percent of one’s final grade. There are some specific questions one should consider while reading the article and developing a summary. 1. What is the major subject and theme of the article? 2. What is the major question the author addresses? 3. What major points does the author make? 4. What does the author conclude? What suggestions are made? 5. What is the relevance of the article to theory or practice? Click here for a sample Article Summary James Q. Wilson's book, Bureaucracy. All students are required to read James Q. Wilson's, Bureaucracy. The book will be discussed later in the semester. Exam There is not a formal, written exam in this class. Autumn 2009 Semester Dates
READING ASSIGNMENTS AND CLASS OUTLINE Session 1 Introduction (No readings assigned -- August 31) This is an introductory session; there are no readings assigned Session 2 No Class -- Labor Day Weekend (September 7) Session 3 The Search for the Scope and Purpose of Public Administration (September 14) Stillman: Chapter 1 "The Study of Administration" by Wilson __________ "The Study of Public Administration in the United States" by Stillman __________ Case Study: "The Blast in Centralia No. 5" by Martin Greene: Chapters 1 and 2, Introduction to Public Administration and An Overview and History of the Discipline NOTE: The photo of Max Weber in the text in incorrect. Click here for a photo of Max Weber Shafritz and Hyde: "Public Administration and the Separation of Powers" by Rosenbloom __________ "Introduction to the Study of Public Administration," by White ___________ "Notes of a Theory of Organization," by Gulick __________ "The Proverbs of Administration," by Simon ____________ PART ONE: The Pattern of Public Administration in America: Its Environment, Structure, and People Session 4 The Formal Structure: The Concept of Bureaucracy (September 21) Stillman: Chapter 2 "Bureaucracy" by Weber __________ Case Study: "How Kristin Died" by Lardner Greene: Chapter 3, The Bureaucracy Shafritz and Hyde: "Street-Level Bureaucracy: The Critical Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats" by Lipsky __________ "The Life Cycle of Bureaus" by Downs __________ "Organizations of the Future" by Bennis __________ "Bureaucratic Structure and Personality," by Merton ___________ "The Administrative State," by Waldo ______________ Session 5 The General Environment: The Concept of Ecology (September 28) Stillman: Chapter 3 "The Ecology of Public Administration" by Gaus __________ Case Study: "Dr. Helene Gayle and the AIDS Epidemic," by Riccucci
Case Study 9/e: "William Robertson: Exemplar of
Politics and Public Management Rightly Understood" by Terry L.
Cooper and Thomas A. Bryer "Government is Different" by Appleby __________ "Scientific Management" by Taylor __________ "The Giving of Orders," by Follett _____________ "Politics and Administration," by Goodnow _____________ The Political Environment: The Concept of Administrative Power Stillman: Chapter 4 "Power and Administration" by Long __________ Case Study: "The Columbia Accident" by Casamayou Shafritz and Hyde: "Democracy and the Public Service" by Mosher __________ "The End of Liberalism: The Indictment" by Lowi __________ "Administration Decentralization and Political Power," by Kaufman ___________ Session 6 Intergovernmental Relations: The Concept of IGR as Interdependence, Complexity, and Bargaining (October 5) Stillman: Chapter 5 "American Intergovernmental Relations: An Overview" by O’Toole ____________ "From Cooperative to Opportunistic Federalism" by Conlan __________ (9/e) Case Study: "Wichita Confronts Contamination" by Rosegrant Shafritz and Hyde: "The American System," by Grodzins _____________ "Federalism, Intergovernmental Relations, and Intergovernmental Management....," Wright ____________ Article about New Orleans Many point to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Gulf Coast as a perfect example of weaknesses and failures in federalism and intergovernmental relations. I enjoyed reading the following article about New Orleans and Katrina. A case study about Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans will likely appear in the next Stillman text. I would be surprised if it did not appear. This article, from City Journal, is an interesting account of New Orleans. It is called "Who is killing New Orleans," by Session 7 Internal Dynamics: The Concept of the Informal Group (October 12) Stillman: Chapter 6 "Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company" by Mayo __________ Case Study: "American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center," by Langewieche Shafritz and Hyde: "Informal Organizations and Their Relationship to the Formal Organization," by Bernard _____________ Key Decision-Makers Inside Public Bureaucracy: The Concept of Competing Bureaucratic Subsystems Stillman: Chapter 7 "Inside Public Bureaucracy" by Stillman __________ Case Study: "The Decision to Go to War with Iraq," by Pfiffner Greene: Chapter 4, Organizational Theory and Behavior (Note this chapter will be used several times) PART TWO: The Multiple Functions of Public Administrators: Their Major Activities, Responsibilities, and Roles. Session 8
