Political Science 340 -- Public Administration and Policy – Fall 2005
8:10-9:25, HSS-218 Bob Cunningham
Office: McClung Tower 1008c. Hours: T,H 9:30-10:30, 2:30-3:30. Also by appointment. E-mail: rcunning@utk.edu.
Overview: PS-340 is the usual class in that it has a highly structured syllabus, a set of readings, and class activities each day. It is
different in other ways. Not much lecturing. You work in permanent teams, and learn the principles / skills of management and
policy-making by reading, discussing, and practicing. Grading is different.
We will learn managerial skills by practicing. Team members hold each other responsible for carrying out specific tasks. Successful
team performance builds confidence in self and trust in others. Some teams may not always work well, and some teams may not be
satisfied with their performance. Although creating and maintaining a good team makes for a more enjoyable experience, a team
which faces setbacks will provide a better learning opportunity.
Materials: Required Texts: Getting to Yes by Fisher and Ury; Transformational Public Service by King and Zanetti. Other readings
are on-line from the library or at online.utk.edu. You will get a lot of e-mails from me. [I need a reading for mgt levels.]
Service-learning: You will spend one hour per week (14 hours over the semester) mentoring an elementary school child or children.
While carrying out the mechanics of assisting the child/ren, you should be attempting to understand each child's obstacles and to
search for ways to help the child develop skills to overcome those obstacles. Use your management skills to motivate the child’s
learning. If you wish an additional hour of credit, sign up for PS-493, directed readings (section #001). Completion of your 14 hours
of mentoring and turning in acceptable mentoring reflections will earn you an “A” for that one hour. The mentoring is required for PS340; signing up for the additional hour is optional.
Team and Individual Reflective Essays: I want to know what you have learned and how. I will respond to your essay. If I don’t say
much, it means you have been risk-averse; what you have said is not right, wrong, or exciting. Reflecting emphasizes pondering what
you have sensed/experienced. Tell me something I don’t know. (See my reserve reading, Experiential learning in public administration
education.)
Assessment: Just like a job, everything you do is assessed--by your colleagues, or by me. There is an individual final test and two
individual reflections; the remaining assessments are group and peer evaluations.
Class attendance is important. If you are not in class, you lose, and you weaken your group because they miss your contribution. I
take attendance. If you are late, you are counted tardy, and 2 tardies = one absence. No problem with a couple of absences. Excessive
absences lower your grade.
Evaluation is based on the following criteria. To get an ‘A’ you should excel in each.
1. Be knowledgeable about the readings. You have to understand them, to relate them to each other and to practical situations. You
have an open-book, group mid-term and an open-book individual final. Mid-term test is October 6. Final test is Dec 13, 8am –
10am. 15% for each test.
2. Spend time in reflection. Each week your group must prepare a reflection. Do not tell me what the readings say. Tell me how the
readings and class activities have influenced your thinking and acting. Sensing is what you take in from your environment—
reading, listening, watching. Reflecting is synthesizing, organizing, and telling me how you have been affected by that
information, plus your prior learning and life experiences. In reflecting, you indicate how your understanding of management and
policy has been shaped, changed, or reinforced by what you have read and what you have experienced? 25% for the group
reflections, 15% for the individual reflections. A group grade will be given each week and will include the evaluation of any
assignments that are given. Share your knowledge with your team and be a full participant throughout the semester.
3. Performance appraisal is a challenging and required task for every manager. In PS-340 you will practice performance appraisal.
Performance appraisal should not mean just giving a grade, but your group discussing the contribution of each member, how each
member can improve individual performance in order that collectively, the group can be more effective. This peer evaluation
occurs every two weeks beginning September 13. By group discussion, rank each team member from highest to lowest and
provide reasons justifying the ranking. Low rankers must be given guidance as to how to improve their performance. Do not
rotate rankings. Rotating rankings defeats the purpose of learning to evaluate performance: to praise those who work effectively,
and to confront those who do not quantitatively or qualitatively pull their weight. Evaluate each member of the group honestly
for their contribution over the prior two weeks. The focus should not be on what someone is doing wrong, but on what should be
done to get better. If everyone in the group is working hard, it will be a difficult decision. The discussion within the group in
making the decision helps everyone in the group to understand the priorities of your group so that they know how to spend their
time efficiently. 20%. Justify each ranking. If I am convinced that group energy has gone into this performance appraisal, then
each member of the group will be awarded 1 or 2 bonus points.
4. Mentoring. Each person is expected to spend one hour per week mentoring— approximately 7 hours before the mid-term and 7
hours after the mid-term, 14 hours total. Append your mentoring reflection to your individual reflection. 5% for attendance; 5%
for reflection quality.
These percentages are approximate, but they do indicate the relative importance of the various aspects of the class. If you attend, do
the reading, answer the study questions, ask questions about things you don’t understand, do your two individual reflections, and
participate in your group’s activities, you will not make below a C. Most people who work regularly earn A’s or B's. Free riders get
D’s; poor-attenders fail.
Advice about Teamwork Learning to work as part of a team is important, for you will be involved in teams for most of your working
life. Learning the difficult lessons about teams is easier and less costly now than later. Demonstrating that you know how to
participate effectively in creating a high-performance team is important. Do not let one person dominate the discussion, or be the only
one giving an opinion when a question is asked. Allowing one or two people to dominate creates a dependency which is not good for
any member of the team, even if someone is prepared, articulate, and informed. It is an easy trap to fall into because everyone seems
to win. dependency may work for the short run; over time it turns into disaster for everyone. Think about it.
