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PSC 306 for SPS: Public Organizations, Timetable, accelerated course.

Dr. Jeremy Lewis, Political Science. Revised 30 Oct. '07 with outline links.  Bold speaker names indicate assigned rather than volunteered presentations.
Week: [1] [2] [3] [Test] [4] [5] [Exam]
PSC 306 Public Organizations WEEKLY TOPICS:
Reading Topic & readings: for SPS: copy and paste the questions for email responses (typed single spaced, 1 page maximum each.) Links in this column are to outlines written by daytime students. Speaker &
SPS outline
Week 1 Lecture Introduction to the course, and student information
Introductory Lecture on Bureaucracy
Stillman 1 Scope and Purpose: read the introductions by Stillman, for they are very informative.
  • Case1: Martin, "Blast in Centralia No. 5: Mine Disaster." 
    1. What are the characteristics of American public administration? [Lecture]
    2. How should American public administration be different from European? [Stillman, intro]
    3. How has the study of American public administration changed since the age of Wilsonian reformers? [Stillman, intro]
    4. Can there be multiple breakdowns of administration and politics in a single program? [Martin]
    		 -
    Laura Little
    Lecture
    Stillman 2    		 Max Weber's theory of the formal organization of bureaucracy
    Formal Structure: (read introduction)
    Case 2: George Lardner, "How Kristin Died." 
    1. Do Max Weber's ideas about early Prussian bureaucracy apply to modern American government agencies?
    2. Has bureaucracy become a universal form of government, no matter what the political system? [Weber]
    3. Was Kristin's death the fault of the perpetrator, the system or individual workers? [Lardner]
    		 -
    Laurie O'Berry
    Vernessa Will
    Stillman 3 Ecology of Public Administration: (read introduction)
    Case 3: Norma Riccucci, "Dr. Helene Gayle & AIDS epidemic." 
    1. How does ecology apply to the multiple populations of public administration? [Stillman's intro]
    2. What public health administration problems faced Dr. Gayle in the spread of AIDS? [Riccucci]
    3. How did Dr. Gayle adapt to those problems of developing an AIDS control program? [Riccucci]
    		 Cecilia Cook
    Mary Wilson
    Week 2 Stillman 4 Political Environment: (read introduction)
    Case 4: Maureen Hogan Casamayou, "The Columbia Accident."
    1. How does the political environment affect American public officials? [Stillman's intro]
    2. Was the space shuttle disaster caused more by political or bureaucratic problems? [Casamayou]
    		 Jacquetta W
    Jackie Amis
    Stillman 5  Intergovernmental Relations: (read introduction)
    Case 5: Susan Rosegrant, "Wichita Confronts Contamination". 
    1. In the US federal system, how does a state or locality get affected by federal aid and rules? [Stillman's intro]
    2. Are there occasions when a locality should face up to problems locally, rather than calling on federal aid? [Rosegrant]
    		 Dana Fowler
    Frieda Morgan
    Stillman 6 Informal Group: (read introduction)
    Elton Mayo, "Hawthorne & Western Electric Co.";
    Case 6: William Langewiesche, "American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center." [notes needed]
    1. How do people's informal groups affect behavior in the workplace? [Stillman's intro]
    2. How do people get motivated by attention? [Mayo]
    3. What problems faced New York City after 9/11/01 at the site of the World Trade Center? [Langewiesche]
    4. How did informal work groups face up to those problems? [Langewiesche]
    5. What tensions arose from tribal groups working at cross purposes at the WTC? [Langewiesche]
    		 Becky Bennett
    Glenda Owens
    Candiss Smith
    Stillman 7 Decisionmakers: Competing Bureaucratic Subsytems (read introduction)
    Case 7: James Pfiffner, "Decision to go to War with Iraq."    		 Melissa Honey
    April Ellis
    Week 3
  • Essay Test: one-paragraph identifications and a one-page essay
    		•
      Stillman 8 Incrementalism:  (read introduction)
    Case: 8: Jack Nagel, "The MOVE Disaster." 
