Syllabus for PPA 240 Public Management - Fall 2002
California State University, Sacramento
Professor Robert Waste
Office Location, Phone: 3036 Tahoe Hall - 916/278-4944
Email address: wasterj@csus.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday & Wednesday 5-6 PM and by appointment
Class Location & Time:
Tuesday 6-8:50 PM in Mendocino Hall 1032
Wednesdays 6-8:50 PM in Mendocino Hall 4005
Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to teach students about public organizations and
the challenges facing contemporary public managers. We will learn about the
evolution of the field of public administration and public policy, how the "refounding"
public administration and "reinventing" government movements have affected public
management and spawned counter-movements. We will also examine how public managers
use performance measurement and benchmarking to measure and achieve results
in the public sector. There will be a specific focus on state and local government
in California, and on how public managers in these sectors manage organization
change, solve problems and increase agency/team cohesion. In examining these
topics, we will return repeatedly to the closely related topics of leadership
and ethics in public sector policy and administration.
Learning Objectives: Nine Management Skill Modules
My larger "formative" learning objectives for PPA 240 are described in the course
description above. In addition, the course has several discrete learning objectives,
including the expectation that students will master the following nine skill
modules:
Grades: Grades are based on the following assignments
| (1) | Class attendance and participation | 15% |
|
(2) |
Three short (single-spaced, one page) memos explaining how any of items 1-9 (above) would or would not be valuable for your agency to adopt. Include a summary of the topic or proposal, a brief pro/con argument in favor and opposed to change in your organization. Take a firm position and defend your choice. These papers are due in class on 9/24-25; 10/22-23; & 11/5-6. |
30% |
|
(3) |
A midterm and final exam. These include: A) A 10 page paper due Oct. 1st or 2nd which constitutes your midterm exam in the seminar. Building on the Hatry book, produce a research design for a performance audit of a public agency or agency program. Design a logic model and performance metric for an actual program or policy. The papers must include a discussion of the applicability of the ASPA sponsored "Balanced Scorecard Interest Group" (BaSIG) and Center for Accountability and Performance (CAP) approaches to the agency or policy/program under consideration. The ASPA website describing these approaches may be found at :http://www.aspanet.org/bscorecard http://www.aspanet.org/cap B) Your final exam is a second 10 page paper due December 10th or 11th. Drawing on material from the Bardach, Denhardt, Drucker, and Moore readings, design an Organizational Development (OD) intervention plan to improve a specific agency or program. Include a timetable & Gantt or PERT chart. |
55% |
Attendance Policy:
I consider enrolling in this class to be a commitment to me and to your
student colleagues to attend each class session. We all benefit from everyone’s
contributions. It is not okay to miss class for any but the most unavoidable
of reasons Excessive absences jeopardize successful completion of the course.
In addition to "seat time," the quality of your participation in class discussions
will be reflected in your grade.
Seminar Format:
This is not a lecture class. If you come expecting to be told what was covered
in the readings, you will be disappointed. My job is to select interesting and
useful readings, orient you to them by identifying key questions, and to guide
the discussion. Your job is to read the material, think about it, and come prepared
to share your ideas with your classmates. We have the tremendous advantage that
many of you, like me, work in the public sector. In our class discussions we
will relate, whenever possible, the theories and concepts from the readings
to our workday experiences. Those of you who work in public or not-for-profit
sector organizations (and, after discussing your case with the instructor, those
of you who work in for-profit organizations) will have the opportunity to construct
your assignments around issues of importance to you in your work. This includes
writing memos applying three of the nine skill learning modules listed above
to your agency, and writing a term paper project applying performance measurement
or CPM to your agency or program.
Required Books (All available in paperback editions):
Recommended Books:
|
Week 1: Sept. 3 & 4 |
Leadership. Ethics & Tradition
in the Public Sector
The ASPA Code of Ethics (attached below- read for the first class session) |
|
|
Week 2: Sept 10/11 |
The Contemporary Reinventing/New Public Administration
Movement s- Osborne, Gaebler, Terry et al. |
|
|
PART II. MEASURING PUBLIC SECTOR PERFORMANCE |
||
|
Week 3: Sept. 17/18 |
Summative vs. Formative Evaluation, the Bardach Eight-Fold Path to Policy/Program Evaluation Smart or Best Management Practices (BMPs) |
|
Week 4-5: Sept. 24/25
|
Conducting Performance Measurement Audits in Public Agencies Memo # 1 Due in class on Sept. 24th or 25th. |
|
| Week 6: Oct. 1 & 2 |
Ethics & Public Sector Leadership: Active Listening |
|
|
III. LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (OD) |
||
| Week 7: Oct. 15/16 | Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood: Active Listening | |
|
Week 8: Oct. 22/23 |
Getting Multi-Agency Teams to Work Together Read: Eugene Bardach, Getting Agencies to Work Together: The
Practice and Theory of Managerial Craftsmanship. |
|
| Week 9: Oct. 29/30 | Effective Leadership Read: Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive. |
|
Weeks 10/1: Nov.
