Spring 2010 Course Description
Public Management
Description: The purposes of this course are (1) to show how and why public management and public managers make a significant contribution to government performance and (2) to assist students in developing the critical analytical skills that will enhance their effectiveness in public sector positions working for managers and as managers themselves. A common misconception in public affairs education is that policy analysis requires "hard" skills of rigorous analysis and public management requires "soft" skills of interpersonal effectiveness. The course will demonstrate why analytical thinking is as critical to good management as to good policy analysis through showing "concepts in action" in numerous real-world cases and examples.
The course will employ a three-dimensional approach to public management. Effective public management is a resultant of appropriate organizational structures and processes, organizational cultures that facilitate rather than impede policy achievement, and managerial craftsmanship that uses both structures and cultures to maximum effect. Materials for the course include a textbook, Public Management: A Three-Dimensional Approach, supplementary readings, and accounts of "public management in the news" at local, state, and federal levels.
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