    1. Is a rational, comprehensive approach better than an incremental process of decisionmaking? [Stillman's intro]
    2. How was the decision to use military force made by competing groups inside bureaucracy? [Pfiffner]
    3. Can crises be caused by inaction as well as positive action? [Nagel]
    4. Was the Philadelphia mayor justified in sending in police to remove the MOVE group?  Didn't this violate their civil rights to live where they wished?  [Nagel]
    5. What psychological factors caused procrastination and then over-reaction in the MOVE disaster? [Nagel]
    		 Dana Fowler
    Laurie O'Berry
    Stillman 9 Administrative Communication (read introduction)
    Case 9: Susan Rosegrant, "Shootings at Columbine High School: Law Enforcement Response."
    1. How may a professional ethos motivate people to work without monetary incentives? [Stillman's intro]
    2. How can administrative communication be maintained, and how did it break down in the Columbineincident? [Stillman's intro, and Rosegrant]
    3. What are the pitfalls of using or not using deadly force in the law enforcement profession? [Rosegrant]
    		 L. Michelle Little
    Larry Fischer
    Stillman 10 Executive Management: (read introduction)
    Case 10: William Langewiesche, "Lessons of ValueJet 592." 
    1. Is executive management more about managing people or solving abstract problems? [Stillman's intro]
    2. Should the private firm's disaster in ValuJet 592 fairly be blamed on faulty regulation? [Langewiesche] 
    		 -
    Cecilia Cook
    Week 4 Stillman 11 Public Personnel Motivation: Culture (read introduction)
    Case 11: Deborah Sontag, "Who Brought Bernadine Healy Down?" 
    1. In what ways may ethics rules trip up even dedicated public servants? [Sontag]
    2. To what degree does an administrator have a responsibility to respect the organization's culture -- even if it means avoiding essential reform? [Sontag]
    3. What motivates people to work hard in the public sector, where they cannot earn bonuses or act without restaint from regulations? [Stillman, introduction 11]
    		 Jackie Amis 
    Frieda Morgan
    Stillman 12 Budgeting:  (read introduction)
    Case 12: James K. Conant, "Wisconsin's Budget Deficit." 
    1. In what sense is budgeting a political rather than administrative exercise? [Stillman, intro]
    2. Is it legitimate for an administrator to resist budget cuts set by the legislature or council? [Conant] 
    3. How should an administrator communicate disagreement with political superiors?  [Conant]
    		 -
    - needed
    Stillman 13 Implementation:  (read introduction)
    Case 13: Michael Elliott, "They Had a Plan." [notes needed]
    1. Democracy may be a wonderful system for distributing benefits -- but what about distributing painful cuts, or rationing resources? [Elliott]
    2. Can rationing of health care in a pluralistic democracy succeed -- without increased spending? [Elliott]
    		 -
    - needed
    Stillman 14 Issue Networks:  (read introduction)
    Case 14: Laura Sims, "Reinventing School Lunch."  [notes needed]
    1. How do groups of experts from outside the Congress or the bureaus, interested in a policy affect the policy? [Stillman, intro]
    2. What light does the school lunch reform case shed on the importance of issue networks? [Sims]
    		 -
    April Ellis
    Jacquetta Wren
    Week 5 Stillman 15 Deregulation: (read introduction)
    Case 15: W. Henry Lambright, "Human Genome Project."
    1. Can deregulation liberate citizens from bureaucratic rules -- or does it remove our protections? [Stillman's intro]
    2. How did the human genome project develop, what were its problems, and did it succeed? [Lambright]
    		 -
    Larry Fischer
    Stillman 16 Competing Ethical Obligations: (read introduction)
    Case 16: Montjoy & Slaton, "Case of the Butterfly Ballot."
    1. In what ways do federal officials have a professional ethic that limits their choices of behavior? [Stillman's intro]
    2. What went wrong with administering the butterfly ballot? [Montjoy & Slaton]
    		 -
    Becky
    FINAL Comprehensive essay examination; identification paragraphs plus an essay.