Public Management
Code: 101111 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Political Science and Public Management | OB | 3 |
Contact
- Name:
- Merce Cortina Oriol
- Email:
- merce.cortina@uab.cat
Teachers
- Ismael Ivan Blanco Fillola
- Merce Cortina Oriol
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
It is recommended to have undertaken a course in Public 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
BLOCK 1: Theoretical dimension of Public Management
ISSUE 1: Introduction to Public Management
• Administration vs Management
• Public Management vs Private Management
• Public Management within the state framework
ISSUE 2: The bureaucratic model of Public Administration
• Characteristics of the bureaucratic organization
• Virtues and problems of the bureaucratic model: a model to be overcome?
ISSUE 3: The path to New Public Management (NPM)
• Private precedents: the excellence model in business management
• Public derivatives: the reinvention of government
• The NPM model and its expansion worldwide
• Criticism of NPM
ISSUE 4: Alternatives to NPM
• Redefining the problem: democratic deficit and ‘wicked issues’
• New Public Governance and democratizing alternatives: Deliberative Public Administration and Community Management
• Future challenges of Public Management: systemic crisis, AI, and Public Management.
BLOCK 2: Practical dimension of Public Management
ISSUE 5: Privatization and competition in public management
• Privatizations
• Vouchers, coupons, and consumption checks
• Agencification, program contracts, and management by results
• Outsourcing, the use of the Third Sector, and Responsible Public Procurement
• Copayments
ISSUE 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
ISSUE 7: Collaborative management and democratic deepening
• Network management in the public sector
• Public-community-cooperative partnerships and co-production
• Citizen participation mechanisms
• Community management
BLOCK 3: Course Work
ISSUE 8: Administrative reform in times of crisis
• Cuts and reforms in the Welfare State
• Administrative and Civil Service reforms
• Open government and participatory networks
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 50 | 2 | 2, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, 20, 22 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutoring | 12.5 | 0.5 | 1, 10, 15, 14, 12, 19, 24, 6 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reading, study and team-working | 50 | 2 | 2, 4, 8, 7, 9, 15, 16, 14, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 24, 23, 25, 22, 6 |
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.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exams | 50% | 7.5 | 0.3 | 5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 24, 23, 3, 21, 22, 6 |
| Reading seminars | 25% | 15 | 0.6 | 2, 4, 7, 16, 17, 14, 12, 13, 18, 20, 23 |
| Work in group | 25% | 15 | 0.6 | 2, 4, 8, 7, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 14, 12, 13, 18, 20, 25 |
Assessment for this subject will be based on the following deliverables from the student:
• Final exam: 50% of the grade. Passing the exam is a necessary but not sufficient condition to pass the course.
• Reading checks and participation in seminars: 25% of the grade (brief essays on required readings and active participation in seminars).
• Coursework: 25% of the grade (group work and presentation on one of the topics proposed by the professor).
Important considerations:
• The dates of reading seminars will be specified within the course’s schedule (see Moodle).
• Attendance at seminars is mandatory. You can only submit the corresponding exercise and score in each seminar if you attend the relevant session. Exercises without attendance will only be accepted due to force majeure, and with proper justification.
• Students must notify the composition of their group and the topic of their work by the date set by the professor (early October). Failure to do so will prevent submission.
• Submitting the exam exempts the student from the "Not Presented" grade.
• Students who fail the exam will have the opportunity to participate in compensatory activities, meaning they can retake the failed exam after the second semester’s teaching period ends. The maximum grade for this recovery exam is 5 (pass). Other activities (work and reading checks) are not recoverable.
• Any student who, for justified work or health reasons, or due to being on Erasmus, cannot attend the course regularly must inform the professor before the end of September to agree on the compensatory activities. If this notification is made later, without a valid reason, the student will not be able to pass the course.
• Use of Artificial Intelligence: Restricted use: For this subject, the use of AI technologies (AI) is allowed only for supportive tasks, such as bibliographic or information research, text correction, or translations. The student must clearly identify which parts were generated with this technology, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. Lack of transparency in the use of AI in assessable activities will be considered academic dishonesty and may result in partial or total penalty in the activity grade, or higher sanctions in severe cases.
Single Assessment:
The assessment activities for students who choose single assessment will be concentrated on a single date, according to the current regulations. These activities will consist of:
• Exam (50% of the grade). Passing the exam is a necessary but not sufficient condition to pass the course.
• Reading checks (25% of the grade). Brief essays on required readings.
• Essay on one of the topics proposed by the professor (25% of the grade).
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, Quim (2022). Organizations that Know, Organizations that Learn. Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública, Madrid.
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
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (SEM) Seminars | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (SEM) Seminars | 51 | Catalan | first semester | afternoon |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 51 | Catalan | first semester | afternoon |