PAD 5050: The Profession of Public Administration
Spring 2016
Instructor:
Nevin Smith, PhD, (850) 509-5455, ngs2217@my.fsu.edu
Contact by cell phone, text, or email. TXT will provide the quickest response.
Office Hours: by appointment
Preface:
This course is an introduction to the profession of public administration. You will be introduced to the ideas,
events, values, laws, people, and concepts that have shaped the development of public administration and you will
be challenged to apply that knowledge to modern issues in public administration. The emphasis will be on the
public administration as practiced by public administration professionals. The course will blend essential theory
with fundamental practice tools to help you develop a deep understanding of the environment within which you
will be immersed.
Learning Objectives:
To identify the primary tools, actors, interests, and institutions in public administration.
To recognize the constitutional role of administration in America government.
To apply concepts of administrative ethics in the management of public organizations. .
To increase skills in the analysis and communication of complex information. .
To further professional development through exposure to professional communities and institutions.
Required Materials:
Rosenbloom, David H. and Kravchuk, Robert S., Public Administration: Understanding Management, Politics, and
Law in the Public Sector. McGraw Hill Publishers. (Referred to in the Syllabus as PA).
Fry, Brian R. and Raadschelders, Jos C.N., Mastering Public Administration from Max Weber to Dwight Waldo. CQ
Press Publishers. (Referred to in the Syllabus as MP).
Douglas F. Morgan and Brian J Cook, New Public Governance. M.E. Sharpe Inc. (Referred to in the Syllabus as NPG).
Various articles, chapters, original documents, and case studies that are accessible the FSU library in electronic
form.
How will you be evaluated for a grade?
Class Participation (20% of total grade)
Full credit includes punctual and regular attendance; insightful participation in class discussions; fully prepared for
class. You may use your laptop or IPAD for taking notes or simultaneously looking up material in the class.
A note about in class activity: Students that text, surf the net, email and play computer games during class are
obvious to the instructor and if you conduct yourself in that way during class you will fail the class participation
grade. (Note: There are occasions that a student must take a text or call related to work, to monitor baby sitters or
children, or a personal emergency. Other students may be sharing rides and must text near the end of class to let
others know they are almost finished. These are necessary and permissible. If this is the case please advise me
before class so that I am aware and if it is also necessary please excuse yourself from the class to finish your
conversation if it is extensive and then return if possible.)
As part of your class participation responsibility, starting in week two, and for most weeks that follow as noted in
the syllabus, you will turn in a printed written response to the weekly question listed in the syllabus at the
beginning of each class. Several paragraphs or more are sufficient. Your response may be displayed on the
overhead and used by the instructor as part of the class discussion and you may be asked to elaborate during class.
Your writing style for this paper may be informal. It is the ideas and content that are important. This activity
makes up a significant part of your class participation grade. During the term you will also be asked to research
former Governor Reuben Askew as an exemplar of of an outstanding professional public administrator and that
research will be a significant part of the class discussion and your participation grade.
Professional Analysis of a Public Issue (30 % of total grade)
You will write two short and very concise (approximately 10-12 pages New Times Roman 12 point type double
spaced one inch margins) papers in order to demonstrate your ability to apply course concepts and to perform
analytical tasks. Instructions for each report will be discussed in class. They will be graded as follows:
Use of Course Materials and Concepts in the Development of the Paper (1-6 Points)
Logic of Inquiry, Discussion and Analysis (1-6 Points)
Editorial Content, length and Professional Writing (1-3 Points)
Paper 1: From the reading in the text sections and outside readings if you wish explain from the work of Mary
Parker Follett how conflict should be resolved within public organizations. Answer the following questions in your
paper: 1. Why does Follett not support the idea of compromise and how does that equate specifically with
Democratic values (identify democratic values) and the creation of public policy in a diverse society? 2. Follett
seems to predict the arguments that made for new public governance as included in your text. Explain how
Follett’s ideas about the limitations of compromise support or refute the new public governance perspective that
explains the methods that must be used by public administrators to return to a focus of government effectiveness
as the primary goal of government programs in a diverse society. 3. Describe the process Follett would use to
make a decision regarding keeping the death penalty as part of the criminal justice system (note you are describing
a process you are not giving you opinion of what Follett would think of the death penalty). Use the MP Chapter on
Follett in the Syllabus and outside readings if you wish.
Paper 2: From the material referenced in the syllabus by Aaron Wildasky, as well as the writings of Herbert Simon
associated with bounded rationality and satisficing prepare a paper that offers an understanding of why the
emergence of changes in federal law related to health care are controversial and why Wildasky and Simon would
argue that the changes will not fully resolve the difficulties in the health insurance and health care delivery system
in the United States (the Affordable Care Act).
