Public Management
Code: 101111 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500259 Political Science and Public Management | OB | 3 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Ismael Iván Blanco Fillola
- Email:
- ismael.blanco@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Teachers
- Mercè Cortina Oriol
Prerequisites
Administration and public policies
Objectives and Contextualisation
Competences
- Analysing public policies, both in their elaboration and implementation processes.
- Applying the discipline's main theories and different fields to real practical and professional problems.
- Applying the knowledge of the Public Administrations on its various levels to practical and professional concrete cases.
- Arguing from different theoretical perspectives.
- Demonstrating good writing skills in different contexts.
- Demonstrating the understanding of intergovernmental relationships and identifying the position of Public Administrations in the political system.
- Describing and understanding the functioning of the Public Administration on a state, sub-state and supranational level.
- Designing data collection techniques, coordinating the information processing and meticulously applying hypothesis verification methods.
- Distinguishing the discipline's main theories and different fields: conceptual developments, theoretical frameworks and theoretical approaches underlying the discipline's knowledge and different areas and sub-areas, as well as their value for the professional practice through concrete cases.
- Identifying sources of data and conducting bibliographic and documentary searches.
- Interpreting and applying English texts in an academic way.
- Managing the available time in order to accomplish the established objectives and fulfil the intended task.
- Producing and planning researches or analytical reports.
- Realising effective oral presentations that are suited to the audience.
- Showing a good capacity for transmitting information, distinguishing key messages for their different recipients.
- Synthesizing and critically analysing information.
- Using different tools for the analysis and explanation of the formulation, decision, implementation and evaluation processes in public policies.
- Using the main information and documentation techniques (ICT) as an essential tool for the analysis.
- Working autonomously.
- Working by using quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in order to apply them to research processes.
- Working in teams and networking, particularly in interdisciplinary conditions.
Learning Outcomes
- Analysing public policies, both in their elaboration and implementation processes.
- Applying the knowledge of the Public Administrations on its various levels to practical and professional concrete cases.
- Appropriately using the contributions of Lindblom, Wildavsky, Marsh and Rhodes, Lowi.
- Arguing from different theoretical perspectives.
- Critically analysing the configuration process of the public agenda.
- Critically assessing some of the public policies carried out by an authority in the State of Autonomies.
- Demonstrating good writing skills in different contexts.
- Demonstrating the understanding of intergovernmental relationships and identifying the position of Public Administrations in the political system.
- Describing and understanding the functioning of the Public Administration on a state, sub-state and supranational level.
- Designing data collection techniques, coordinating the information processing and meticulously applying hypothesis verification methods.
- Distinguishing the phases of public politics: formulation, decision, implementation and evaluation.
- Identifying sources of data and conducting bibliographic and documentary searches.
- Interpreting and applying English texts in an academic way.
- Managing the available time in order to accomplish the established objectives and fulfil the intended task.
- Producing and planning researches or analytical reports.
- Properly explaining and describing main theoretical approaches of the analysis of political sciences: cycle of politics, actor-network, institutional approaches, rational choice theory.
- Realising effective oral presentations that are suited to the audience.
- Showing a good capacity for transmitting information, distinguishing key messages for their different recipients.
- Suggesting and explaining a case study of a concrete public policy.
- Synthesizing and critically analysing information.
- Using different tools for the analysis and explanation of the formulation, decision, implementation and evaluation processes in public policies.
- Using the main information and documentation techniques (ICT) as an essential tool for the analysis.
- Working autonomously.
- Working by using quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in order to apply them to research processes.
- Working in teams and networking, particularly in interdisciplinary conditions.
Content
Theme 1. Introduction to Public Management
- Administration vs. management
- Public management vs. private management
Theme 2: The bureaucratic model of public administration
- Characteristics of the bureaucratic organization
- Virtues and problems of the bureaucratic model: a model to overcome?
Theme 3. The road to the New Public Management
- Private precedents: the paradigm of excellence
- Public derivatives: reinventing government
- The NGP model and its expansion in the world
- Criticisms of the NGP
Theme 4. Democratizing alternatives in the NGP
- Redefining the problem: democratic deficit and wicked issues
- Deliberative Public Administration (DPA) as a Third Way: Opportunities and Limits
- From DPA to the management of the Commons?
Theme 5. Privatization and competence in public management
- Privatizations
- Vouchers and quasi-markets
- Agencialization and Management by Results
- Outsourcing, Third Sector and Responsible Public Procurement
- Copayments
Theme 6. Quality Management in the Public Sector
- Concept, measurement and management of Quality in the public sector: micro, meso and macro quality.
