Week 1 - Assignment 1: Write a Memo About Basic Concepts and Theories Related to Public Management and Week 2 - Assignment: Analyze a Case Study on Management and Organizational Behavior

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Section 2: Supervising Public Employees and Organizational Planning

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In the first half of this course, an overview was provided on public management and

organizational behavior, including some theories and concepts, as well as an overview of

governance. Nonprofit organizations were also introduced, as was the critical importance

of maintaining high ethical behavior throughout your career and in your agency or

organization. The assignments allowed you to apply concepts and theories of public

management to administration in a local government context, and relate these theories

and ideas to your dissertation topic. You also analyzed case studies, thereby relating your

learning to real-life scenarios.

In this second section of the course, an introduction to supervising public employees and

organizational planning is provided. This is important because understanding and applying

the ideas in this section are critical to your career. This section includes an overview of

the following course concepts:

Challenges of supervising public employees

Organizational and strategic planning

This section begins by exploring the topic of supervising public employees. As a public

administrator, regardless of whether you serve in the human resources department, you

will need to have an understanding of the ways in which staff are hired, and the manner in

which agencies and organizations manage issues related to personnel. While you may or

may not supervise employees, understanding the employee-supervisor dynamic, and

being able to negotiate concerns related to this dynamic, will be helpful to you and your

colleagues. The readings discuss how human resource management is very much

integrated into the life and business of public agencies and nonprofit organizations. The

importance of diversity, the challenge of recruiting qualified staff, and motivations of

those in public sector employment will be explored.

The remainder of this section examines planning in public organizations. Strategic

planning helps agencies and organizations stay on track in terms of their mission and

work. Thus, the process of strategic planning helps government agencies and nonprofit

organizations enhance their value for the public. If you were asked to lead on a project in

your office that related to strategic planning, where would you begin? Who would you

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Week 5

recruit to serve on your committee? What would you do to ensure you stay on track? In

this section, you will learn steps and strategies for successful strategic planning that can

help you in your career in public administration.

Figure 1. Strategic planning involves a lot of steps to accomplish a common goal

The assignments in this section are meant to engage you as a scholar and public

administrator. For example, returning to your role as a department head for a city

government, you will develop a PowerPoint presentation and a brochure. These

assignments are meant to prepare you for assignments you may very likely be entrusted

to complete in your career. You will also engage with case studies, including one that you

write for the Signature Assignment (Week 7). Case studies challenge you to consider the

facts of a case, evaluate and analyze them, and consider ways to solve them. Thus, they

help you in your evaluation and problem-solving skills.

0 % 0 of 27 topics complete

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Supervising Public Employees: Theory and Practice

This week (and next week) examines the supervision of employees, specifically

within the public administration context. Human resource management is very

much integrated into the life and business of public agencies and nonprofit

organizations, just as it is in the corporate environment. As a public administrator,

you want to understand the way things ‘work’ in your agency or organization,

even if they only indirectly relate to you. Government agencies, especially, can

have regulations governing their recruitment and human resource management

that many businesses, in general, may not. In addition, bureaucracy and

regulations related to unions, can add complexity to hiring someone.

Arthur (2004, p.14) identifies nine core areas that relate to human resources in all

organizations: legal issues, the employment process, testing, compensation,

performance management, benefits administration, employee relations, training

and development, and human resources information systems. Tschirhart and

Bielefeld (2012, pp. 256-257) distinguish between human resource capacity,

which “refers to the abilities, experience, and talent of the people who conduct

the work of the organization internally…”, and human resource management,

which “refers to the policies and practices in place to mobilize and maximize this

capacity.” Though Tschirhart and Bielefeld write specifically within the context of

nonprofit organizations, government agencies share similarities with nonprofits

when it comes to human resources. For example, they offer employment

opportunities outside of the private sector and offer employee values and service

opportunities that may be attractive to job candidates.

Understanding human resource management will allow you to appreciate

administration in its broader context, as well as particular aspects related to

building a workforce, for example, issues related to diversity. Among the themes

explored this week is the value of ensuring a diverse workforce. Why is diversity

important to an organization? As Pynes (2013, p. 110) states, “Diversity can lead

to more creative alternatives and higher-quality ideas, primarily from the

introduction of different and opposing ideas and viewpoints.”

This week’s assignment—a case study—allows you to engage with issues related

to diversity and employee relations by confronting issues dealing with a very

recent and serious concern that can affect any public organization. The case

study is based on concerns that city employees have in San Francisco (related to

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7

Week 6

Books and Resources for this Week

Week 5 - Assignment: Analyze a Case

Study on Supervising Employees Assignment

Due October 24 at 11:59 PM

racism and discrimination). The assignment asks you to consider the problem

represented in the article, explore plausible solutions, and then recommend one

of them.

