PPD 546: The Practice of Public Administration
PPD 546: The Practice of Public Administration
Capstone Course
Spring, 2008
University of Southern California
School of Policy, Planning and Development
Module I: Thursday, January 24 through Sunday, January 27, 2008
Module II: Thursday, February 21 through Sunday, February 24, 2008
Location: USC State Capital Center, 1800 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95811
Class hours: 9 am to 5 pm
Instructor: Elisabeth Kersten, MA in Public Administration
Clinical professor, USC Capital Center
Telephone: 916-442-6911, ex. 19
Office: 1800 I Street Room 105, Sacramento, CA 95811
Email: kersten@usc.edu
Reading: Available at the USC Bookstore and online. Some additional cases and
readings will be handed out in class or accessed online during class.
Course Description
This course is a final semester course or the last requirement for students in the Master of Public Administration program and related fields of study at USC. The curriculum integrates all the aspects of your earlier coursework, but it’s a not a review course. It will be both a seminar and a learning laboratory where students will encounter new material, cases, simulations, and engage in small group discussions and team problem-solving exercises very much like the work environment of practicing public administrators. Leadership and management challenges do not present themselves as linear, discrete issues, but are often unexpected, novel, complex and have many dimensions that must be dealt with simultaneously. The class format will simulate this environment as much as possible.
This course will prepare you to make a difference in the public or nonprofit sector by providing you the foundation and framework for understanding the policy, political, organizational, and operational challenges in public administration. It will equip you with the tools and techniques you need to address and resolve these challenges. Our focus is helping you become an effective public manager and an insightful and inspiring leader. This course will also give you ample opportunity to develop and strengthen your analytical ability through our discussion of real-world cases, experience decision-making on important public issues, understand and see what must be done to achieve goals and actualize public value, improve your presentation and writing skills and prepare you for your future career goals. If you have a laptop, please feel free to bring it to class since some of the written assignments and simulations will be done in class and online.
Course Themes and Objectives
The course covers a wide range of topics, issues and skills that you will utilize as an effective public manager organized around these four themes:
• Defining and creating strategy to create public value;
• Communicating with the authorizing environment and the public;
• Implementing and executing the strategy;
• Planning your personal career goals and how to achieve them.
In more detail, here are the specific learning objectives for the course:
1. Experience and understand the interactive, dynamic dimension of public administration through in class simulations and exercises in real time on real issues.
2. Develop a rich and deep understanding of the “public good,” “public service” and how to translate your skills into a successful and effective career in public or nonprofit management as a manager and leader.
3. Understand all the dimensions and responsibilities of a public manager from budgeting and communications to problem-solving and policy advising and grasp the essentials for success.
4. Understand the impact and role of politics, personalities, and inter-agency relations on effectiveness.
5. Understand the constitutional, legal and regulatory frameworks that define the authority and legitimacy of public administration and apply these frameworks to various organizational settings and challenges.
6. Engage and resolve ethical dilemmas that face public administrators in a politically-charged and volatile environment.
7. Develop new skills to assess and improve organizational structure and operations, staff productivity and retention, team leadership and interagency collaborative teams.
8. Learn how to develop effective performance and accountability measures that produce desired results and learn to determine what can be measured quantitatively and qualitatively and how to interpret and communicate the results.
9. Learn effective strategies to engage the media, public and stakeholders in the decisions being made so that public integrity and legitimacy are enhanced.
10. Strengthen your analytical, writing and presentation skills.
11. Learn how to stimulate creativity and innovation in your organization and how to commission and utilize research to better serve the public good.
Required Readings
Two key books, one a classic and one contemporary form the core reading for this class and in addition we will be using a wide variety of case studies and articles on issues from health, law enforcement, housing and economic development and community services. Mark Moore’s “Creating Public Value” draws on the literature and theory from a wide variety of disciplines including public administration, political science, business, economics, and other fields. In addition to theory the book incorporates the experience of highly respected practitioners who have spent time with faculty at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Joan Magretta’s “What Management Is” can be quickly read and offers contemporary, private sector examples of what we will be studying and provides a useful overlay and contrast to the Moore book.