|
Leadership in the Service of Creating Public Value Defining Mission & Goals Building Legitimacy & Support Advocacy, Negotiation & Leadership Re-engineering Public Sector Production Implementing Strategy Memo # 3 Due in class tonight (11/5-6). |
|
|
Weeks 12/13: |
Leadership in the Service of Significance The Public Management Revolution Read: Denhardt, The Pursuit of Significance, Chapters 1-2. |
|
| Week 14 Dec. 10/11 |
Leadership (VI): Leadership & Professional Ethics Read: ASPA Code of Ethics (attached below) |
|
ASPA's Code of Ethics
I. Serve the Public Interest
Serve the public, beyond serving oneself. ASPA members are committed to:
Exercise discretionary authority to promote the public interest.
Oppose all forms of discrimination and harassment, and promote affirmative
action.
Recognize and support the public's right to know the public's business.
Involve citizens in policy decision-making.
Exercise compassion, benevolence, fairness and optimism.
Respond to the public in ways that are complete, clear, and easy to understand.
Assist citizens in their dealings with government.
Be prepared to make decisions that may not be popular.
II. Respect the Constitution and the Law
Respect, support, and study government constitutions and laws that define responsibilities of public agencies, employees, and all citizens. ASPA members are committed to:
Understand and apply legislation and regulations relevant to their professional
role.
Work to improve and change laws and policies that are counterproductive or
obsolete.
Eliminate unlawful discrimination.
Prevent all forms of mismanagement of public funds by establishing and maintaining
strong fiscal and management controls, and by supporting audits and investigative
activities.
Respect and protect privileged information.
Encourage and facilitate legitimate dissent activities in government and protect
the whistleblowing rights of public employees.
Promote constitutional principles of equality, fairness, representativeness,
responsiveness and due process in protecting citizens' rights.
III. Demonstrate Personal Integrity
;Demonstrate the highest standards in all activities to inspire public confidence and trust in public service. ASPA members are committed to:
Maintain truthfulness and honesty and to not compromise them for advancement,
honor, or personal gain.
Ensure that others receive credit for their work and contributions.
Zealously guard against conflict of interest or its appearance: e.g., nepotism,
improper outside employment, misuse of public resources or the acceptance of
gifts.
Respect superiors, subordinates, colleagues and the public.
Take responsibility for their own errors.
Conduct official acts without partisanship.
IV. Promote Ethical Organizations
Strengthen organizational capabilities to apply ethics, efficiency and effectiveness in serving the public. ASPA members are committed to:
Enhance organizational capacity for open communication, creativity,
and dedication.
Subordinate institutional loyalties to the public good.
Establish procedures that promote ethical behavior and hold individuals and
organizations accountable for their conduct.
Provide organization members with an administrative means for dissent, assurance
of due process and safeguards against reprisal.
Promote merit principles that protect against arbitrary and capricious actions.
Promote organizational accountability through appropriate controls and procedures.
Encourage organizations to adopt, distribute, and periodically review a code
of ethics as a living document.
V. Strive for Professional Excellence
Strengthen individual capabilities and encourage the professional development of others. ASPA members are committed to:
Provide support and encouragement to upgrade competence.
Accept as a personal duty the responsibility to keep up to date on emerging
issues and potential problems.
Encourage others, throughout their careers, to participate in professional
activities and associations.
Allocate time to meet with students and provide a bridge between classroom
studies and the realities of public service.
Balanced Scorecard Interest Group
Purpose: This group of federal agency participants convenes monthly to learn from each other what is going on in the arena of managing agency operations through the use of a Balanced Scorecard approach. It creates an opportunity for those who have not made up their minds as to whether this is a useful approach to come and learn, and for those that have begun using a balanced scorecard approach to exchange experiences and lessons learned.