Be sure to review this week's resources carefully. You are expected to apply the

information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

References:

Arthur, D. (2004). Fundamentals of human resources management (4th ed.).

Saranac Lake, NY: American Management Association.

Pynes, J. (2013). Human resources management for public and nonprofit

organizations: A strategic approach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Tschirhart, M., & Bielefeld, W. (2012). Managing nonprofit organizations. San

Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass.

Supervising Public Employees: Challenges

Imagine that you are a manager in a local government agency. Your office is

tasked with a new long-term project and you feel that you don’t have the

adequate personnel on your team to handle the new responsibilities. You meet

with your team and everyone hopes that someone new can be hired to take on

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this new project. But you know that there have been budget constraints in your

agency, and no new funding has become available. In terms of government

agencies, Cohen, Eimicke, and Heikkila (2013, p. 47) state, “Hiring the right

person for a government job is usually an extremely complex and difficult task.”

They describe the bureaucracy involved in getting approvals to hire someone,

stating that “most public personnel management takes place in a highly regulated

or unionized environment” (Cohen, Eimicke, & Heikkila, 2013, p.48).

An important challenge of human resource management is, of course, recruiting

qualified staff. Job postings can often be responded to by hundreds of applicants.

Many of these will be qualified; many will not be qualified. When considering

recruiting staff for a public agency or nonprofit organization, the fit between a

candidate, the work, and the organization is of significant importance. But finding

the right person is only part of the task of recruitment, and public agencies, as

mentioned above, can have important bureaucratic challenges that can feel

encumbering when seeking to hire new staff. Thus, the processes that are

required before hiring someone (including, sometimes, obtaining new budgetary

approval), are important considerations as a public administrator.

On another note, job candidates for, and employees serving in, the public sector

may have motivations that differ from those outside this sector. While everyone

has different reasons for performing the job that they do, the motivation for

those in public sector employment may include job security, benefits, or an

interest in public service. Related to this, as Perry and Christensen (2015, p.363)

explain, job candidates, in their interviews, can be asked about how they ‘fit’ with

the organization’s values, or the job’s importance can be emphasized to job

candidates.

As Rainey and Cook (2014, p.263) state, motivation in work refers to someone’s

desire to work well and work hard, and the persistence and excitement they feel

in their work. As a public administrator, you will interact with employees, and

quite possibly manage one or many. Similar to the need to recruit the right

personnel, staying in tune with what motivates your staff is important to help

them succeed and enjoy their work.

This week’s assignment allows you to engage the readings so that you can

prepare a PowerPoint presentation about the topic of supervising public

employees and motivation.

Be sure to review this week's resources carefully. You are expected to apply the

information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

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6

Week 7

Books and Resources for this Week

Week 6 - Assignment: Create a

PowerPoint Presentation Assignment

Due October 31 at 11:59 PM

References:

Cohen, S., Eimicke, W. B., & Heikkila, T. (2013). The effective public manager:

Achieving success in government organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Perry, J. L., & Christensen, R. K. (2015). Handbook of public administration. San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Rainey, H. G., & Cook, M. (2014). Understanding and managing public

organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Organizational and Strategic Planning: Part 1

Imagine that, in your role as a manager at a nonprofit organization, you are

requested by the executive director to take the lead on a strategic plan for the

organization. Your workload is already quite high, and you’re not really sure

where to begin. You wonder about the purpose of a strategic plan and are not

sure about how to engage others in this process. You read online that the process

is supposed to be focused on, among other things, defining what success for your

organization looks like, the steps required in order to obtain success, and what

this looks like in terms of impact. Furthermore, you learn that it relates to how

the organization can actually go about obtaining the results it wants to

accomplish, including how to align staff and funding within a suitable time frame

to accomplish its goals and mission.

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Figure 2. Strategic planning begins with a partnership with the staff to identify

strengths and weaknesses

This week (and next week) explores strategic planning. Strategic planning, within

the context of a nonprofit organization, is a “process conducted in partnership

with staff in which the board draws on an understanding of organizational

strengths and weaknesses and environmental trends to articulate priorities and

monitor progress against financial and programmatic goals” (Boardsource, 2010,

p.173).

You may be asking, where might strategic planning be helpful in my agency?

What does it mean to do ‘strategic planning’? Bryson (2018) states that strategic

planning requires information gathering, discussion, analysis, and synthesis. This

connects with clear organizational goals, and an exploration of possible choices

and their implications. He states that strategic planning can help foster

communication and wise decision-making, and it promotes implementation and

accountability. He introduces the “ABCs of Strategic Planning” (Bryson, 2018, pp.

