Introduction to Public Administration and Public Service

PAD 5001– OL1: (Online Course)

Instructor: Lisa McCann

School of Public Affairs

University of Colorado-Denver

Spring 2008

Course Overview:

This course provides an overview of the field of public administration and public service, and serves as a foundation for further studies in the MPA program at the School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado. The course assumes no prior background—academic or work-related—in public administration or service. It introduces students to administrative concepts and practices, major developments in the field, and current issues, with an orientation toward public service. This course will begin with an overview of the field of public administration, followed by a review of organizational theory, on which much of the sub-field of public management is based. The public management and public policy orientations will then be examined, and finally the public sector reform movement and considerations of democracy, ethics, and the new public service.

Instructor Information:

Lisa McCann is a PhD studentin Public Affairs at the School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado at Denver.She has worked forthe United Nation for 15 years, managing refugee programs in the Middle East, and more recently as a management consultant, developing training materials for and coaching middle and senior managers in a UN management training program. Her dissertation research is on international policy-making related to peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction.

Communication with the instructor:

Lisa McCann

Email: .

Office: School of Public Affairs, LawrenceStreetCenter, 5th floor

Office hours: By appointment

Phone: 303-315-2861

The best way to contact me is through the Course Discussion area under the “Course Home” section of the cuonline course shell. Other students may have the same questions that you have, and can benefit from this correspondence being accessible to them. The same area can be used to address other issues or discuss things with other students. I will check messages in the class discussion area several times each week and respond to inquiries.

For private or sensitive communication that you do not want viewed by others in the course, you may contact me by email. You may also arrange for an appointment to see me at the School of Public Affairs.

I will use the course shell as my main channel of communicationwith you, and will only rarely send you an email, so please check the announcements area on the site each time you log in to keep informed about what is going on.If I do send an email, it will be to your university email account, so please make sure either to check that account regularly or to have your mail there forwarded to an email account that you check regularly.

Textbooks:

Kettl, Donald and James Fesler. 2005. The Politics of the Administrative Process, 3rd edition. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.

Lane, Frederick S. 1999. Current Issues in Public Administration, 6th edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Please make sure you have the specified editions of the assigned books, and be careful in particular if ordering the books online.Sections of these books change from edition to edition, and the page numbers referred to in the course schedule refer to these editions.

Additionalarticles and readings will be assigned that you must access online using Auraria library’s electronic resources. These articles are copyrighted, but as a CU student you may access them using the library’s electronic subscriptions, and download a copy for your own use only. You should not share or distribute these downloaded materials in any way.

To access the journals, go to Auraria library home page (web address here), log in using your name and student number, type in the name of the journal in the appropriate space on the home page, search for the indicated volume and issue number of the assigned articles, and find the article you need. You may save or print out as needed.

Course Objectives:

By the end of the class, you will be able to:

  1. Understand the central concepts and major theoretical orientations in the field of public administration.
  2. Understand some of the current issues, challenges, and strengths in American governance.
  3. Appreciate the meaning of a career in professional public service.
  4. Be able to function at a graduate level of academic performance with respect to research, writing, and discussion of concepts.

Submission of Assignments:

Please submit all of your assignments to the course shell using the dropbox function. There will be an indicated dropbox for each assignment. Kindly do not send any assignments by email.

Schedule of Readings and Assignments:

Note: The course is organized in six units. Consideration and discussion of materials for each unit will last for two weeks. No discussions will take place during the period of writing the mid-term exam or in the period just prior to submission of the research paper and final exam. We will begin all units except the first on a Friday and end the unit on a Thursday. You should complete the assigned readings by the start date of each unit and be ready to enter the discussions on these materials.

***Please note that this schedule of readings and assignments may change during the semester, in which case you will be duly informed of the changes.