Also, we have assigned a number of articles from Public Adminstration Review which can be read online and from key publications such as National Journal and Governing magazine which are important publications for public managers. We will be discussing these articles in class and in small groups; they also form valuable background material and analytical perspective to help you in your writing assignments.
Mark Moore, Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government
Chapters 1-7
(Harvard Press, 1995) Paperback ISBN 0-674-17558
Joan Magretta, What Management Is
(The Free Press, 2002) ISBN 0-7432-0318-6
Case Study: The Job Corps 9-375-152 (November 1, 1974)
Harvard Business School online
Case Study: Elizabeth Best (A) 9-675-123 Revised April 9, 2002
Harvard Business School online
Articles:
1. National Journal Special Report, “State of the Union: 10 Successes, 10 Challenges, National Journal, vol. 39, no. 3 (February 20, 2007), pp. 18-39.
2. Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, with Zach Patton and J. Michael Keeling, Grading the States, A Management Report Card, 2005,” Governing, the Magazine of States and Localities, vol. 18, no. 5 (February, 2005) pp. 24, 26-28,30,32,36, 42.
3. Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton, “Evidence-Based Management”
Public Manager, vol. 89, no.8 (September 2007) pp. 14-25.
4. Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, “An Accidental Outcome,” Governing, vol. 20, no. 12 (September, 2007) p. 77.
5. Rob Gurwitt, “Bratton’s Brigade” Governing, vol. 20, no. 11, (August, 2007) pp. 32-41.
Public Administration Review (PAR) Articles (available online):
1. Paul C. Light, “The Tides of Reform Revisited: Patterns in Making Government Work, 1945-2002 Public Administration Review (PAR), vol. 66 no. 1 (January/February 2006), pp. 6-19.
2. Terry L. Cooper, Thomas A. Bryer, “William Robertson: Exemplar of Politics and Public Management Right Understood” Public Administrative Review (PAR), (Sept/Oct 2007) pp. 816-823
3. Kathe Callahan, “Elmer Boyd Staats and the Pursuit of Good Government,” Public Administration Review (PAR), vol. 66, no. 2 (March/April 2006), pp. 159-166.
4. W. Henry Lambright, “James E. Webb: A Dominant Force in 20th Century Public Administration, Public Administration Review (PAR), vol. 58, no. 2 (March/April 1993), pp. 95-99.
5. Jonathan Koppell, “Reform in Lieu of Change: Tastes Great, Less Filling,” vol. 66, no 1 (January/February 2006), pp. 20-23.
Jim Collins, “Good to Great Monogram for Social Agencies”
Jim Collins, 2005, pp 1-36. ISBN-13:978-0-9773264-0-2
Richard Nelson Bolles, “What Color is Your Parachute?” Ten Speed Press Berkeley 2007
ISBN-13-978-1-58008-867-1 Chapters 13 and 14
Recommended Reading: Not Required
John Carver Boards that Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations, 2nd edition, Josey-Bass, 1997
ISBN 0-7879-0811-8
Jim Collins, Good to Great Collins, 2001
ISBN 0-06-662099-6
Peter F. Drucker The Essential Drucker Collins Business, 2005
ISBN-10: 0-06-093574-X paperback
Stephen Goldsmith and William D. Eggers Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector Brookings Institution Press, 2004 ISBN 0-8157-3129-9
Patrick Lencioni Silos, Politics and Turf Wars Josey-Bass 2006
ISBN-10:0-7879-7638-5
Patrick Lencioni The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Josey-Bass 2002
ISBN 0-7879-6075-6
Chris Matthews Life’s a Campaign Random House, 2007 ISBN 978-1-4000-6528-8
Written Assignments: Course Requirements
Getting Started: two brief assignments to get acquainted:
1. One biographical essay to be emailed to me at Kersten@usc.edu or turned in on the first day of class. Your essay need not exceed three pages double-spaced and should answer two key questions:
• what has been your career path that brought you to the USC MPA program and describe your current occupation and responsibilities;
• what are the areas of your greatest interest and passion and where would you like to grow and learn more?