42-44), where “A” involves a deliberative process to figure where an organization

is at now; “B” is determining where you want to be; and “C” is exploring how to

get there.

Berman and Berman (2006) state that strategic planning ensures that an

organization’s mission better serves the needs of society. They state that

strategic planning asks questions, such as:

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4Books and Resources for this Week

Which roles and missions should organizations seek to fulfill? Is the mission, and

its rationale, widely shared by client groups and others inside and outside the

organization? What are the unique competencies of the organization that make it

qualified to fulfill this role? How do these competencies compare with the

expertise and capacity of other organizations? How much external and internal

commitment exists for goals that are pursued? How might future challenges

affect the ability of the organization to fulfill its goals? Is collaboration with other

organizations possible and desirable? Which objectives and strategies are being

pursued in order to realize the above vision? Are these objectives specific,

feasible, and credible? What resources are available to assist organizations in

their efforts, and are these resources adequate? By which target date will

strategies be implemented and completed? How will success be measured?

(Berman & Berman, 2006, p. 74)

While the focus of this week’s readings is on strategic planning (a topic discussed

again next week), the Signature Assignment due this week asks you to analyze a

case study of your own choosing, relating the case to the themes examined in

this course as a whole. You will identify an organizational problem in a public

administration-related organization, discuss and analyze it, provide plausible

solutions, and then recommend one of them.

Be sure to review this week's resources carefully. You are expected to apply the

information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

References:

Berman, E. M., & Berman, E. M. (2006). Performance and productivity in public

and nonprofit organizations. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

Boardsource. (2010). The handbook of nonprofit governance. San Francisco, CA:

Jossey-Bass.

Bryson, J. M. (Ed.). (2018). Strategic planning for public and

nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational

achievement (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Chapter 2: The strategy change cycle: An effective strategic planning and

management approach for public and nonprofit organizations

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Week 8

Week 7 - Signature Assignment: Write

and Analyze a Case Study Assignment

Due November 7 at 11:59 PM

Organizational and Strategic Planning: Part 2

As a public administrator, you want your agency or organization to have

maximum benefit, using resources wisely in order to meet your mission and have

impact on the community you serve. Yet, it is not easy to consider these types of

issues so deeply. It requires gathering people and examining your work and goals

closely.

This final week continues the themes introduced during last week’s readings

about strategic planning. Far from a static process, strategic planning, at its heart,

helps government agencies and nonprofit organizations to enhance their value

for the public. Creating public value, as Bryson (2018, p.44) articulates, “means

enhancing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all while also fostering a

perfect union. It means ensuring that the beneficial effects of our institutions and

efforts carry on into the indefinite future and that we change what we must so

that the world is always left better off than we found it. Strategic planning is

about listening to ‘the better angels of our nature,’ as Abraham Lincoln called

them in his first inaugural address—it is about organizing our best and most noble

hopes and dreams, making them reasonable and actionable, and bringing them to

life—in short, to create significant and enduring public value.”

The readings this week discuss the benefits of strategic planning (including

enhanced effectiveness and legitimacy), explain why it is important, and examine

the relationship between strategic planning and strategic management. The

readings provide examples of strategic planning in public administration settings,

as well as a 10-step strategic planning process for government agencies and

nonprofits, called the Strategy Change Cycle. This 10-step strategic planning

process, developed by Bryson (2018, pp. 67-69), includes:

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6Books and Resources for this Week

1. Initiate and agree on a strategic planning process.

2. Identify organizational mandates.

3. Clarify organizational mission and values.

4. Assess the external and internal environments to identify strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

5. Identify the strategic issues facing the organization.

6. Formulate strategies to manage the issues.

7. Review and adopt the strategic plan or plans.

8. Establish an effective organizational vision.

9. Develop an effective implementation process.

10. Reassess strategies and the strategic planning process.

If you were a department head at a government agency or nonprofit organization,

and you were tasked with leading a strategic planning process, would you find

the above steps helpful? Who would you engage with in this process? As you

read the materials this week, think about how you might go about a strategic

planning process, and how such a process could help you and your organization

get to where you need to be.

This assignment returns to your role as a city department head, asking you to

write a brochure to distribute to city employees. The brochure will help city

employees understand the steps and concepts related to a new strategic planning

process initiated by the city manager. Your brochure will educate employees

about strategic planning. The assignment will allow you to engage in the readings

and practically apply your knowledge about strategic planning to a public

administration setting.

Be sure to review this week's resources carefully. You are expected to apply the

information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

References:

Bryson, J. M. (Ed.). (2018). Strategic planning for public and

nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational

achievement (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Week 8 - Assignment: Create a

Brochure on Organizational Planning Assignment

Due November 14 at 11:59 PM