Unit Start Date / Unit End Date / Readings
Complete by unit start date / Assignments
Complete by unit end date
Introductions
22 Jan / 27 Jan / None – but do use your time to read for Unit 1! / Required - Introduce yourself in the Course Discussion area under “Intro”
Optional (but highly recommended) - Post your photo in the document sharing area under “photo gallery” (optional)
Unit 1: Public Administration
28 Jan / 7 Feb / Kettl:
Chapter 1: Introduction, pp. 1-24
Chapter 2: What government does – and how it does it, pp. 25-48
Case 1: Speed limits, pp. 473-476
Case 2: The 2004 flu vaccine shortage, pp. 477-479
Lane:
Chapter 1: Introduction to Public Administration, pp. 1-36 / Participate in the threaded discussions for Unit 1
Complete readings for Unit 2
Unit 2: Organization Theory
8 Feb / 21 Feb / Kettl:
Chapter 3: Foundations of Organization Theory, pp. 49-81
Chapter 6: Organization Problems, pp. 139-161
Case 3: Problems of coordination and organizational culture affecting the national intelligence agencies, pp. 480-483
Lane:
Chapter 5: Understanding Public Organizations, pp. 155-200 / Participate in threaded discussions for Unit 2
Complete readings for Unit 3
Unit 3: Public Management
22 Feb / 6 Mar / Kettl:
Chapter 5: The Executive Branch, pp. 107-137
Chapter 8: Managing Human Capital, pp. 195-223
Chapter 11: Implementation, pp. 295-333
Case 5: The 9/11 Commission’s call for a National Intelligence Director, pp. 488-491 / Participate in threaded discussions for Unit 3
Complete readings for Unit 4
Unit Start Date / Unit End Date / Readings
Complete by unit start date / Assignments
Complete by unit end date
Unit 4: Public Policy
7 Mar / 21 Mar / Kettl:
Chapter 9: Decision-Making, pp. 227-259
Case 9: Alan Greenspan and changes in decision-making strategies at the Federal Reserve, pp. 503-506
Lane:
Chapter 2: The Political Setting of Public Administration, pp. 37-72
Chapter 3: Public Policy and Administration in a Federal Setting, pp. 73-102
Chapter 8: Policy Analysis, Implementation, and Evaluation, pp. 272-305 / Participate in threaded discussions for Unit 4
Complete readings for Unit 5
Submit paper topic in the Course Discussion area under “Course Home” no later than midnight on 21 March
Spring Break
22 Mar / 28 Mar / Enjoy yourself - and prepare for your mid-term! / Rest and relaxation should have occurred
Mid-Term Exam
28 Mar / 3 Apr / Exam will be made available on 28 March. No reading this week in order to complete your exam. / Submit completed exam to the exam dropbox no later than midnight on 3 April
Unit 5: Public Sector Reform
4 Apr / 17 Apr / Kettl:
Chapter 4: Strategies and Tactics for Administrative Reform, pp. 83-105
Case 4: FEMA and hurricane disaster relief, pp. 484-487
Lane:
Chapter 9: Public Administration in the 21st Century, pp. 349-385
Case: A Lesson in Reinvention, pp. 412-418
Case: Rightsizing in Charlotte, pp. 418-427
Other Readings:
DeLeon, Linda and Denhardt, Robert B. 2000. The Political Theory of Reinvention. Public Administration Review 60(2):89-97.
Unit 6: Democracy, Ethics, and the New Public Service
18 Apr / 2 May / Kettl:
Chapter 13: Legislative Control of Administration, pp. 365-392
Chapter 14: Conclusion, pp. 393-414
Case 14: Unethical contracting practices at the Pentagon, pp. 522-524
Other Readings:
1. Denhardt, Robert B. and Denhardt, Janet Vinzant. 2000. The New Public Service: Serving Rather than Steering. Public Administration Review 60(6):549-559.
2. Kathi, Pradeep Chandra and Cooper, Terry L. 2005. Democratizing the Administrative State: Connecting Neighborhood Councils and City Agencies. Public Administration Review 65(5):559-567.
3. Boyte, Harry C. 2005. Reframing Democracy: Governance, Civic Agency, and Politics. Agencies. Public Administration Review 65(5):536-546.
Research paper
3 May / 8 May / No reading this week in order to put attention on your papers / Submit paper no later than midnight on 8 May
Final Exam
9 May / 14 May / Final exam will be made available on 9 May / Submit your final exam to the exam drop box no later than midnight on 14 May

Important Dates:

27 JanLast day to drop with no charge

6 FebLast day to drop without instructor’s approval and a mark on your transcript

21 MarPaper topic due – submit to the Course Discussion area

24-28MarSpring Break – Rest, Relax, Enjoy!

3 AprMid-term exam due – submit to drop box

7 AprLast day to drop without a petition and permission from dean

8 MayResearch paper due – submit to drop box

14 MayFinal exam due – submit to drop box

Assessment Criteria:

Final grades will be based on the following:

Item / Points Possible
Threaded Discussions / 25
Mid-term Exam / 20
Research Paper / 25
Final Exam / 30
Total / 100

Reading Assignments

You will spend much of your time reading for this course, which is natural for a graduate-level course, but this is only the start of your learning process. You will learn best by thinking critically about what you read,applying it to the real world of public affairs, and discussing with your colleagues what it means and how it is relevant to you and to society. Many of you are currently working in public or non-profit sector jobs and so your insights will be particularly helpful to the class. Those of you without public sector or non-profit experience can apply the concepts to current events or policy issues that are of interest to any citizen. You are strongly encouraged while reading to think of connections between the reading and your work experiences or observations of public life, and to bring up these linkages during the discussions. This type of application will enliven the discussions and make the course more interesting for everyone.