2. Please email me before the first day of class the name of a book not on our reading list that you found significant in your life, professionally or personally. Give the name, author of the book and a paragraph or two of why it was significant. We would like to share this “suggested reading list” from each student with the rest of the class. (Please feel free to throw in a good movie title, too, if you have seen something that you highly recommend to your colleagues.)
Written Assignments: Required
1. At the end of day two (Friday, January 25, 2008) submit by email or hand in a written memo of no more than three pages double-spaced about an administrative, organizational, personnel or resource challenge that you have personally faced in your professional and/or academic career and how the readings for this course have been of value in sorting out the issues, options, and possible action steps.
2. On class days there will be occasional brief writing assignments (2-3 pages) to capture the essence of a concept or case covered in class discussion; some of these writing assignments will be done individually or with a team. Two of these written assignments will be for credit.
3. Mid-term Exam: A two-hour midterm will be given on the first day of the second module, (Thursday, February 21, 2008) This in-class essay exam will give you an opportunity to apply the reading to a case study and analyze options for actions; we will have ample opportunities in the first module to go over this and discuss how best to prepare for the midterm.
4. Also at the beginning of module two prepare a 2-3 page outline or a first draft of a short final paper of 15 pages double-spaced. This paper will be turned in no later than March 17, 2008 by email or mail. The paper must be originally prepared by you for this course and it must be based in significant measure on the sources assigned for this class and/or the handouts and case studies used in this course. It may also draw on your learning from other courses and from your professional work. The subject should center on professional practice of public administration. You can select a topic from among the following choices:
a. A personal assessment and strategic plan for your future professional development and practice and/or a job search for prospective employment.
b. An analysis of public administration challenges in 2008 and beyond in CA (or your home state) applying assigned or recommended reading for this course and additional resources.
c. An analysis of practices of public administration in a selected policy area covered in this course and/or related to your professional career, including an assessment of how public administrators can create public value using strategy, skills and tools taught in this course.
We will discuss expectations for this paper during module two of the course.
Grading
1. Memo on Organizational Challenge 10%
2. Two in-class writing assignments (10% each) 20%
3. Midterm 20%
4. Final Paper 40%
5. Class participation 10%
Policy Regarding Disability Services and Programs
An student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verifications for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure that letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 am to 5 pm Monday-Friday. The phone number for DSP is 213-740-0776.
Biography
This biography is based on the announcement from Dean Jack Knott, School of Policy, Planning and Development, issued on September 6, 2007 introducing Elisabeth Kersten to SPPD Faculty, Staff and Students:
As Dean, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Elisabeth Kersten as a clinical professor at SPPD and distinguished practitioner in residence based in Sacramento. In this half-time role, she will teach and develop policy outreach, connecting SPPD to the legislature and state government. Elisabeth brings strong policy analysis, fiscal analysis, policy research, and teaching skills to our school.
Her teaching will include two MPA courses in Sacramento: Professional Practices in Public Administration (PPD 546) and Political Leadership in Public Organizations (PPD 657). She will also help to develop and implement SPPD's strategy for policy outreach to state government and build collaborations between SPPD faculty and state policymakers that will improve SPPD's contribution to policy dialogue in the policy process.
Elisabeth served as director of the Senate Office of Research for 20 years, a bipartisan think tank developing policy and preparing studies for the 40 members of the California State Senate. As director of the Senate Office of Research, Elisabeth had direct and personal involvement in framing, conceptualizing, editing and approving all research reports prepared by consultants who worked in SOR, supervising a staff of up to
35 professionals. (For a list of publications, see sen.sor)
During her twenty-year tenure as director from 1983 to 2004, the office published seminal reports on topics in nearly all policy areas, including health, the environment, housing, education, and infrastructure.
In addition, the office assists the Senate Rules committee in background investigations into gubernatorial appointees subject to Senate confirmation. She served under three Pro-Tems and prior to joining the Senate Office of Research she served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown, Jr., consultant to the fiscal committees in the Senate and Assembly and deputy director in two executive agencies, the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Department of Employment Development.