.Career Development Report (10 % of final grade)
You will also write an individual recommended course of development for a public service professional for
yourself. This will be turned in as indicated in the syllabus near the end of the term. There are, of course, many
different types of careers in public service. Your document should be specific to your proposed career paths. There
are a lot of possible format approaches to this report. However, you must include all of the following items as a
minimum: (1) recommended reading lists to maintain current professional understanding: magazines/journals,
blogs, commentaries, newspaper clipping services, and other information sources and the purpose for reading
each; (2) identification of the benefit of joining specific professional associations; obtaining certifications and
credentials; attending professional conferences, and similar opportunities, and the focus of each item identified (3)
a summary of questions and answers in question and answer format of at least three pages single spaced of an
interview of a successful public sector or not for profit professional you will conduct and to whom you are NOT
related. It will be graded as follows:
Quality and Comprehensive Nature of the Reading List (1-5 Points)
Quality and Comprehensive Nature of the Certification and Credential List (1 to 5 Points0
Professional Quality of the Interview (1 to 5 Points)
A Test (40 % of Course Grade)
The test will be taken home and turned in one week later. It is in essence a series of very short essays to questions
imposed by the instructor. Students should stay current in the readings, attend the classes and be aware of the
class notes provided in power point. The test will require students to integrate the weekly topics to demonstrate
graduate-level knowledge of the profession of public administration. This requires more than just parroting back
what is included in the material. Answers will require the ability to synthesize the material and apply it. Students
will do well if they maintain the reading schedule and actively participate in class as to the meaning of the
material. It will contain multiple questions. Because you will have the ability to consult the course material for
the test the standard against which the answers will judged will be high. Each answer will be assigned points
based on completeness of response, the depth of understanding of the material, the logic of analysis associated
with the answer, and the quality of the written answer.
Course Grading Scale:
A = 93-100%
B+ = 87-89.99% C+ = 77-79.99% D+ = 67-69.99%
A- = 90-92.99%
B = 83-86.99%
C = 73-76.99%
D = 63-66.99%
B- = 80-82.99%
C- = 70-72.99%
F <= 63.99%
Course Schedule:
Class One: January 7
Lecture, An introduction to Public Administration and PAD 5050
Class Two: January 14 A look at public administration ethics through different lens.
Read:
Searching for Virtue in the Public Life: Revisiting the Vulgar Ethics Thesis. H. George Frederickson in Public Integrity
July 2010. Available through FSU Library Academic Search Complete Database or other.
Big Questions in Administrative Ethics: A Need for Focused, Collaborative Effort
Terry L. Cooper
Public Administration Review
Vol. 64, No. 4 (Jul. - Aug., 2004), pp. 395-407
Weekly Summary Question:
Answer the questions in the Cooper article from the perspective of the vulgar ethics thesis.
Class Three: January 21 Institutions are a part of the foundation of public administration but what is an
institution in this context?
Read in order listed:
1. Institutions: Walter C. Neal. Journal of Economic Issues. Vol21, No. 3, Evolutionary Economics:
Foundations of Institutional Thought (Sep., 1987.
2.
Institutions as Incentives for Civic Action: Bureaucratic Structures, Civil Society, and Disruptive Protests
Agnes Cornell Aarhus University Marcia Grimes University of Gothenburg
3.
NPG Chapter Three Institutional History and New Public Governance
4.
PA Chapter 11 Public Administration and Democratic Constitutionalism
Weekly Summary Question
How do values get embedded in institutions in the public Sector in ways that allow them to persist over time?
Class Four: January 28 A starting point from which to understand.
Read :
MP Preface and Introduction
PA Chapter 1 The Practice and Discipline of Public Administration
Weekly Summary Question:
Select among the mixture of 7 characteristics and 4 perspectives (21 choices) the most important combination of 3
to build a solid foundation for professional public administration and briefly explain your selection.
Class Five: February 4 The Administration in Public Administration
Read:
PA Chapter 2 The American Administrative State
MP Max Weber.
Article
Who Governs the American Administrative State? A Bureaucratic-Centered Image of Governance. Hill. S Journal of
Public Administration Research and Theory. 1991.
NPG Brian Cook Regime Leadership for Public Servants
Weekly Summary: Combine the four readings into a single brief response to the question: in what way has the
conflict between the bureaucratic and the elected classes emerged as one dominate theme of society in the
United States in the 21st century?
Class Six: February 11 Your Turn the Firs Paper is due.
No Additional Readings
Turn in and be prepared to present in class your first paper. Your presentation will be part of your
participation grade. It should be about 10 minutes and should be prepared in advance. If you utilized sources in
addition to the text be sure to mention them. At the end of your presentation summarize your key points.
Class Seven February 18 Who will you be?