Threaded Discussions (25 points)

This is a graduate-level discussion class, conducted online through non-synchronous, threaded discussions on six units of study. After the first unit, you will be in a discussion group of 15-20 persons rather than the whole class, in order to keep the size of the discussions your are participating in manageable for you. The discussion area for each unit will be found under the unit heading.

The discussions are the main tool for learning the concepts of the class, and so it is very important that you participate actively in them in order to understand the material and prepare yourself for the exams. You will be graded on your participation in the discussions, according to both the quality and quantity of your postings.

Before starting the first unit you will be asked in the introduction area to introduce yourself, in order to allow your classmates to know something about you, why you are taking this class, and what you expect to give to and gain from the class. The introductory posting will help you to learn how to post entries in online discussions, and you will get one point for making this first posting. Each of the six unit discussions will be worth 4 points, which together with your introductory posting give you a total of 25 possible points for the discussion component of the course.

Mid-term examination (20 points)

After completing the fourth unit, you will take a mid-term exam on the first four units in the course. The exam will consist of 2-3 essay questions and will be based on the content of the threaded discussions. You will have one week to complete the exam after being given the questions. You will write the exam offline and submit it to a dropbox created for this purpose.

Research Paper (25 points)

You will submit one research paper, on a current topic related to one of the units in this course, and based on your independent research of that topic. You may choose any topic in public administration or public service that interests you, and which you can relate to one of the units or some set of concepts discussed in the class. You must clear your topic with me by the end of the 4th unit (21 March), by submitting your paper idea to the Course Discussion area under Course Home.

Your paper should be 8-10 pages in length, double-spaced, and in 12-point font.Papers shorter than 8 pages or longer than 10 pages will be marked down. The grading criteria for this paper will follow the “Criteria of Excellence in Graduate Studies,” attached to this syllabus.

Late policy: For each day the research paper is late, 4 points will be deducted from your paper grade.

Final Exam (30 points)

The final exam will be second essay exam of 3-4 questions, based on all six units and discussions throughout the course. It will be made available to you on 9 May and will be due to the dropbox by midnight on 14 May.

Grading Scale:

The following scale will be used to assign the final grades:

A93-100

A-90-92

B+87-89

B83-86

B-80-82

C+77-79

C73-76

C-70-72

D+67-69

D63-66

D-60-62

F< 60

Students can view their current grade in the online course gradebook.

Additional Information:

  • If this is your first online class, please review the “student orientation course” on e-college.
  • If you have technical problems with e-college, you can reach the24-hour help desk at 303-873-0005 or .
  • If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me in the Course Discussion area

Technical Requirements:

Students are responsible for maintaining or accessing a computer system capable of participating in all aspects of this course. This includes, but is not limited to, running the eCollege software, running the Tegrity streaming lectures, Real One player and Web browsing.

At this point, a Windows PC is required to access all of the course material. If you use a Macintosh or other system, you will need to find access to a PC to view the streaming course lectures. The other course content, including reading guides, quizzes and discussions should work fine without a PC.

While a broadband connection to the Internet is not required for this course it is highly recommended that you access the course with a DSL or cable modem Most of the materials for this course are available online. Many of these materials are large streaming media files. Access of this course over a dial-up connection may require significant waiting periods for download.

If you are having technical difficulties that are limiting or preventing your full participation in the class, please contact the 24-hour help desk at 303-873-0005 or .

Attendance/Work Completion Policy:

Given that this is a graduate course, its successwill dependon your familiarity with the materials presented, critical thinking about what you are reading,andthe quality of your discussions aboutthese materials. You must thereforeread thoroughly and criticallythe materialsof each unit,think about how the different topicsrelate to each other, and make these materials relevant to you by applying them tosituations you have faced or expect to face as afuture public servant.

While all graduate students are expected to take responsibility for their own learning, this is particularly important in the online format, where you do not have the physical presence of the instructor and colleagues to spur you into motion. In this course, online discussions will replace the lively classroom discussions that normally takeplace ina graduate class, and so we all need tomake our online discussionsinterestingand informative by preparing well forand participating actively and sincerely inthe online discussions for each unit.

This course bedivided into six units, each lasting two weeks. Each unit will “open” for discussion on the start date listed (a Friday) and close on the end date listed (a Thursday), according to thecourse schedule given above. Students are expected to read the required materials for each unit in advance of the start date for the unit, and to participate actively in the discussions of that unit during the 2-week period of discussion. Please be sure to keep up with your reading and to enter the discussions on each unit well before the discussion period ends.