Experiential Analysis in Public Administration

POLS 5670 - Fall 2005

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to provide both pre-service and in-service students an opportunity for personal reflection on professional life in a way that brings out relevant theories and concepts. Pre-service students will prepare “reflection” papers that address significant dimensions of their internship experiences. In-service students will prepare papers in which they explore significant events, policies, or organizational issues they experienced first-hand. In all cases, students will employ narrative analysis to tell a story that scratches through the surface and shares “what really happened” by using organizational analysis tools. The end-product will be a “personal” case study that helps illuminate larger questions of public service.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: 

    To provide students with a guided opportunity for assessing real organizational environments through thoughtful reflection  

    To impart to students an understanding of the impact of context, structure, and processes upon organizational decision making  

    To exercise the skill of communicating one’s experience with others in a thoughtful, reflective way 

    To develop a personal case analysis that will better prepare students for the MPA Capstone course 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION

Please Note: Students are expected to enroll for POLS 5670 in the semester prior to POLS 5690 (Capstone). 

Students are required to complete assigned reading and successfully complete a written personal case study. 

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Please obtain and read - in its entirety - either Roe or Stone PLUS all the articles listed below. (As soon as you register, please email the instructor. He will email these articles to you as attachments in RTF format.)  

    Roe, Emery. Narrative Policy Analysis. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
1994 (ISBN 0-8223-1513-0)

    Stone, Deborah. Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.  2002 (ISBN 0393976254)

    (note - You may have already read one or both of these books for another MPA course. Fine! Review it! If you do not own either book, you may typically order your choice from Amazon.Com, on-line.) 

Articles:

    Behn, "Management and the Neutrino"

    Boje, "The Storytelling Organization"

    Hummel, "Stories Managers Tell"

    Miller & King, "Practical Theory"

    Weick, "Drop Your Tools"

SCHEDULE

This course begins Monday, October 3, 2005. Before or at this time email the instructor at alanschenker@gbis.com to inform him of your registration AND so that he knows to email you the articles listed above.

OCTOBER 3-NOVEMBER 6: Complete reading assignments and prepare initial paper proposal. 

NOVEMBER 7: E-mail instructor one to two page proposal, in which: (A) you identify the organization you will write about, (B) your connection with this organization, (C) the particular personal dimensions of your organization experience which will constitute the core of the paper, and (D) the major public administration concepts which pertain to this experience. The instructor will respond to this proposal and over the next few weeks you will develop an outline of your paper. As you prepare this outline consultation the instructor welcomes consultation.

JANUARY 3, 2006: E-mail instructor your paper. (DOC, WPD or RTF format) In the event revisions are necessary, the instructor will shortly inform you.

Miscellany:
 - Tutorial format: no formal class sessions
 - S/U grading - no letter grades
 - No specified paper length. The negotiated outline becomes the student/instructor "contract." Appropriate length flows from agreed content.