Elisabeth's experience also includes projects in several policy areas such as environmental protection, immigration, and health care that span a wide range of countries, including Berlin, Germany, Johannesburg, South Africa, Hong Kong, China, Stockholm, Sweden, Bangkok, Thailand, and Santiago, Chile.
Elisabeth has been an instructor in several USC leadership programs, including the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), Legislative Staff Management Institute, The Sierra Health Foundation, and the California Institute for Mental Health.
She has also served as an adjunct advisor at the University of California at Davis in the Department of Community Development and as an instructor at California State University at Sacramento in the Department of Organizational Behavior and Environment within the School of Business Administration.
Elisabeth has extensive experience in political management as a founder of the Sacramento Women's Campaign Fund, an action committee to assist in the election of women to state, local and federal office and the founder of Women in Politics, a membership organization for women working in the state Capitol who wanted to bring more awareness to state officials about issues of concern to women. In addition, Elisabeth has been a candidate for county supervisor as well as an advisor and
volunteer with numerous state and local campaigns.
She recently retired from the Senate Office of Research and currently volunteers on a number of nonprofit boards in the areas of civic education, youth development and international environmental policy, including formerly the chair of the Policy and Public Administration Advisory Committee at California State University Sacramento and a the
USC State Capital Center SPPD Advisory Committee.
She received undergraduate degrees in English and Economics and a Master's degree in Public Administration from the University of California at Berkeley.
In 2007, she was recognized as the Alumna of the Year by the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. Elisabeth was also named the 2004 Outstanding Public Administrator by the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA).
Tentative Class Schedule
Module 1: January 24-27, 2008
Day 1: Thursday, January 24
Foundations for the Practice of Public Administration in Today’s Environment
AM
Systems Thinking, the Learning Organization, and a Public Administrator’s Focus on Getting Results
Turn in or email by 9 am the first day of class the two get-acquainted assignments: your biography and your reading recommendation.
-
Self introductions Small group exercise: Discussion and report out on course expectations
Discussion of the attributes and strengths of effective public managers including the role of imagination, creativity, tenacity, skills, and techniques in serving the public good
Is the field of public administration in a crisis of competence and what factors have contributed to public dismay with the work of the public sector?
Reading:
National Journal Special Report, “State of the Union: 10 Successes, 10 Challenges, National Journal, vol. 39, no. 3 (February 20, 2007), pp. 18-39.
Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene article on “Grading the States,” Governing
vol. 18, no. 5, (February, 2005) pp. 24-42.
PM
Dynamic, Responsive, Multi-dimensional, Multi-task Expectations of Public Administrators working in Volatile Environments
CASE DISCUSSIONS: Jobs Corps and Elizabeth Best (A) Harvard Business School
Contrasting the concepts of creating value in the private sector with defining and creating public value in government and the nonprofit sectors
Table Top Exercise on Defining Value
Reading:
Mark Moore, “Creating Public Value,” Chapters 1, 2
Joan Magretta, “What is Management?” Introduction and Chapter 1
Jeffry Pfeffer and Robrt I. Sutton, “Evidence-Based Management” Public Manager, vol. 89, no. 8 (September 2007) pp. 14-25.
Katherne Barrett and Richard Greene, “An Accidental Outcome,” Governing, vol. 20, no. 12 (September, 2007) p. 77.
Day 2: Friday, January 25, 2008
Critical Importance of Design and Strategy in Managing Your Enterprise: Getting All Aspects of Strategic Triangle into Alignment
Turn in your first written assignment for credit: up to a three-page memo double-spaced outlining an organizational, administrative, personnel or resource challenge you have experienced in your professional or academic career.
AM
Designing strategic model for getting results and the corollary to business enterprise: What’s your story?
Simulation exercise in creating and writing the story line
Reading: Magretta, Chapter 2, 3
Rob Gurwitt, “Bratton’s Brigade” Governing, vol. 20, no. 11, (August, 2007) pp. 32-41.
