Public Administration and Organisations

Course goals

After following the course the student:

• has knowledge of different theoretical perspectives on organisational sciences;
• has knowledge of different theoretical perspectives on public administration and policy making;
• has developed an insight in the complexity of relationships between societal developments and public policy and organisations;
• has developed skills in analysing and evaluating practical situations from a theoretical public administration and organisational science view.

Content

Societal developments make our world increasingly complex. These societal developments, such as globalization or digitalisation, have implications for those studying government and organisations. For example, governments increasingly need to rely on collaborations with private organisations to deal with threats like cyber security, organisations need to adjust their management practices to solve social problems, and governments and organisations need to create public value with the services that they provide. As such, it is governments and organisations around the world who have enormous potential to shape our everyday lives, through policies or organisational practices. While most of the activities of governments and organisations that shape our everyday lives take place in the context of organisations, how these organisations actually work is more than ever a ‘black box’.
In a world that is ever more centred around knowledge. In a world where borders slowly disappear. In a world where experts play an ever-growing important role in the work of organisations. In a world where the citizenry and their demands of the public sector are changing. In that world, it is important to understand how (public and private) organisations work and how (public and organisational) policies are created.

The course Public Administration and Organisations offers an advanced introduction in the overlapping disciplines of Public Administration  and Organisational Science. Central concepts and important theoretical themes of both disciplines are introduced and the practical implications of theories are explored and practised. Teaching methods include independent reading followed by in-class lectures and discussions to prepare for the exam, introduction to and feedback on writing an advisory paper for an organisational problem, and in-class group activities to apply theoretical concepts to cases and real-world examples.

Please note that this is a high intensity course in terms of study materials and student contribution to the course.

Note for exchange students
Resits may be scheduled after the end of the teaching period. Please consider this when planning your departure from the Netherlands. If in doubt, please ask the course coordinator when the resit is scheduled.

This course is not accessible for USG students.