The Balanced Scorecard Interest Group (BaSIG) has provided a forum for the exchange of experiences over the past two years. BaSIG participants report using insights gained from the presentation/discussions and a website containing summaries of all presentation/discussions has received great reviews. In spite of this activity a survey of BaSIG members surfaced over 50 barriers and challenges to successfully installing and operating Balanced Scorecards (and related management processes) in public sector organizations.
The group is out for the summer, but will reconvene in September.
Inquiries may be forwarded to Jake Barkdoll on the ASPAnet BASIG web page.
American Society for Public Administration - Center for Accountability & Performance
Your Resource Center for Performance Measurement and Managing for Results
- The Center for Accountability and Performance aims to improve the practice of public service by helping PA professionals acquire the knowledge, technical skills and resources necessary to successfully manage for results. CAP achieves its mission through education, training, advocacy, technical assistance, resource sharing, and research into best practices in Performance Management.
CAP provides workshops on performance measurement, budgeting and contracting at ASPA's national and regional conferences. CAP trainers are available to speak, or conduct workshops at ASPA chapter and section meetings. Publications and training materials are available to members and non-members of ASPA. CAP publishes PM CAPtions, its bi-monthly electronic newsletter, and hosts regular brown bag lunches at George Washington University, where performance management issues are discussed by interested public managers and scholars.
About CAP - Brown Bag Lunches - Case Studies - PM Captions
Performance Measurement News - PM Links - PM Survey Results - PM
Workbook
Performance Measurement: Concepts and Techniques
Now in its Third Edition
Used by thousands of trainers, students and practitioners since first published
in 1998, Performance Measurement: Concepts and Techniques has been culled
and shaped from material tested in performance measurement workshops throughout
the country. This workbook brings together the experience of some of the country's
top performance measurement consultants and trainers. This workbook is especially
designed to suit the needs of a variety of users. MPA classroom instructors,
workshop trainers, or managers trying to get up to speed on managing for results
will all find this workbook easy to use. For a limited time, copies are still
only $15 each; orders of 12 copies or more are only $9 per copy (nominal shipping
and handling charges also apply). Order your copy today at the ASPA Store
or contact Delores Toye at ASPA at (202) 585-4319.
Take a peek at the workbook before you buy, or view suggested solutions to the workbook exercises.
Gantt and PERT charts are visualization tools commonly used by project managers to control and administer the tasks required to complete a project. The Gantt chart, developed by Charles Gantt in 1917, focuses on the sequence of tasks necessary for completion of the project at hand. Each task on a Gantt chart is represented as a single horizontal bar on an X-Y chart. The horizontal axis (X-axis) is the time scale over which the project will endure. Therefore, the length of each task bar corresponds to the duration of the task, or the time necessary for completion. Arrows connecting independent tasks reflect the relationships between the tasks it connects. The relationship usually shows dependency where one task cannot begin until another is completed. The resources necessary for completion are also identified next to the chart. The Gantt chart is an excellent tool for quickly assessing the status of a project. The following Gantt chart was developed using MS Project for developing a proposal.
Making this chart is a pretty self explanatory task. Almost all controls are available by double clicking task names in the column on the left. This chart shows the resources, completion (shown by the horizontal black line within the task bar), and prerequisite relationships....all controllable through double clicking appropriate task name on the left. You can change the time scale on the top by right click....time scale option. It’s basically controlled by typical Microsoft actions used in any MS application.
PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) charts were first developed in the 1950s by the Navy to help manage very large, complex projects with a high degree of intertask dependency. Classical PERT charting is used to support projects that are often completed using an assembly line approach. MS Project can create a PERT chart from a Gantt chart. The PERT below is another representation of the Proposal project shown above.
Again, the representation above is relatively self-explanatory. The completed tasks have been crossed out while partially completed tasks have one slash through them. The tasks also show duration, beginning date and ending date.
The critical path (shown in red) is a series of tasks that must be completed on schedule for a project to finish on schedule. Each task on the critical path is a critical task. Most tasks in a typical project have some slack and can therefore be delayed a little without affecting the project finish date. Those tasks that cannot be delayed without affecting the project finish date are the critical tasks. As you modify tasks to resolve overallocations or other problems in your schedule, be aware of the critical tasks and that changes to them will affect your project finish date.
*This explanation of Gantt and PERT charts is reprinted from material available
on the Internet at the following location:
http://gates.comm.virginia.edu/rrn2n/teaching/gantt.htm