Understanding and applying Moore’s model of the Strategic Triangle:
• mission and purpose,
• support and legitimacy,
• organization and operations
CASES: US EPA and Dept of Youth Services in Moore, Chapter 3
PM
Understanding the Political Context and Interacting with the Authorizing Environment
Importance of the Rule of Law and Constitutional Constraints in defining boundaries and opportunities for public managers. What are the limits of administrative discretion in a constitutional, representative democracy?
How do public administrators lead and manage boldly and with proper discretion and restraint?
How is reasonableness defined and interpreted in the legal and political context?
Class Exercise: Political mapping of Job Corps and US EPA environments
Individual exercise: prepare a political map of your personal position within your organization
Skills, tools and techniques for building support and legitimacy inside and outside of the organization with elected and appointed leaders, governing boards and other decision-makers
Cases and Reading: Department of Community Affairs in Moore, Chapters 4 and 5
Paul C. Light, “The Tides of Reform Revisited: Patterns in Making Government Work, 1945-2002” Public Administration Review (PAR) vol. 66, no. 1 (January/February 2006), pp. 6-19.
Terry L. Cooper, Thomas A. Bryer, “William Robertson: Exemplar of Politics and Public Management Rightly Understood” Public Administration Review (PAR), (Sept/Oct 2007) pp. 816-823.
Day 3: Saturday, January 26, 2008
Identifying Opportunities for Improvement and Proposing Change
AM
Innovation, Policy Development, Analysis and Advocacy
Group exercise on brainstorming policy alternatives and an advocacy strategy
Analyzing what empirical evidence will be necessary to make the case
Role playing at a legislative committee hearing: understanding policy-making from the legislative perspective
Reporting back to your boss on what happened in the political arena with the director’s prized initiative: understanding policy process from the perspective of an agency
Revisiting the Job Corps Case Study.
Know your enemy or your critics: Understanding the role and influence of budget control and auditing agencies
Kathe Callahan, “Elmer Boyd Staats and the Pursuit of Good Government,” Public Administration Review (PAR), vol. 66, no. 2 (March/April 2006) pp. 159-166.
W. Henry Lambright, “James E. Webb: A Dominant Force in 20th Century Public Administration,” Public Administration Review (PAR), vol. 58, no. 2 (March/April 1993) pp. 95-99.
Jonathan Koppell, “Reform in Lieu of Change: Tastes Great, Less Filling,” vol. 66, no. 1 (January/February 2006) pp. 20-23.
PM
Politics and Policy: How the campaign mentality and political divisiveness impact and influence the business of governing
Review and Discussion of the upcoming 2008 election with particular focus on pending initiatives on the Feb, June and November Ballots and impact on the policy and political landscapes using information from the Secretary of State website. ss. and the CA Voter Foundation website at .
Role playing: Presentations for and against selected initiatives
National Election impacts on California: Conversation about CA and National Primaries February 5
Day 4: Sunday, January 27, 2008
Telling Your Story: Communication Strategies Outside and Inside
AM
Defining, measuring and documenting performance: What results are measurable, not measurable and how to present the evidence of what is known and not known
Magretta, Chapter 5, 6
Working with the print, video and digital media
Public relations and public education campaigns
Case: Proposition 10 Early Childhood Commission and its public education actions that affected preschool initiative
Requirements and constraints of laws governing public access to records, transparency, privacy, public relations and public education campaigns
PM
Civic Engagement: Getting the Public Involved in the Decision-Making Process by Listening, Polling, Convening
Impact of polls and focus groups on leadership and decision-making in state and local government. What are the underlying values of the public that affect and impact these poll numbers? Is it just a horse race or is something more a stake?
Read most recent PPIC poll of Californian’s opinions at
Case Discussions:
Blueprint Project and SACOG efforts to engage public in conversation about traffic congestion in Sacramento Region
Health Foundations’ Efforts to Engage Public in Health Reform: California Speaks
USC Civic Engagement Initiative: Looking at Neighborhood Councils.