Chapter 4 Organization
Chapter 3 Luther Gulick
NP Chapter 17 Agency in Networks by Eric Mogren
Professor Fran Barry in her fall 2013 syllabus for PAD 5035 class writes: “While a public employee is obligated to
play certain roles, to some degree, you will also decide what roles you think appropriate and are willing to play as
an analyst, lobbyist, or manager in the public policy process. Your decisions may vary depending on your view of
the role of the public servant in democratic society, your personality, and your view on the flexibility or discretion
inherent in following the law as written down.”
Weekly Summary Question: What is the role of the public sector bureaucrat in society?
Class Eight: February 25: Reuben Askew and how to be a truly outstanding public servant.
Research, read and write a two-three page paper for the purpose of a class discussion. (New Times Roman 12
point type single spaced) You will turn in the paper at the beginning of class. You will present your paper in
summary form of approximately 5 minutes. This activity will be factored into your overall class participation grade
and will count for 25% of your class participation grade. Some of the papers posted may be selected for inclusion
in the test material. The subject follows: Reuben Askew as Governor of Florida fought for open government in a
constitutional amendment and in other ways. Based on your research list three elements Governor Askew thought
of as important in open government and explain why each was important as it related to governmental
performance and the institutions of democracy. Compare those three elements to newspaper accounts between
the years of 1979 and 2009 of state and local government individuals and programs in Florida that appeared,
according to the press, to violate each of the elements you found. Provide a summary or summaries from the time
period covered of an example(s) that violated each one of the three elements you identified. You may use more
than one example, if necessary, to cover each of the elements. Be sure to include citations. You may find LexisNexis helpful.
A point of beginning for your effort follows: On July 29, 2013 the Tampa Bay Times writes “It was in that room
where Askew, as a young senator in the late 1960s, helped force rural "pork chop" senators to redistribute political
power based on the principle of one man one vote, even though "Rube" himself came from prime pork chop
territory: Pensacola.
"I don't think they ever forgave me," Askew said.
Askew is considered one of Florida's greatest governors. The Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
rated him one of the 10 best in the United States in the 20th century.
He was elected in 1970 on a risky populist platform that included taxing profits of corporations the way
neighboring Georgia did…
He stressed racial diversity and peaceful desegregation of schools, modernized an antiquated judiciary and in 1978,
during his last year in office, stopped casino gambling.
When a recalcitrant Legislature refused to pass ethics reform after a series of scandals, he took his case straight to
the people and voters wrote the "Sunshine Amendment" into the Constitution, with financial disclosure
requirements and limits on post-employment lobbying by elected officials.”
Class Nine: March 3 Applying the literature.
Read:
NPG Chapter 20 Educating Leaders for New Public Governance by Douglas Morgan
MP Chapter Five Elton Mayo
PA Chapter 5 Public Personnel Administration
Question:
Does Personnel Administration in the public sector add value to organization performance?
SPRING BREAK WEEK
Class Ten: March 17 PUBLIC Policy …. it happens a lot.
Read: MA Chapter 8 Lindblom
PA Chapter 8 Policy Analysis
Read NP: Chapter 6 Two Kinds of Rationality and Their Implications for New Puplic Governance by Michael Spicer
Research the public policy term “garbage can theory” and read at least one article.
Weekly Summary Question: If you have to be the public policy maker, how will you do it?
Class Eleven: March 24 Public policy is tough to do. Note: The readings below are the basis for Paper Two
which is due this week along with a presentation you will make to the class.
Read: MP Chapter 7 Herbert Simon
NPG Chapter 4 A value Based global Framework for New Public Governance by Morgan, Larsen, Bao and Wang
Read the complete article from which the following is an excerpt.
Aaron Wildavsky, in the article Doing Better and Feeling Worse: The Political Pathology of Health Policy, Daedalus,
Vol. 106, published in 1977 writes “Health policy is pathological because we are neurotic and insist on making our
government psychotic. Our neurosis consists in knowing what is required for good health (Mother was right: Eat a
good breakfast! Sleep eight hours a day! Don't drink! Don't smoke! Keep clean! And don't worry!) But not being
willing to do it. ..”
He continues…” According to the great equation, Medical Care equals Health. But the Great Equation is wrong.
More available medical care does not equal better health. The best estimates are that the medical system
(doctors, drugs, hospitals) affects about 10 per cent of the usual indices for measuring health: whether you live at
all (infant mortality), how well you live (days lost due to sickness), how long you live (adult mortality). The
remaining 90 per cent are determined by factors over which doctors have little or no control, from individual life
style (smoking, exercise, worry), to social conditions (income, eating habits, physiological inheritance), to the
physical environment (air and water quality). Most of the bad things that happen to people are at present beyond
the reach of medicine.
Everyone knows that doctors do help. They can mend broken bones, stop infections with drugs, and operate
successfully on swollen appendices. Inoculations, internal infections, and external repairs are other good reasons
for keeping doctors, drugs, and hospitals around. More of the same, however, is counterproductive.
