Syllabus for PPA 140 Public Management -- Spring 2003
California State University, Sacramento - Professor Robert Waste
Office Location, Phone: 3036 Tahoe Hall -- 916/278-4944
Email address: wasterj@csus.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 4:30-6 PM and by appointment
Class Location & Time: Tuesday & Thursday 3-4:15

Course Description:

The purpose of this course is to teach undergraduate students from a number of different majors about public organizations and the challenges facing contemporary public managers. The course focuses on public management concentrating on the rise of public sector bureaucracy, organizational theory, organizational culture, types of behaviors and actors in public agencies, agency life cycles and the possibility of reforming both the federal and California public sector agencies and workforce.

Specifically, we will learn about Organization Theory including the following topics:

Learning Objectives - This course is intended to:

    1. Enhance understanding of the complexities of the public policy/administrative arena.
    2. Familiarize students with the conventional wisdom about how organizations ought to and how they actually do operate in the real world
    3. Familiarize students with some of the different roles that people play in the public policy/administrative arena
    4. Acquaint students with some of the key access points whereby young people can enter this arena.
    5. Assist students in determining if they might want to pursue a career in this area.
    6. Build clear and concise writing skills.
    7. Enhance ability to work effectively in a small group; and
    8. Sensitize students to ethical issues and challenges.

My goal in PPA 140 is to help you better understand how public agencies function, and to help you develop life-long managerial perspectives, values, and skills that will make you a strong contributor to the public life of the Capital Region, the state of California and the nation

There will be a specific focus on state government in California, and on aspects of organization theory that apply to all public agencies. Each Tuesday Session I will map out issues raised by readings for the class involving problems and challenges facing public organizations and public sector managers. On Thursdays, you will be involved in class discussions, group exercises, field trips, and interacting with guest practitioners as we attempt to craft solutions to the challenges raised in the literature and the Tuesday class sessions. 

Grading:

Grades will be determined in accordance with the following weights:

4 Short (2 page) memos   20% (5% each)
2 Midterm Exams 30% (15% each)
Group Project 20%
Class Participation 10%
Final Examination  20%
  100%

Required Books - Paperback editions of:

  1. Jay Shafritz and Albert Hyde (eds.), Classics of Public Administration, 4th Edition (San Diego: Harcourt-Brace College Books Division, 1997).
  1. Jay Shafritz and E.W. Russell, Introducing Public Administration (Longman-Addison-Wesley, 2003.
  1. We will also read the 1999 Little Hoover Commission report on reforming the California Civil Service, Of the People, By the People: Principles for Cooperative Civil Service Reform. The report is available on the Internet at: http://www.lhc.ca.gov/lhcidr/listall.html.

Recommended Book:

Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual, 3rd Edition (Boston, MA: Bedford Books).

Course Outline and Readings:

PART I:

UNDERSTANDING BUREAUCRACY & ORG THEORY - CLASSIC VOICES ON THE WAY ORGS ACTUALLY FUNCTION
Week # 1 (1/28 & 30)
  How Do Bureaucracies Actually Work? (Part I):
The Bureaucratic World According to Tony Downs:
Life Cycles, Personalities & Communication Patterns
Read: Anthony Downs, The Life Cycle of Bureaus
Discussion Questions
  1. What makes new organizations different from older established agencies and organizations?
  2. What types of personalities tend to populate agencies, and why?
  3. Agencies rarely die. Why, and when do they die?
  4. What is the life cycle of public agencies?
  5. Would you rather work in a new or an older agency? Why?
Week # 2 (2/4 & 6) 
 

How Do Bureaucracies Actually Work? (Part II):
Bureaucratic Structure, Dysfunction, Capacities & Performance
Read: Robert Merton, Bureaucratic Structure & Personality
Discussion Questions

  1. What is organizational culture and what does Merton mean by trained incapacity?
  2. How would Merton describe the org culture of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and why?
  3. Why do organizations succeed or fail?
Week # 3 (2/11 & 13)
 

How Do Bureaucracies Actually Work? (Part III): 
The Breakdown of Formal Organizations and their Rescue by Informal Organizations, Plus Exchange Theory & Managerial Inducements (Incentives).
Memo Assignment # 1 Interview due in class on 2/11
Read:  Chester I. Barnard, Informal Organizations and Their Relation to Formal Organizations
Discussion Questions:

