Revised as of 8/27/08
URBAN GOVERNMENT I:
MANAGING THE INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
(UPA 303)
Fall Semester 2008 (#26697)
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 3:30 – 4:45
204 Douglas Hall
Instructor
Benedict S. Jimenez
Public Administration Department
College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
University of Illinois at Chicago
140 CUPPA Hall
Email: bjimen2@uic.edu
Consultations: Please email me in advance for an appointment
Course Description
This course examines topics of management in public organizations in urban contexts,
including: legal and constitutional foundations of public administration, bureaucratic
structure and administrative power, organizing, decision-making, budgeting,
implementation and street-level bureaucrats, employee motivation, leadership and
effective organizations, managerial accountability and ethics, and public management
reforms and innovation.
Required Text
th
Stillman II, Richard J. 2005. Public Administration: Concepts and Cases, 8 Ed. Boston,
MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Other required readings will be posted on: http://blackboard.uic.edu/
You are responsible for reading and mastering the required readings. Lectures will cover
some materials not addressed in the assigned readings.
Requirements and Course Policies
Class Participation and Attendance: Students are expected to have read the assigned
readings and cases prior to class and participate in class discussions. Points for class
participation are assessed for each student after each session.
High-quality participation in class consists of sharing informed contributions to in-class
discussions of that session’s topics—contributions that are grounded in the assigned
readings and current events when appropriate. High-quality class participation is also
characterized by thoughtful responses to observations and points raised by other
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students. Participation is not voluntary. You will be called upon to answer questions
related to the readings for the week.
Group Reports: Students will form groups of two (2) and jointly analyze one (1) case
study assigned for the week. Team members will then give a 20-30 minute presentation
of their joint analysis of the assigned case study to the full class (including brief summary of
the case and the team’s answers to the case study questions listed in the book), and be
prepared to answer additional questions from the instructor and other students. The
group is also required to submit a written report of between 5-7 pages (double spaced)
which is due on the day of the presentation. Additional instructions to follow.
Cases
2 and 3
4
6 and 7
8 and 12
13
10 and 11
14 and 16
Oral Reports
September 4
September 11
September 18
October 2
October 16
October 30
November 13
Exams: There will be three in-class exams. Exams are essay and short answer, but
primarily essay. You will be given a choice of questions—for example, three or four out
of five questions. Requests to make up an exam must be emailed before the day of the
exam and a reasonable excuse provided (e.g. sickness or familiy crisis)
Exams
Exam I
Exam II
Exam III
Date
October 7
November 6
December 4
Email and Communication: Students are expected to become familiar with Blackboard
and use as directed. All students should check Blackboard and their UIC email regularly.
Periodically, communication about homework assignments or readings may be
distributed using the email addresses noted in the Blackboard system so it is expected
that students will check their accounts at least twice per week.
Others: Students are not allowed to redo assignments or do additional work (e.g. paper)
for extra credit. Late assignments will be penalized unless you have a legitimate excuse
or crisis causing the delay in completing work (e.g. illness, family death) and I must be
contacted immediately if such is the case. The grade you earn by the end of the
semester is your grade. An “Incomplete” is only earned by students with legitimate
excuses/crises and who make requests prior to the end of the course.
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Plagiarism and cheating are penalized severely, in accordance with university sanctions.
Guidelines for academic integrity at UIC are online www.uic.edu/depts/sja/integrit.htm
and sanctions for academic dishonesty are also found at:
www.uic.edu/depts/sja/chpt3.htm#3.
PLEASE KEEP COPIES OF ALL YOUR WRITTEN WORK!
