California State University, Sacramento
Department of Public Policy and Administration
PPA 296J
Practice of Collaborative Policy-Making
Spring, 2003
Professor David Booher, M.A., M.S.P. Meeting Time & Place:
Center for Collaborative Policy January 27-May 22, 2003
1303 J Street, Suite 250 Thursdays 6PM-8:50PM
(916) 445-2079 Location: Lassen Hall 2101
dbooher@uclink4.berkeley.edu Office Hours: Room 3039, Thursdays 5PM - 6PM & by appt.
Prerequisites: PPA 200 or permission of Instructor. Priority will be given to students who have completed PPA 296h.
This methods course is designed to provide the skills and knowledge of strategies and methods that may be used to develop collaborative solutions to complex public policy issues and how to assess when these processes may be appropriate in specific situations. The course will include meeting management and facilitation, negotiation in complex multi-party policy disputes, collaborative leadership, collaborative organizational learning, governance network analysis and management, and public participation. Extensive use will be made of simulations and class exercises. Expert practitioners will join the class periodically as guest lecturers. The objective of this course is to provide participants with practical skills and knowledge of several collaborative methods in public policy and the foundation to be reflective and to continue to develop their capacity in using collaborative strategies in practice.
By the end of this course participants should be able to:
Three texts will be used in the course along with a packet of course readings and materials.
How to Make Meetings Work, by Michael Doyle and David Straus.
Getting to Yes: Negotiating without Giving In, by Roger Fisher and William Ury.
The Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook, by David Chrislip.
This course will be built on engaging students in a collaborative learning process with each other, the Instructor, and guest lecturers. The course will seek to model the collaborative process. We will rely on short lectures, discussions, role-plays and simulations, and students’ own observations and reflections. Students must come to class prepared by having read and reflected on all the required materials prior to that session. Students should read the handouts and article for session one prior to class and Making Meetings Work prior to the second session. Extensive use will be made of class simulations and exercises. Students are requested to make every effort to be present for these simulations in order to assure their success. Student participation will be the most important basis for grading and will be evaluated based upon attendance, quality of participation, and mastery of the readings prior to the relevant class sessions. In addition, all students are requested to observe two to three collaborative processes being directed by the Center for Collaborative Policy (formerly the California Center for Public Dispute Resolution) during the spring semester. Students will be added to the Center’s list server to receive regular information regarding scheduled processes and should notify the Center when they plan to attend.
Students will keep a weekly three-page journal of their observations and reflections regarding public policy issues or contexts as they relate to collaborative policy-making based upon their own experiences, the reading material, and observations regarding current public policy disputes. A copy of the journal will be collected at mid term for review and at the end of the semester. The journal will be evaluated for grading purposes based upon application of the readings and class lessons in the entries and creativity in observation and reflection in applying insights to real world policy contexts.
The major student project for the course will be completion of a team project based upon a public policy controversy that could benefit from the use of one or more collaborative processes. Early in the semester students will self-organize into teams. The teams will consult with the Instructor to select a real world policy issue to propose for one or two collaborative strategies. Examples of strategies include:
Team papers should include: a summary of the policy issue and context, a discussion of why, when, and how a collaborative strategy is important; a literature review; a description and critique of one or two approaches in method; a contingency framework for thinking about the approaches or a synthesis of approaches (i.e., under what circumstances would these approaches be appropriate for use); a workbook of process guidelines; and a bibliography including websites. Team projects will be evaluated based upon completeness of the treatment, creativity in the application of the methods and strategies, quality of the written and oral presentation, and potential usefulness in a real world policy application.
The team papers will be presented during the final week of class. Papers will be produced for each student’s journal. Outstanding papers may be considered for publication by the Center for Collaborative Policy, with the permission of the authors.
Grading will be based upon:
January 30th: Course
Overview and Summary of Collaborative Policy-making Theory and Practice.
The Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook, Chrislip, Introduction & Parts 1 & 2 (pp. 1-49).
“Collaborative Policy-Making Theory Concepts,” Center for Collaborative Policy.
“Multi-Party Complex Policy Making,” Center for Collaborative Policy.
