This is the final course in the core for MPA students. As such, it is designed to allow you, as an MPA student, to draw upon and bring together the skills and expertise you have developed over the previous three semesters. That expertise will be further refined and polished through in-class discussions, exercises, reading materials, and application to a substantive community problem.
This course is based upon two general themes : 1) how to successfully manage and/or coordinate your actions and goals with others, be they subordinates, peers in other organizations, or superiors, and 2) how to work comfortably within a variety of institutional environments -- from hierarchies to loosely linked networks of organizations. Successfully coordinating your actions with others, and working effectively in numerous institutional environments requires a common set of skills in problem identification, institutional analysis, bargaining, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Each segment of this course teaches and re-inforces such skills.
The first segment of this course is devoted to coordination, cooperation, and the appropriate exercise of authority among managers and workers within an organization. Managers coordinate and control employees who possess information and expertise superior to their own. Since employment relations are voluntary, managers must exercise authority in such a way that discourages shirking and subverting, encourages productivity, and the retention of good employees. Problems of information asymmetries, externalities, and power make that task extraordinarily difficult. Numerous dilemmas arise between managers and workers. We will explore these dilemmas, their dynamics, and various approaches that may be used to resolve them.
The second segment moves beyond the confines of a single organization and examines interorganizational ties. Public managers must not only coordinate the work of their employees, but they must also coordinate their organizations' activities with that of other organizations. Collaboration make take a variety of forms from informal, occasional exchanges to mergers. Problems emerge in matching specific situations and organization needs to appropriate forms of collaboration. In this segment we will examine interorganizational relations, and the advantages and disadvantages of variety of forms of collaboration.
The third segment of the course broadens the complexity of the institutional context and the managerial skills to be emphasized. Most metropolitan areas of the U.S. consist of dozens of special and general purpose governments that compete for resources, and that cooperate to solve common problems. Public managers must be relatively adept at operating within the context of these "local public economies". We will examine the various structures of local public economies, and the pressures brought to bear on public managers as they attempt to cope with such complexity. While local public economies make the job of public managers more challenging, they also provide opportunities for managers to be creative and innovative, to develop new policies. In other words, public managers have opportunities to be public entrepreneurs. We will examine the role of public entrepreneurs, how they operate, and the contexts that are most supportive of entrepreneurship.
The final segment of the course focuses on federalism: what it does mean and what it should mean to be a public manager in a federal system. The federal system has undergone substantial changes in the past four decades as the central government has increasingly usurped state and local powers. We will explore what these numerous additional constraints mean for public managers. We will also explore whether a federal form of government should be salvaged and rehabilitated, or whether it has outlived its usefulness, and should consciously be replaced by some other form of governance.
I know that this sounds like a lot of work. It is, but I think that it is going to be a lot of fun too. The lab simulations, guest speakers, case studies, and in-class discussions should keep things lively.
Attendance and Participation:(20% of final course grade) The course will work only if you attend and attend well prepared. You learn more from each other than you do from me, so don't deprive your classmates of your sharp insights and witty commentary. Besides, I take this portion of the grading very seriously.
Memos:(45% of final course grade) There will be four memo writing opportunities. Of those four opportunities you must take advantage of three. That is, you must write three short memos.
Each memo will be based in part on one of the four books that we will read for class. Two weeks before each memo is due I will hand out an instruction sheet detailing memo content. The memos may be presented in written form or orally. If you choose to make an oral presentation it should be no longer than 15 minutes, with another 15 minutes reserved for questions from me. Oral presentations will take place outside of class.
Community Project: (35% of final course grade) I have arranged several community projects. I will divide the class into groups of 3-5 members each. Each group will be assigned one project. I will attempt to give you your first or second choice in projects. Each group is a consulting team that is required to deliver a professional product to its client by the end of the semester.