Over the semester I want you to gain a deep understanding of the following, and their relevance for management:
Theory and practice are related
Paradoxes are real
Learning can be fun, and should be a challenge
Leadership?
Parallel tracks:
Do not assume that class-time will be spent going over the reading material. We may spend the entire class period in an exercise or
simulation which seems only loosely connected with the reading. You are still responsible for the reading, and for incorporating it into
your reflection. If you have a question, ask it in class, or e-mail me, and we will deal with it individually or at the next class.
Daily/Weekly Schedule
I want to receive your weekly reflection by noon the following Monday. The first group reflection is due 8/30, and every Monday
thereafter, except after Fall break and after Thanksgiving. Peer evaluations are due on the following dates: Sept 19, Oct 3, Oct 24,
Nov 7, Nov 21, Dec 12. Individual reflective essays are due on Oct 10 and Dec 5. [Note: In your Dec 5 reflection please incorporate
the reading “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” by Dr. Seuss. It is at the reserve room at the library, and you should be able to read it in 10
minutes.] In both group and individual reflections, provide evidence to support your conclusions. Answer the “why” question. These
reflections/learnings should be about a page long.
8/25
Miss Daisy, Trust walk, sensing and reflecting, mentoring
At end of class: list of people in each group (whether officially registered or not) and each e-mail, and any school preference. Send me your reflection on the learnings
of today.
8/30
Theory and Practice. Name your team. Experiencing practice by stacking sugar cubes
Sensing and reflecting, What did you take in; what was your processing? What theory about being successful in the stacking task did you start with? What was your
theory at the end? What did you learn? = What will you do differently next time when confronted with a group task?
9/1
King-Zanetti (KZ). ix-xxv Wide Awake and Dreaming
9/6
Planning, Decisionmaking, and implementing
Cunningham and Olshfski, The Decisionmaking Process (reserve); Apply the decisionmaking model to the case studies at the end of the reading.
9/8
Paradoxes and Double-Binds (assignment will be e-mailed to you and also put on Blackboard), Write a team song; Sing it for the class. Create a paradox
poem, include it in your weekly reflection, explain any non-obvious paradoxes present in your poem.
9/13
Recite your paradox poem for the class. [Probably need 2 days on communication. Do the experiences the first day, thought about how what was learned on the
second day. Need some group activity for the second day. Develop a role play on some situation in which each person has a dift perspective; communicate to address the
situation, every 5 minutes each member states something heard that was heard as desirable and something heard as undesirable (in terms of building care, respect, trust)]
Communicating: Measured by what is received, not what is sent; If people don’t understand your words, speaking louder won’t help.
The Art of Listening (Reserve)
Tannen: The Power of Talk (Reserve)
Practicing communicating
9/15
Bargaining and Negotiating
Fisher and Ury Getting to Yes, (whole book)
9/20
Kikoski, Ch6 The Microskills for Knowledge Creation
Practicing Negotiating Difficult situations
9/22
Budget simulation
9-27
Abilene Paradox
Intro to Critical Theory – lecture; how old is the lady?
King and Zanetti 35-77 Critical Theory (that is not the title given in the book, but the emphasis of these sections). The stories are
easy. The theory part in the middle is hard hard hard. Read it slowly. Go over it.
9/29
10/4
Street Level Bureaucrats
Lipsky, Street Level Bureaucracy, Ch1, Ch2. (reserve) Who has power?
10/6
Mid-term test
10/11
Test discussion, exercise on group performance, develop a performance plan for rest of semester.
10/18
M*A*S*H -- 7:30 AM!!
The medical unit is obviously effective. Why is it effective? Who are the leaders? What does leadership look like in this environment? Consider strengths and
weaknesses of various leadership styles.
10/20
Leadership stories from K-Z, heroes vs leaders
10/25
We talked about leadership qualities, about MASH, Clay—Glass, Leadership collage
10/27
Kikoski, Ch 10? Or Mgt levels [Need to put a reading on reserve]
11/1
Ryan, Kathleen and Daniel Oestreich. 1998. Driving Fear out of the Workplace San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
Each student: Write a story about fear in the workplace—either something you have experienced, or something someone you know has experienced.
Each group chooses its favorite, share it with the class,
11/3
Building Effective Work Teams
Glaze, T. 1988. Perfect Teams from Imperfect People. Personnel Management 20(Nov): 42-45 (reserve).
Semler, R. 1989. Managing without Managers. Harvard Business Review 67/5: 76-84 (reserve).
11/8
Suzy Wetlaufer “The Team that Wasn’t”
11/10
Hiring Simulation
11/15
Reprimand Appeal Case (e-mail)
11/17
Reprimand Appeal Case
11/22
Management and Spirit : Carse, Breakfast at the Victory (reserve) , Parker Palmer We talked about spirit, and then groups discussed Carse questions.
Relaxed. Next time also have people read Parker Palmer, and have grads read Willa Bruce
11/29
Ethics
Gortner, Ch1 Ethics and Public Managers (reserve), Cases (e-mail)
12/1
Jones video
12/6
Wrap-up; in-class preparation of final group reflection and overall peer assessment. Each group discuss strengths and items to be improved for each member.
Each does an individual development plan. Assessing the class: What should be done to improve PS-340?
12/13 Final Test: 8-10am