“The Power of Metaphor: The Elephant Zone,” Lee, Center for Collaborative Policy.
February 6th: Meeting Planning, Management, and
Facilitation (I).
Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, Kaner, “Alternatives to Open Discussion”, pp. 69-84.
“Applying Large-Group Interaction Methods to the Planning and Implementation of Major Change Efforts,” Bryson and Anderson, Public Administration Review March/April 2000, pp. 143-162.
February 13th: Meeting Planning, Management, and
Facilitation (II).
February 20th: Fundamentals of Mutual Gains Interest Based
Negotiation.
Getting to Yes, Fisher and Ury
February 27th: Collaborative Leadership Skills and Methods
(I).
The Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook, Parts 3 & 4 (pp. 63-230), Chrislip.
March 6th: Collaborative
Leadership Skills and Methods (II).
March 13th: Using
Interest Based Negotiation in Public Policy Disputes (I).
“Stages of a Collaborative Process,” “Conditions Favorable to Initiation of a Collaborative Process,” and “Authentic Dialogue: The Conditions,” Center for Collaborative Policy.
“Consensus Building as Role-Playing and Bricolage,” Innes and Booher, Journal of the American Planning Association, Winter 1999.
Consensus Building Handbook, Susskind, et al, “A Short Guide to Consensus Building,” pp. 3-57.
Consensus Building Handbook, Susskind, et al, “Conducting a Conflict Assessment,” pp. 99-136.
March 20th: Using Interest Based Negotiation in Public
Policy Disputes (II).
(Mid term journals due)
March 27th: Using Interest Based Negotiation in Public
Policy Disputes (III).
April 3rd: Using Interest Based Negotiation in Public
Policy Disputes (IV).
April 10th: Collaborative Organizational Learning (I).
Organizational Learning II, Argyris and Schon, pp. 75-176.
“The Tough Work of Turning a Team Around,” Parcells, Harvard Business Review, pp. 179-184.
April 24th: Collaborative Organizational Learning (II).
May 1st: Analyzing and Managing Governance Networks
(I).
“Where Value Lives in a Networked World,” Sawhney and
Parikh, Harvard Business Review, January 2000, pp. 79-86.
Networks and Netwars, Arquilla and Ronfeldt, “The Advent of Netwar,” chapter 1 and “What Next for Networks and Netwars,” chapter 10.
“Big Questions in Public Network Management,” Agranoff and McGuire, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, July 2001, pp. 296ff.
“Implementing Public Innovations in Network Settings,”
O’Toole, Administration and Society, May 1997, pp. 115-138.
“Analyzing and Managing Policy Processes in Complex Networks,” Klijn, Administration and Society, May 1996, pp. 90-119.
May 8th: Analyzing and Managing Governance Networks
(II).
May 15th: Collaborative Public Participation
Strategies.
“Public Participation in Planning: New Strategies for the 21st Century,” Innes and Booher, IURD Working Paper 2000-07.
Dealing with an Angry Public, Susskind and Field, “The Mutual Gains Approach,” pp. 37-59.
“The Question of Participation: Toward Authentic Public Participation in Public Administration,” Cheryl King et al, Public Administration Review, Vol.58, pp. 317-326.
“The Paradox of Participation and the Hidden Role of Information,” Kevin Hanna, Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 66, pp. 398-410.
May 22nd: Team papers and final journals due.
Students interested in continuing to develop and apply collaborative policy-making strategies and methods should consider acquiring the following books for their future use:
Chris Argyris and Donald Schon (1996). Organizational Learning II. Reading, MA.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
John M. Bryson (1995). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Susan L. Carpenter and W.J.D. Kennedy (2001). Managing Public Disputes. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
David Chrislip and Carl Larson (2000). Collaborative Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Sam Kaner (1996). Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
Lawrence Susskind, Sarah McKearnan and Jennifer Thomas-Larmer (1999). The Consensus Building Handbook. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage Publishers.
Note: This course is being offered in partnership with the Center for Collaborative Policy (formerly the California Center for Public Dispute Resolution) and with the support of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.