Module II: February 21-24, 2008
Day 1: February 21, 2008
Delivering Public Value: Tools and Techniques for Getting the Job Done
AM
Midterm Exam: No more than two hours.
Turn in outline and/or first draft of final paper
Defining mission, purpose and objectives clearly and concisely
Team building both within the organization and across organizational boundaries, knowing how to foster collegiality in a competitive environment
PM
Concepts and Models from Jim Collins’ Good to Great to Government and Nonprofit Sectors
Reading: Jim Collins, “Good to Great Monogram for Social Agencies: Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer”. A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great pp 1-36.
• Defining Great—Calibrating success without business metrics
• Level 5 Leadership: getting things done within a diffuse power structure
• First Who—getting the right people on the bus within social sector constraints
• Hedgehog concept—rethinking the economic engine without the profit motive
• Turning the flywheel—building momentum by building the brand
Exercise: Applying these concepts to our work environments and the nonprofit sector.
Case: Bread for the World (handout in class)
Day 2: February 22, 2004
AM
Implementing strategy and redesigning the delivery system
Analyzing the most effective ways to get the job done through regulations, grants, contracts, networks ; establishing accountability for funds invested: monitoring, evaluating and comparing outcomes of vendors and providers
Reading:
Cases of Boston Housing and Houston Police Department in Moore, Chapters 6 and 7
Magretta, Chapter 9
Case discussions (handouts in class and websites: dmh. and arb.
• Department of Mental Health’s efforts to redesign and allocate new funds to local mental health system under Proposition 63
• Regulations of the Air Resources Board under AB 32 to reduce emissions contributing to global climate change
PM
Coping with Change, Crises, and the Future
Worst Case Scenario: What to do when a crisis hits
Does Public Administration Theory hold up when the world seems to be falling apart? Connecting theory and practice in turbulent, crisis situations
Case discussions: SF Bay Oil Spill November, 2007 and California’s Energy Crisis
Best Case Scenario: Anticipation, Foresight and Looking into the Future
Knowing the resources available to scan for emerging trends and how to cope with them
Connecting to research community, public and private think tanks and philanthropy with longer time horizons
Examples: Legislative Analyst, California Research Bureau, Senate Office of Research, Congressional Research Services, Public Policy Institute of California, Hoover Institution, Reason Foundation, New America Foundation, Institute of the Future in Palo Alto, World Future Society, General Accounting Office, Congressional Budget Office
Meta Class Exercise to inventory what these groups are working on and what it tells us about emerging issues affecting our state
Day 3 February 23, 2008
AM and PM
Maintaining Credibility, Integrity and Humility in an Ego-Crazed World and Developing Personal and Organizational Resiliency and Determination to Make a Difference, in spite of the odds
Speaking truth to power and keeping your reputation intact
Role of character in public life—who you are and how you conduct yourself matters
Corruption exists and how it gets uncovered: The Role of the US Attorney, FPPC, and the regulators and professional associations who define incompatible activities for public administrators
Identification and discussion of exemplars who exceed our expectations and the scoundrels who embarrass us all
Group exercise to Inventory personal exemplars: who do you admire and why?
Revisit earlier readings from Public Administration Review
Terry L. Cooper, Thomas A. Bryer, “William Robertson: Exemplar of Politics and Public Management Right Understood” Public Administrative Review, Sept/Oct 2007 pp. 816-823
Kathe Callahan, “Elmer Boyd Staats and the Pursuit of Good Government,” Public Administration Review, vol. 66, no. 2 (March/April 2006), pp. 159-166.
Day 4: February 24, 2008
Applying Strategic Thinking and Foresight to Planning Your Career
AM and PM
Discussion of Final Paper due March 17, 2008
Goal setting and strength analysis
Friends and Foes from Chris Matthew’s book “Life’s a Campaign”
Building your career portfolio
Areas for future growth and learning
Coaching and Mentoring Exercise with Triads
Developing and Implementing an Action Plan
Reading: What Color is Your Parachute, Chapter 13, 14
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