Week 2 – Assignment: Evaluate Public Management Theories and Week 3 – Assignment: Facilitate Interdisciplinary Coordination in Public Organizations

Week2 Management theories and resources

1. Garrits, L., & Marks, P. (2015). Public management and complexity theory: Richer decision-making in public services. Public Administration. https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.proxy1.ncu.edu/doi/full/10.1111/padm.12168?sid=EBSCO%3Aedswss

2. Kwok, A. C. F. (2014). The evolution of management theories: A literature review. Nang Yan Business Journal, 3(1), 28-40. https://doi.org/10.1515/nybj-2015-0003

3. Matei, A., & Antonie, C. (2014, January). The new public management within the complexity model. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 109, 112, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813052385?via%3Dihub

4. U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2018). Search on management theory [Web resource]. https://usdasearch.usda.gov/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&affiliate=usda&query=management+theory&commit=Search

5. Week 2. Management Theories

Public management theories are essential to optimizing operations and building organizational cultures. Theories serve as the guiding principles within public organizations. Management theories can be adopted and evolve into organizational policies. During Week 2, you will learn about various theories used in public organizations. You will have an opportunity to examine real-world examples of these theories in practice, as management theories serve a vital role in the government sector. Public policies, theories, and models are often used to guide federal government agencies regarding adherence to regulations. Each federal agency is bound by specific regulations and each agency’s leadership has even more stringent guidelines as directed by the executive branch.

In order for public organizations to work efficiently, there must be systems in place to promote collaboration. Therefore, you will find that public organizations often follow a decentralized approach to management. Several reasons exist for this management approach. First, public organizations may have several missions. With so many missions, it becomes extremely difficult to manage, and therefore, it must be divided into sub-agencies, directorates, divisions, and sections with each component having its own sets of missions and objectives that tie into the larger organizational objectives. Such a complex organizational structure requires more than one set of leaders, theories, principles, concepts, policies, and procedures. The process has to be compartmentalized. This is where public management theory plays a crucial role in serving as a guiding outlet for the various sections within the organization.

This week, you will explore the complexity theory and how it can be used to address emerging problems in today’s public sector workforce. For example, each federal department has multiple agencies, multiple layers, directorates, and divisions. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has different agencies with different missions. DOJ focuses on law enforcement, crime, safety, and security for the American people. However, there are over 30 small agencies in that department. While the overarching mission is on law enforcement, the small agencies focus on micro-level missions such as the Bureau of Prisons, Civil Division, Civil Rights Division, Tax Division, and the U.S. Marshal Service. All these agencies focus on crime, but have different missions. Likewise, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security focuses on stopping terrorism and protecting the U.S. from domestic attacks. Nevertheless, DHS has over 22 large agencies focusing on different aspects of protecting America such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and many others. Each agency falls under the DHS umbrella of providing services to enhance homeland security, but each does that from a different perspective. FEMA focuses on natural disasters, ICE and CBP focus on protecting the boarder and ensuring legal immigration, the Coast Guard protects the shores, and other agencies play other pivotal roles such as the Office of Intelligence and Analysis tracking cybersecurity and other forms of potential terror threats. Each agency also collaborates with other federal and state agencies on key matters relevant to their primary and secondary missions.

The complexity theory focuses on system evaluation in public management. This approach is important in any public organization especially in terms of dealing with employees and employee related issues. Managers in public organizations are faced with a daily bombardment of emerging problems affecting many Americans, and the actions they take and the decisions they make affect millions of lives. Given the enormity of these management decisions, it is critical to have a practical approach to problem solving. While theory alone is not the solution to the complex problems in today’s society, having a sound theoretical approach can help alleviate and eliminate life threatening crises. The complexity theory is one such approach that can help strengthen managerial strategic planning through evaluation.

Be sure to review this week's resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.