Concepts of Public Administration

PUAD 501

 

Maryland in Europe

Kapaun, Germany

Term V: June 2-July 22

Sat/Sun 9:00-16:00

 

INSTRUCTOR:         Dr. Kathy J Boyd

                                    UMUC Graduate Programs

                                    Unit 29216

                                    APO AE 09102

 

CONSULTATION:    Before or after class by appointment or via email at kjboyd@ed.umuc.edu

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course provides an overview of public administration fundamentals, and basic management strategies and techniques at the national, state, and local levels of government. Students are offered the opportunity to learn and understand basic information about decision-making, organizational theory, administrative behavior, intergovernmental relations, public-private-non-profit relations, public productivity, public budgeting, public personnel management, and policy analysis, as well as current issues in public administration.

 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

 

Denhardt, Robert B. Public Administration: An Action Orientation, Third Edition. Harcourt Brace College Publishers (Ft Worth, TX: 1999).

 

Stillman, Richard J., Public Administration, Concepts and Cases, Seventh Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company (Boston, MA: 2000).

 

SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS: Can be found in the course schedule for each weekend (please refer to Appendix A for help in finding free full text copies online)

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES: At the end of the course, the student should be able to:

 

1. Analyze complex cases and relate them to theoretical issues in public administration;
2. Summarize and critique professional/scholarly articles on any non technical aspect of public administration;
3. Express systematically in writing ideas about the proper scope of public administration in the future; and
4. Discuss basic features of the following topics:
• The historic evolution and the ideas of the primary scholars in the field of public administration
• Comparisons and contrasts between the public, non-profit and private sectors
• The impacts of the political and social environment on public administration
• The role of ethics in public administration
• The current trends in public administration

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

 

Requirement	Points	Due Date	Comments
Case Analysis	15	June 16	You will write a 3-5 page case analysis and present your observations to the class during the course of classroom discussions. The written analysis will count as 80% of the grade for the assignment. Details on how to write the analysis will be handed out during the first class meeting.
Critique of Article	15	July 7	You will write a 3-5-page critique of a scholarly article and present your observations to the class during the course of classroom discussions. The written critique will count as 80% of the grade for the assignment. Details on how to write the critique will be handed out during the first class meeting
Exam	25	July 8	You will write an in-class exam designed to help you prepare for the Comprehensive Exam setting.
Research Paper	30	July 21	You will conduct scholarly research on a subject related to the future of American Public Administration and write a paper adhering to specific guidelines. Details on choosing a topic and conducting the research will be discussed during the first class meeting
Presentation	15	July 21/22	You will formally present your research findings to the class. Details on length, format and grading of the presentations will be discussed during the first class meeting.

 

 

COURSE SCHEDULE:

 

Weekend 1: June 2/3 – Introduction and Political Issues

 

Textbook Readings Covered: Denhardt Ch 1-3, Stillman Ch 1-5

 

Supplemental readings to be assigned to individuals:

 

DeLeon, L.& Denhardt, RB. (2000). The political theory of reinvention. Public Administration Review 60(2), pp 89-97. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

Marini, F. (1998). Foundation under renovation: Proceed with care! Public Administration Review 58(4) pp. 369-373. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

Marshall, G. & White, O.F. Jr. (1990). The Blacksburg Manifesto and the postmodern debate: Public administration in a time without a name. American Review of Public Administration 20(2) pp 61-74. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

Wamsley, G. et al. 1987. The public administration and the governance process: Refocusing the American dialogue. In Centennial History of American Public Administration, edited by Ralph A.Chandler, 291-317, New York: The Free Press.

 

Weekend 2: June 16/17 – Managerial Issues

 

ALL Case Analyses Due at Beginning of Class on Saturday

 

Textbook Readings Covered: Denhardt Ch 4-7, Stillman 8, 11-13, 16

 

Supplemental readings to be assigned to individuals:

 

Gormley, W. 2001. Moralists, pragmatists, and rogues: Bureaucrats in modern mysteries. Public Administration Review 61(2):184-193. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

Berman, E. 1999. Professionalism among public and nonprofit managers: A comparison. American Review of Public Administration – Parkville 29(2):149-167. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

Melkers, J.E. & Willoughby, K.G. 2001. Budgeters’ views of state performance budgeting systems: Distinctions across branches. Public Administration Review 61(1):54-64. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

Newell, C. 1999. The reorganization perspectives of personnel administrators: Managers in the middle. Review of Public Personnel Administration 19(4):17-31.  Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

Dolan, J. 2000. Influencing policy at the top of the federal bureaucracy: A comparison of career and political senior executives. Public Administration Review 60(6):573-581. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

Weekend 3: July 7/8 – Organizational Issues and Exam

 

Critique of Article Due at the Beginning of Class on Saturday

 

Textbook Readings Covered: Denhardt Ch 8-11, Stillman Ch 6, 9 & 10

 

Meier, K.J. & Wrinkle, R.D. 1999. Equity versus excellence in organizations: A substantively weighted least squares analysis. American Review of Public Administration – Parkville 29(1):5-18. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

Herman, R.D. & Renz, D.O. 2000. Board practices of especially effective and less effective nonprofit organizations. American Review of Public Administration – Parkville 30(2):146-160. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

Greaves, J & Sorenson, R.C. 1999. Barriers to transformation in a higher education organization: Observations and implications for OD professionals. Public Administration Quarterly 23(1):104-129. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

Landsbergen, D. Jr. 2001. Realizing the promise: Government information systems and the fourth generation of information technology. Public Administration Review 61(2):206-220. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

 

Exam – Sunday, 1-4 PM

 

 

Weekend 4: July 21/22 – Future Issues and Presentations

 

Research Paper Due at the Beginning of Class on Saturday

 

Textbook Readings Covered: Denhardt 12, Stillman 14 & 15

 

Supplemental readings:

 

Lynn, L.E 2001. The myth of the bureaucratic paradigm: What traditional public administration really stood for. Public Administration Review 61(2):145-160. Retrieved May 12, 2001 from MdUSA database ABI/Inform on the World Wide Web: http://www.umuc.edu/library

 

 

Research Paper Presentations

 

 

Appendix A: THE LIBRARY

 

The UMUC online library can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/library. This page provides you with a wealth of information and assistance, and serves as the portal for accessing the databases containing the journals and articles needed for this class. Use the last name you used to register for this class and your social security number to logon. Click on the A and then chose ABI/Inform. Click on the top blue “continue” button and then switch from search by word – basic to search by word- guided. From there you can enter keywords and use the drop down menus to the left to specify where the search engine should look for your keyword.

 

Once you have found the article you are looking for, email it to yourself, print it and save it to a diskette just to prove to yourself that you can do all three. You should also take some time to look around and see what else might be of interest to your research paper.