Grading
Grades will be based on the following:
Requirements
Points
Class participation
Group oral report
Exams
(3 exams, 225 points each)
100
225
675
TOTAL
1000
Final grades: 1000-900 points=A; 899-800 points=B; 799-700 points=C; 699-600
points=D; and 599 points or fewer=F
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CLASS MEETINGS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
(Subject to change)
*** Required reading, download from Blackboard
All Stillman chapters and cases are required readings
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ENVIRONMENT, STRUCTURE, AND PEOPLE
Week 1: The Rise of the Administrative State and the Study of Administration
August 26: Review the course and syllabus; assign group case study analysis
August 28: Stillman, chapter 1
Try to read Stillman, case 1, “The Blast in Centralia No. 5” (We will
discuss the case if we have time)
Week 2: Bureaucracy and Organizational Ecology
September 2: Stillman, chapters 2 and 3
September 4: Stillman, case 2, “How Kristin Died”, and case 3, “Dr. Helen Gayle
and the AIDS Epidemic”
Week 3: Administrative Power
September 9: Stillman, chapter 4
*** John Bohte, and Kenneth Meier. 2000. Politics and the
Bureaucracy: Policymaking in the Fourth Branch of Government.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co. – chapter 4
September 11: Case 4, “The Columbia Accident”
Week 4: Group Dynamics and Bureaucratic Competition
September 16: Stillman, chapter 6 and 7
September 18: Case 6, “American Ground: Un-building the World Trade Center”
and case 7, “The Decision to Go to War with Iraq”
INTERNAL MANAGEMENT: FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATORS
Week 5: Managing in the Public Sector and Decision-Making
September 23: ***Graham Alison. “Public and Private Management: Are they
Fundamentally Alike in All Unimportant Respects?”, reprinted in J.
Shafritz and A. Hyde. 1997. Classics of Public Administration. US:
Thomson Learning
***Fottler, M.D. 1981. “Management: Is it Really Generic?” Academy
of Management Review 6: 1-12.
September 25: Stillman, chapter 8
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Week 6: Budgeting
September 30: Stillman, chapter 12
***Allen Schick. 1966. “The Road to PPBS: The Stages of Budget
Reform”, Public Administration Review. 26(4): 243-258.
October 2: Stillman, case 8, “The MOVE Disaster” and case 12, “Wisconsin’s
Budget Deficit”
Week 7: Exam
October 7: Review
October 9: Exam I (3:30 to 5:30)
Week 8: Implementation and Street-Level Bureaucrats
October 14: Stillman, chapter 13
***Michael Lipsky. Street-level Bureaucracy: The Critical Role of
Street-level Bureaucrats. reprinted in J. Shafritz and A. Hyde. 1997.
Classics of Public Administration. US: Thomson Learning
October 16: Stillman, case 13, “They Had a Plan”
Week 9: Public-Service Motivation and Representative Bureaucracy
October 21: Stillman, chapter 11
***Chon-Kyun Kim. 2003. “Representation and Policy Outputs:
Examining the Linkage between Passive and Active Representation.”
Public Personnel Management 32(4): 549-559.
TBA: Possible guest speaker
October 23: No class. I will be at the Association for Budgeting and Financial
Management conference.
Week 10: Leadership and Effective Organizations
October 28: Stillman, chapter 10
***Patricia Ingraham et al. “Linking Dimensions of Public Sector
Leadership to Performance”, in P. Ingraham and L. O’Toole (eds.)
2004. The Art of Governance: Analyzing Management and
Administration. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
October 30: Stillman, case 10, “The Lessons of ValuJet 592”, and case 11, “Who
Brought Down Bernadine Healy?”
Week 11: Exam
November 4: Review
November 6: Exam II
POLITICS AND ETHICS
Week 12: Ethics and Public Administration
November 11: Stillman, chapters 14 and 16
November 13: Stillman, case 14, “Reinventing School Lunch: Transforming a
Food Policy into a Nutrition Policy”, and case 16, “The Case of the
Butterfly Ballot”
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ADVANCE TOPICS: THE TRANSFORMATION OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
Week 13: Market-Based Management Reforms and Tools
November 18: ***Donald Kettl. 2005. The Global Public Management Revolution.
Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution – chapters 1, 2 and 3
November 20: ***Ruth DeHoog and Lester Salamon. “Purchase of Service
Contracting”, in L. Salamon and O. Elliott (eds.) 2002. The Tools of
Government: A Guide to the New Governance. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. 319-339.
November 21:.
Week 14: Contracting and Internal Management Capacity
November 25: ***Mark Schlesinger et al. 1986. “Competitive Bidding and States’
Purchase of Services: The Case of Mental Health Care in
Massachusetts”, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 5, 2
(Winter): 245-263
***David Van Slyke. 2003. “The Mythology of Privatization in
Contracting for Social Services”, Public Administration Review. 63,
3 (May/Jun): 296-314
November 27: Thanksgiving (no class)
Week 15: Exam
December 2: Review
December 4: Course evaluation and Exam III (3:30 to 6:00)
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