MPA 501: Theories of Public Administration and Management (core)

This module establishes the theoretical base for the field of public administration and management. The theoretical frameworks discussed in this module aim at providing candidates with a sense of coherence and connectedness among other modules in the program.

Module Aim:

This course establishes the theoretical base for the field of public administration and management. The theoretical frameworks discussed in this course aim at providing candidates with a sense of coherence and connectedness among other courses in the program. The design of the course gives students an opportunity to be familiar to a diverse and comprehensive set of theories, concepts, approaches and debates in public administration. The module also aims at exposing students to public reforms and implications the reforms have had on public administration. The module takes a balance of theoretical and practical orientation of issues in public administration.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this study students should be able to:

  1. To explore the theoretical underpinnings those have shaped the practice of public administration.
  2. To understand the nature of public administration
  3. To comprehend different theoretical frameworks guiding public administration as a field of study and practice
  4. Explain opportunities and challenges that the micro and macro environments of public administration unveil to public administrators

Indicative Content:

1.  Concept of Public Administration

  • Approaches and methods to the study of Public Administration
  • Understanding macro and micro-environment of public administration
  • Public Vs Business Administration-blurred distinction
  • Politics-Administration Dichotomy                  
  • Market failure as a justification for the public sector
  • Government failure

2.  Administrative and Management Thoughts

  • Philosophical justification:  - Epistemology and Ontology
  • Classical-Scientific Management, Administrative Theory, Bureaucratic Management
  • Behavioral-Human Relations Theory,
  • Systems-Contingency, Learning Organizations
  • Contemporary Thoughts-Efficiency Management/Neo-Taylorist, Post-Fordist Management, Excellence Management, Public Service Orientation Management

3.  Governance and Managing Public Service

  • New Public Management
  • E-Governance
  • Networks-Actor Theory
  • Public Value
  • Experiences in Africa - opportunities and constraints

4.  Public Administration in Malawi

  • History of Public Administration in Malawi
  • Central Government
  • Field Administration
  • Public Enterprises

5.  Decision Making in Public Administration

  • Bounded Rationality
  • Crisis Decision Making
  • Sensitivity Analysis
  • Creativity, risk attitudes and decision making
  • Complexity and Chaos theory

6.  Managing the Quality of Public Services

  • Quality-contested definitions
  • Drivers and Concerns for quality in public service-internal and external reasons
  • Approaches to Managing Quality
  • Mapping Quality Systems in Public Services

7.  Power, Politics and Public Administration

  • Public Administration and political systems
  • Public administration and larger society-
  • Politics  of the bureaucracy

8.  Critical debates in Public Administration

  • Public Administration in globalized world
  • Discretion of public administrators in a democracy
  • The role of citizens in the governance processes
  • Reforms-decentralisation, land

 Assessment:

  • Continuous assessment:        50 %
  • Examinations:                         50 %

 Teaching and Learning Methods:

  • Lectures.
  • Tutorial sessions and student presentations.
  • Guest lecturers and presentations from practitioners.
  • Seminars (student-staff).

Prescribed Texts:

Doherty, T.L., Horne, T., and Wootton, S., (2014) Managing Public Services-Implementing Changes. A thoughtful approach to the practice of management, Routledge, New York

Henry, Nicholas (2006), Public Administration and Public Affairs, ninth ed., Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi.

Medury, Uma (2011), Public Administration in the Globalization Era: The New Public Management Perspective, Orient Black Swan, Hyderabad.

Peters B. Guy (2010), The Politics of the Bureaucracy: An introduction to Comparative public Administration,  6th Ed, Routledge: London

Recommended Readings:

Lynn Jr., Lawrence (2006), Public Management: Old and New, Routledge, New York and London.

Riggs, F.W. (2011), The Ecology of Public Administration, 50th Anniversary Edition, IIPA, New Delhi.

Stillman II, Richard J. Public Administration: Concepts and Cases, 9th ed. Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth, 2010.

Published Apr. 17, 2015 5:00 PM - Last modified Oct. 28, 2020 11:22 AM
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