- Total Quality Management Models
Theme 7. Collaborative management and democratic deepening
- Administrative transparency, digitalization and open government
- Network management in the public sector
- Mechanisms of Citizen Participation
- Social innovation and management of common goods
Theme 8. Administrative reform in times of crisis
- Welfare State Cuts and Reforms
- Administrative and Civil Service Reforms
- Open government and participatory networks
Methodology
Guided activities:
- Lectures: presentations by the teacher with ICT support and large group discussions.
- Reading seminars: individual exercise and group discussion.
- Oral presentations: group presentations and round of questions and assessments
Supervised activities:
- Individual and group tutorials to carry out the work and to follow up the course.
Autonomous activities:
- Reading of texts: individual exercise of reading of texts
- Study: preparation of diagrams and summaries
- Preparation of works in group on the basis of a guide for its preparation
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 48 | 1.92 | 2, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, 20, 22 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutoring | 14.5 | 0.58 | 1, 10, 15, 14, 12, 19, 24, 6 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reading, study and team-working | 50 | 2 | 16, 2, 4, 8, 7, 9, 15, 14, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 24, 23, 25, 22, 6 |
Assessment
The evaluation of this subject will be carried out from the following deliveries on the part of the student:
Final exam: 50% of the grade. It is necessary but not sufficient to pass the exam to pass the subject.
Reading controls and participation in seminars: 25% of the grade (short essays on compulsory reading texts and active participation in seminars).
Course work: 25% of the grade (work in group and oral presentation on one of the topics proposed by the teacher).
Important considerations:
The dates of the reading seminars will be specified in the framework of the programming of the subject (see Aula Moodle).
Attendance to the seminars is compulsory. The corresponding essays can only be delivered if students have attended the session. Essays with no attendance will only be accepted for events of force majeure and properly justified.
The quality of the contributions in the discussions will be taken into account.
Students are obliged to notify the composition of the group and the topic of the work on the date set by the teacher (early October). Otherwise, they will not be allowed to hand it in.
The fact of taking the exam exempts the student from the grade "Not presented".
Students who have not passed the exam will have the opportunity to take part in compensation activities, i.e. they will be able to take the suspended exam again at the end of the second term. The maximum grade on such a make-up exam is a 5 (passed). The rest of activities (work and reading controls) are not recoverable.
Any student who, due to duly justified work or health reasons, or due to the fact of being in Erasmus, cannot attend the course normally, must notify the teacher before the end of September, in order to agree the corresponding compensatory activities. If this notification takes place later, without a reason, the students will not be able to pass the course.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exams | 50% | 7.5 | 0.3 | 16, 5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 11, 15, 18, 19, 20, 24, 23, 3, 21, 22, 6 |
| Reading seminars | 25% | 15 | 0.6 | 16, 2, 4, 7, 17, 14, 12, 13, 18, 20, 23 |
| Work in group | 25% | 15 | 0.6 | 16, 2, 4, 8, 7, 9, 10, 15, 17, 14, 12, 13, 18, 20, 25 |
Bibliography
During the course, the teacher will specify the compulsory and complementary readings. This are general references that will facilitate the student the follow-up of the subject and the elaboration of the course essays.
- Brugué, Q., Subirats, J. Lecturas de Gestión Pública. Madrid: INAP, 1996.
- Denhardt, Janet and Robert Denhardt. The New Public Service: Serving, not Steering. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk 2003.
- Ferlie E., Lynn, L, Pollit Ch. The Oxford Handbook of Public Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Hill, C.J., Lynn, L. Public Management. Thinking and Acting in Three Dimensions. London: Sage, 2015.
- Hughes, O. Public Management and Administration. An Introduction. Londres: Sage, 2003.
- Kikert, W. Hans-Klijn, E., Koppenjan, W. Managing complex networks: strategies for the public sector. Londres: Sage, 1997.
- Longo, F. i Ysa T. (eds.) Els Escenaris de la Gestió Pública del Segle XXI. Barcelona: EAPC. 2007.
- López, G. (dir.) Los nuevos instrumentos de la Gestión Pública. La Caixa, Barcelona, 2003.
- Moore, M. Gestión estratégica y creación de valor en el sector público, Barcelona, Paidós, 1998
- Pollitt, Ch. The essential public manager. Berkshire, Open University Press, 2003
- Pollitt, Ch. and Bouckaert. Public Management Reform. A Comparative Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
- Sullivan, H., Skelcher, Ch. Working across boundaries: collaboration in public services. Londres: Sage, 2002.
Software
No specific software