Nobody needs unnecessary operations; and excessive use of drugs can create dependence or allergic reactions or
merely enrich the nation's urine.
More money alone, then, cannot cure old complaints…”
He asks: “Why should government pay billions for health and get back not even token tribute? If government is
going to be accused of abusing the poor, neglecting the middle classes, and milking the rich; if it is to be
condemned for bureaucratizing the patient and coercing the doctor, it can manage all that without spending
billions.
Slanders and calumnies are easier to bear when they are cost-free. Spending more for worse treatment is as bad a
policy for government as it would be for any of us. The only defendant without counsel is the government. What
should it do?
The Axiom of Inequality cannot be changed; it is built into the nature of things. What government can do is to
choose the kinds of inequalities with which it is prepared to live. Increasing the waiting time of the rich, for
instance? That is, having them wait as long as everybody else? may not seem outrageous. Decreasing subsidies in
New York City and increasing them in Jacksonville may seem a reasonable price to pay for national uniformity.
From the standpoint of government, however, the political problem is not to achieve equal treatment but to get
support, at least from those it intends to benefit. Government needs gratitude, not ingrates.
The Principle of Goal Displacement, through the double-displacement effect, succeeds only in substituting access
to care for health; it by no means guarantees that people will value the access they get. Equal access to care will
not necessarily be equated with the best care available or with all that patients believe they require.
Government's task is to resolve the Paradox of Time so that, as things get better, people will see themselves as
better off…”
He concludes, “Health policy is pathological because we are neurotic and insist on making our government
psychotic. Our neurosis consists in knowing what is required for good health (Mother was right: Eat a good
breakfast! Sleep eight hours a day! Don't drink! Don't smoke! Keep clean! And don't worry!) but not being willing
to do it. Psychosis appears when government persists in repeating this self-defeating play. Maybe twenty-firstcentury man will come to cherish his absurdities.”
Paper Two Due. Be prepared to present it in class.
Class Twelve: March 31 Motherhood policy but no apple pie.
Read: Requiring Battered Women Die: Murder Liability for Mothers under Failure to Protect Statutes
Author(s): Michelle S. Jacobs Source: The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-), Vol. 88, No. 2 (Winter,
1998), pp. 579-660
NPG Chapter 18 EMERGE by Magis, Ingle and Duc
Weekly Summary Question: Is there a silver bullet for preventing second event child abuse if the first event is
reported to authorities? Think this through carefully and perhaps look at other literature. Don’t just put down on
paper the first thing that comes to mind.
Class Thirteen: April 7 Budgeting in the Public Sector
Read: PA Chapter Six Budgeting and Public Finances
Patrisan Priorities and Public Budgeting: Epp, Lovett, Baumgartner. Political Research Quarterly. Volume 67, No 4.
Dec 2014.
Weekly Summary Question: What does a public administrator do when the budget provided is inadequate to
perform the requirements set out in law.
Career development report due. Selected students will provide the class an explanation of their career
development ideas.
Class Fourteen: April 14 Wrap Up for the Term Test will be handed out for return next week.
Read:
MP Chapter 10 The Study of Public Administration
PA Chapter 13 The Future
Class Fifteen April 22 Test Due in Class
Class 15 April 21
Finals Week
Other important Information
Excused absences include documented illnesses, deaths in the immediate family and other documented crises, call
to active military or jury duty, religious holy days, and official University activities. Accommodations for these
excused absences will be made and will do so in a way that does not penalize students who have a valid excuse.
Consideration will also be given to students whose dependent children experience serious illness.
Americans with Disabilities Act
Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should: ( 1) register with and provide documentation
to the Student Disability Resource Center; and (2) bring a letter to the instructor indicating the need for
accommodation and what type. This should be done during the first week of class.
This syllabus and other class materials are available in alternative format upon request. For more information
about services available to FSU students with disabilities, contact the Student Disability Resource Center, 874
Traditions Way, 108 Student Services Building, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4167
Academic Honor Policy The Florida State University Academic Honor Policy outlines the University’s expectations
for the integrity of students’ academic work, the procedures for resolving alleged violations of those expectations,
and the rights and responsibilities of students and faculty members throughout the process. Students are
responsible for reading the Academic Honor Policy and for living up to their pledge to be honest and truthful and . .
. [to] strive for personal and institutional integrity at Florida State University. (Florida State University Academic
Honor Policy, found at http://dof.fsu.edu/honorpolicy.htm.)
Late Work
Late assignments and reports will not be accepted unless advanced arrangements are made at the sole discretion
of the instructor.
Syllabus Changes
I will provide advanced notice of any changes by email to your registered course email address or by
announcement on Blackboard.