Course Description
Major concepts and theories associated with the modern public organization. Organizational environments, goals and effectiveness, strategy and decision-making, structure and design, communication, leadership, individual work behaviors, and other topics. The implications of the public sector context and political environments for these topics.
Athena Title
Public Management
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This is a well-developed literature on organizations and management, which students cover in any respectable administration and management program. This course introduced students to major topics, issues, and contributions in the literature on organizations and management, with emphasis on applications to government and nonprofit organizations, because they are serious ones. The course, however, also emphasizes the many examples of successful management in these organizations, including some of the past and most recent reforms and improvements. The examples and exercises in the course refer to organizations at federal, state, and local levels of government, and to a variety of nonprofit organizations, such as hospitals, museums, and social service agencies.
Topical Outline
I. Historical overview of organization theory II. Environments of organizations, and of public and nonprofit organizations III. Organizational goals and effectiveness IV. Organizational structure and design V. Organizational innovation and change VI. Information and control in organizations VII. People in public and nonprofit organizations: Motives, values, motivation, and work-related attitudes VIII. Leadership IX. Organizational culture and ethics X. Strategy and decision-making processes XI. Power, politics, and conflict in organizations XII. Interorganizational relations XIII. New directions in public management, including TQM. NRP, REGO, privatization, and organizational excellence
Syllabus