MPA 3440 - Special Topics: Public Administration

Spring 2018 Topic: Leadership Challenges: Bureaucracies, Institutions, and Transformation

This course will be an interdisciplinary exploration of the impact of bureaucracies and institutions on leaders’ ability to positively transform their respective organizations.  Participants will gain a fundamental understanding of the purpose, strengths, and weaknesses of bureaucracies through the study of classic works by noted political philosophers.  It will also draw upon contemporary literature on institutional constraints on leadership and the various theories on navigating those obstacles, with close attention paid to recognizing the importance of understanding motivations of individual organization members.  The course will culminate with the students utilizing their knowledge of various leadership theories to analyze case studies and student-generated “real world” problems to develop solutions and strategies to combat organizational issues shared by both public and private organizations.

May be repeated for credit.

 

Anticipated Terms Offered: varies