Courses
PAPA 5014 Concepts and Approaches in Public Administration
This course is designed to compliment the material in 5315, Behavioral Skills for Managers, and 5316, System Skills for Public Managers. It is organized around the argument that in order to understand and apply the skills of public administration and the systems within which administrators work, it is essential to understand the dynamics of public administration and democracy.
PAPA 6014 Public Administration Theory
This course is a three way conversation between our individual growth and identity as scholars, the dynamic field of public administration theory, and our broader efforts to understand scholarly work in the pursuit of knowledge. The interaction of these three topics is represented in the three broad divisions of the course, and in the weekly readings.
PAPA 6254 Advanced Topics in Public Policy: Participation & the Policy Process
“Social capital.” “Democratization.” “Inclusive management.” “New governance.” “Participatory governance.” The literature in public administration and public policy has been inundated in the past three decades by an emphasis on a more participatory approach to the making and implementation of public policy. This course will examine the American policy process through the lens of participation and deliberative democracy. What are the normative dimensions of this emphasis, and what is the empirical evidence for this emphasis? What are the reasons for the emphasis, and what are the implications for public policy and for the participants in the public policy process—elected officials, experts, members of the public, policy analysts, public managers, and organized interests? Finally, what are the institutional tensions that hinder as well as foster a more participatory approach to policy making?
PAPA 6254 Advanced Topics in Public Policy: Homeland Security
This course will examine the challenges of building and implementing policies for homeland security by focusing on the primary actor in the homeland security arena—the Department of Homeland Security. We will examine the department itself, and the dynamics between the department and the institutions of policy making and implementation. Specifically, we will examine the relationship and impact of Congress, the Presidency, the courts, state and local governments, and the private sector as partners in the homeland security effort.
PAPA 6354 Advanced Topic in Public Management: Inclusive Management
This seminar will explore the theoretical and empirical dimensions of this model, the challenges posed for the practicing manager, and the theoretical challenges posed for administrative scholarship. We will examine the implications of the model for our understanding of leadership, of relationships (as governance), for the way we understand information and knowledge, and other dimensions of the management experience.
PAPA 6394 Capstone Management and Culture
Organizational culture has captured the imagination of public and private leaders, academics and consultants looking for ways to enhance the performance of organizations. Looking for the basic parameters of the "right" culture that will facilitate continuous improvement and innovation, for example, is a prominent feature in the organizational literature. Structural and procedural changes that do little to alter the performance of organizations suggest there might be something deeper and more important guiding the behavior of individuals in an organization--but just what is it? Culture is clearly an important dimension of organizational performance, but the concept is fraught with difficulties in assessing it and connecting it to performance.
This 15-week seminar will be an intensive investigation of the concept of organizational culture through the lens of management, and will result in the development of an article by each student to be submitted to a refereed journal at the end of the seminar. All students must be fully admitted to the CPAP Ph.D. program in order to enroll in this seminar; the seminar is not available to students outside of the CPAP doctoral program.
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