Decision-Making: The Concept of Incremental Choice
(October 19) "The Science of Muddling Through" by Lindblom __________ Case Study: "The MOVE Disaster" by Nagel
Case Study 9/e: How A City Slowly Drowned by Michael
Grunwald and Susan B. Glasser Stillman: Chapter 10 "Galloping Elephants: Developing Elements of a Theory of Effective Government Organization" by Rainey and Steinbauer __________ Case Study: "The Lessons from ValuJet 592" by Langewiesche "Collaborative Processes: Inside the Black Box" by Anne Marie Thomson and James L. Perry __________ (9/e)
Case
Study 9/e: "Government as a Catalyst: Can It Work Again with
Wireless Internet Access" by Abhijit Jain, Munir Mandviwalla, and
Rajiv D. Banker "The Cooptative Mechanism," by Selznick ____________ “Understanding Organizational Culture” by Ott _________ Greene: Chapter 4, Organizational Theory and Behavior Session 9 Public Personnel Motivation: The Concept of the Public Service Culture (October 26) Stillman: Chapter 11 "The Public Service Culture" by Wise __________ Case Study: "Who Brought Bernadine Healy Down?" by Sontag Greene: Chapter 5, Personnel Administration Shafritz and Hyde: "A Theory of Motivation" by Maslow __________ "The Human Side of Enterprise" by McGregor __________ "Representative Bureaucracy" by Krislov __________ "From Affirmative Action to Affirming Diversity," by Thomas _______________ Session 10 Public Budgeting: The Concept of Budgeting as Political Choice (November 2) Stillman: Chapter 12 "The Politics of Public Budgets" by Rubin __________ Case Study: "Wisconsin's Budget Deficit," by Conant
Case Study 9/e: "Death of a Spy Satellite Program" by
Philip Taubman "The Lack of a Budgetary Theory" by Key _________ "Public Budgeting Amidst Uncertainty and Instability" by Caiden __________ "The Movement for Budgetary Reform in the States," by Willoughby ___________ Greene: Chapter 6, Public Budgeting PART THREE: Enduring and Unresolved Relationships: Central Value Questions, Issues, and Dilemmas of Contemporary Public Administration Session 11 The Relationship Between Politics and Administration: The Concept of Issue Networks (November 9) Stillman: Chapter 14 "Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment" by Helco __________ Case Study: "Reinventing School Lunch: Transforming a Food Policy into a Nutrition Policy" by Sims The Relationship Between Bureaucracy and the Public Interest: The Concept of Public Sector Deregulation Stillman: Chapter 15 "Bureaucracy and the Public Interest" by Wilson __________ "Public Policy and the Nature of Administrative Responsibility" by Carl J. Friedrich __________ (9/e) Case Study: "The Human Genome Project," by Lambright Case Study 9/e: "Torture as Public Policy" by James P. Pfiffner Shafritz and Hyde: "Public Administration and the Public Interest" by Herring __________ (4/e) "Public and Private Management...," by Allison ____________ "A Public Manager for All Seasons," by Hood ____________ "How does an Idea's Time Come?" by Kingdon ______________ "Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making," by Stone ___________ "Systematic Thinking for Social Action," by Rivlin _____________ Greene: Chapter 7, Public Policy Session 12 The Relationship Between Ethics and Public Administration: The Concept of Ethical Obligations (November 16) Stillman: Chapter 16 "Public Administration and Ethics: A Prologue to a Preface" by Waldo __________ Case Study: "The Case of the Butterfly Ballot," by Montjoy and Slaton Case Study 9/e: "George Tenet and the Last Great Days of the CIA" by Richard D. White ASPA Code of Ethics (There is a link at the bottom of the syllabus to the most current version of ASPA's Code of Ethics) Greene: Chapter 9 Ethics in Public Administration Shafritz and Hyde: "Watergate: Implications for Responsible Government" Mosher __________ "The Possibility of Administrative Ethics" by Thompson __________ Session 13 Government Performance (November 23) Greene: Chapter 8 Other online
readings: "Pay for Performance" by A. C. Hyde (from The Public
Manager) ____________
http://thepublicmanager.org/cs/blogs/featured/archive/2008/06/13/pay-for-performance.aspx
http://government.cce.cornell.edu/doc/reports/nattrends/default.asp
(Read the article in .pdf format on this webpage) Shafritz and Hyde: "From Red Tape to Results," National Performance Review ______________ "Exploring the Limits of Privatization," by Moe ___________ Session 14 Discussion of James Q. Wilson's Bureaucracy (November 30) The class will
focus entirely on Wilson's book. The chapters included in Wilson's
book are shown below and will be assigned to students on the first
night of class. You do NOT have to write or turn in a summary of the
chapter that you were assigned. We will go through the book chapter
by chapter. Session 15 Brief discussion of the papers (December 7; all work is due) Session 16 Papers and all work is returned (December 14; Exam Week)
Major Terms Guide (This document is used as a study guide for
the exam. There is no longer an exam in campus or the online version
of the class) PSCI 501 Public Administration / Fall 2009 / Campus Class / Updated September 1, 2009 |
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