  1. What’s the difference between vertical (formal, superior/subordinate) and horizontal (informal, peer-to-peer) communication?
  2. What’s the relationship between formal and informal organizations in agencies?
  3. What gives rise to informal organizations?
  4. Barnard also developed an exchange theory and a typology of managerial inducements or incentives. Let’s discuss these and note if they apply to your emerging managerial style, and your Exec agency placement.
PART II: UNDERSTANDING BUREAUCRACY & ORG THEORY - CLASSIC VOICES ON THE WAY ORGS ARE SUPPOSED TO FUNCTION
Week # 4 (2/18 &20)
  Max Weber on Ideal Types & Idealized Bureaucracy
Feb. 18 class session will be attending a public agency meeting.
Memo Assignment # 2 Observation due in class on 2/20
Read: Max Weber, Bureaucracy
Discussion Questions:
  1. What, for Weber, is bureaucracy? Where did it come from, and why?
  2. Why -for Weber- is bureaucracy good? How does this compare with our modern stereotype about bureaucracies & bureaucrats?
  3. Modern democratic public administration is built, more than less, on the Prussian model with veteran’s preferences, retirement pensions, mandatory retirement at age 65, civil service examinations, and obedience to rules and offices rather than office-holders. What is the implication for a democratic country of seizing upon an organizational model developed to further a military autocratic form of government?
Week # 5: (2/25 & 27)
  Woodrow Wilson on Politics as a Vocation & the Wall of Separation Between Politics & Administration
Midterm # 1Review on 2/25
Midterm # 1 Exam on 2/27
Read:  Woodrow Wilson, The Study of Administration.
Discussion Questions
  1. Why is organization more difficult in democratic than autocratic societies?
  2. Is there should there be a difference between what politicians do and what administrators do?
  3. According to Wilson, why should good people be attracted to administration as a calling or vocation?
Week# 6:  (3/4 & 6)
  Are Agencies Assembly Lines? Scientific Management, Taylorism and Fordism
Read: Frederick Taylor, Scientific Management
Discussion Questions
  1. What are the assumptions about workers and organizations in Taylor?
  2. What the drawbacks and advantages of the Taylor scientific approach?
  3. What is the role of psychology for better or worse in the bureaucratic workplace?
  4. Why isn’t the smartest worker always the fastest worker?
Week # 7 (3/11 &13)
  More on Workplace Psychology & Motivation: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Memo Assignment # 3 Theories X & Y Survey - due in class on 3/13
Read: Abraham Maslow, A Theory of Human Motivation
Discussion Questions
  1. Explain and attack or defend Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
  2. How often are you or co-workers motivated by a drive for self-actualization?
  3. How would you compare Maslow’s view to Barnard’s view?
Week # 8 (3/18 & 20)
 

How Different are Private and Public Agencies Supposed to Be?
Read: Paul Appleby, "Government is Different."
Graham Allison, Public and Private Management: Are They Fundamentally Alike in All Unimportant Respects?
Discussion Questions

  1. Is government different? Why or why not?
  2. What are the key differences between public management and private management’?
Week # 9 (4/1 & 3)
 

Human Resource Management: Theories X, Y & Z
Midterm # 2 Review on 4/1
Midterm # 2 Exam on 4/3
Read:  Douglas McGregor, The Human Side of Enterprise
Discussion Questions

  1. Are you are Theory X or a Theory Y manager? Why?
  2. What are Theory Z and Japanese management?
Week # 10 (4/8 & 10)
 

Can Public Administration and Government Itself be Reinvented?
Read: H. George Frederickson, "Toward a New Public Administration."
"From Red Tape to Results" Creating a Government that Works Better and Costs Less: The National Performance Review.
Donald Kettl, "Reinventing Government? Appraising the National Performance Review."
Discussion Questions:

  1. What does reinventing government and reinventing public administration, mean?

Week # 11 Spring Break 4/14-4/20
Week # 12  (4/22 & 24)
 

Can California Reinvent Public Management? Should We?
Memo Assignment # 4 Ethics  - due in class on 4/24
Read: The 1999 Little Hoover Commission report on reforming the California Civil Service, Of the People, By the People: Principles for Cooperative Civil Service Reform. The report is available on the Internet at: http://www.lhc.ca.gov/lhcidr/listall.html.
Weeks 13-14 (5/1- 5/8)          Group Projects
Week 15                                 Final Examination

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