SEMINAR IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, ETHICS

Public Administration  6870-001:  Winter, 2006;   Tuesday, 6:00-9:00 p.m.;   Life Science Building, Room 107
Bob Huefner; 581-6043;   robert.huefner@poli-sci.utah.edu;   http://www.poli-sci.utah.edu/~rhuef/

Office hours: OSH 210d, Tuesday 4-5:30 p.m. or by appointment

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1.         Enhancement of personal sensitivity, knowledge, skills, and commitment regarding ethics in the public service.
• To discern ethical issues in personal and organizational behavior.
• To build personal commitment and capacity for ethical conduct.

2.         Integration of graduate courses and administrative practice.
• To reflect upon the challenges facing public administration.
• To identify key concepts and tools applicable to public administration.

3.         Development of communication and analytic skills.
• To enhance written and oral presentations skills, including listening and interaction.
• To sharpen abilities to identify and analyze central issues.

TEXTS & MATERIAL

• Amy Gutman & Dennis Thompson, Ethics and Politics, 4th Ed.
• The 9/11 Commission Report
• Blank videocassette or equivalent.

ARTICLE

Write an article, making an original contribution, of an ethical issue in public administration. (See below for option of MPA Major Research Paper.)  The cases and analyses in the Gutman & Thompson reader may serve as models (of purpose, approach, and length).  The article should not be confidential, should provide documentation of the case and of relevant administrative/ethics literature, and should show "publishable" care and fairness. Rather than seeking a "correct" decision, it should raise questions and offer guidelines useful in this type of situation. Submit a single-page prospectus (topic, approach, key sources) for your topic on Jan. 17. Organize three person study groups to critique drafts and presentations.  Follow the style guidelines of the Public Administration Review http://www.aspanet.org/scriptcontent/index_par_guidelines.cfm unless an alternative style is approved by the instructor. The article should be completed by February 28, to be shared with and critiqued by the study group. During March, videotape and discuss a practice presentation with your study group. A polished version of the written article is due the instructor March 28. A five (5) minute oral presentation of the article, followed by a ten (10) minute class discussion led by the author, will be made during an April class session. The class presentation also is to be video taped.  A revised version of the written article may be submitted May 1.

SUMMARIES OF READINGS
Prepare a single page of reflections regarding the readings for each class session of January through March. Submit them in 4 copies at the beginning of each session. The reflections should contrast the readings assigned for the session,  identify 1 to 3 key issues/concepts raised by the readings and explain why these particular issues/concepts deserve top priority.

CLASS DISCUSSIONS
Be prepared at each class session of January through March to identify and discuss your choice for the most significant administrative ethics issue raised in the national and local press of the preceeding week. Consider how the issue relates to your present administrative role or the role to which you aspire.

GRADING

50%        Weekly preparations and discussions, in terms of value of contributions (pertinence, constructiveness, and insight) and evidence of mastery of the readings.

35%        Written article.

15%        Oral presentation of article.

SPECIAL NOTES

Grades: Leave a stamped, addressed envelope if you would like your course grade and graded paper mailed to you.

Registration: Last day to drop classes: Wednesday, Jan 18.

                  Last day to withdraw from classes: Friday, March 3.

Disability: Persons with disabilities requiring special accommodations to meet the expectations of this course are encouraged to bring this to the attention of the instructor as soon as possible.  Written documentation of the disability should be submitted during the first week of the quarter along with the request for special accommodations.  To obtain the documentation, contact the Center for Disabled Student Service, 162 Union Building, 581-5020.
MPA MAJOR RESEARCH PAPERS: Students who write their MPA major research papers in this course should declare so by January 17 (obtain guildelines from instructor) by submitting a one page summary of the proposed paper. This paper may substitute for the article required for the course if a completed draft is submitted by March 28 and the paper is presented to a study group and the full class as is the required article.

SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS

GT refers to  Gutmann & Thompson and 9/11 to the 9/11 Commission's report. In some class sessions the instructor may introduce frameworks, perspectives, principles, or readings for approaching administration and the ethical issues therein. These will be summarized, after the session, in course "notes" on Huefner's webpage.

Jan 10    Submit: One page reflections upon GT chapters 1 & 2
Submit by email:

• your undergraduate and graduate majors.
• either your present administrative role or the role to which you aspire.
• (optional attachment) personal resume.

Jan 17 Submit: One page reflections upon GT chapters 3 & 4

 Submit:   • (with copies for class) 1 page sentence outline of what you anticipate will be primary challenges facing public administration during your career.

      • (with copies for class) 1 page summary of proposed article (or MPA Paper).  Describe the topic, approach, and sources.

Jan 24     Submit: One page reflections upon GT chapters 5 & 6.

Jan 31  Submit: One page reflections upon GT chapters 7 & 8

Feb 7   Submit: One page reflections upon GT chapters 9 & 10

Feb 14 Submit: One page reflections upon 9/11 chapters 1 - 3

Feb 21 Submit: One page reflections upon 9/11 chapters 4 & 5

Feb 28 Submit: One page reflections upon 9/11 chapters 6 & 7

               Share and discuss a full draft of your article with your study group.

Mar 7      Submit: One page reflections upon 9/11 chapters 8 & 9

SPRING BREAK

Mar 21 Submit: One page reflections upon 9/11 chapters 10 & 11

Mar 28     Submit: One page reflections upon 9/11 chapters 12 & 13
          Submit:  Article.

Article Presentations

Apr 4         Presentation and discussion of articles.
Apr 11       Presentation and discussion of articles.
Apr 18       Presentation and discussion of articles.
Apr 25       Presentation and discussion of articles.

May 1       Submit (optional): Revised article

Criteria for Evaluating Communications

Context

1. Approach Promotes Progress:  Has the writer created a context for decision making?  i.e. Does the writer make a connection with the audience by being direct, straightforward and open, and by recognizing the audience's background and point of view?  Does the writing elicit trust and openness from the audience, encourage further and useful dialogue, and allow the facts, ideas, and details to speak for themselves without the author intruding into the audience's rights and responsibilities to interpret the situation?

2. Understandable Development:  Has the writer organized the presentation so that options and proposals are adequately, explicitly, and concisely explored and so that the logic is easily followed?  Does the organization recognize the audience's understanding of, and interest in, the situation, so that the audience gains the information in an efficient way?

Command

1. Comprehensive and also Focused:  Has the writer been comprehensive?  i.e. Has the writer identified and analyzed the most pertinent conditions of a problem, leaving out irrelevancies, and arranging the analysis so that the audience can see clearly the relationships between ideas and data?  Has the writer spotted and caught the problem's jugular?  Is the writing more than a collection of separate facts and generalizations?

2. Priorities:  Has the writer developed an understanding of what are dominant points, what are subordinate points, and what are the interactions between these points – to enable the reader to responsibly reassemble the points in a variety of ways, and to thus have a reservoir of options for the problem's solution?

Concreteness

1. Density:  Has the writer produced an analysis that has richness?  i.e.  Is there substance to the content, with the analysis elaborated by many specific, significant details?

2. Sensitivity Analysis:  Has the writer addressed the contingencies, showing the risks, uncertainties, and limits of the analysis, in order to help the audience evaluate options and to open dialogue with the audience on the problem's solution?

Conventions

1. Engaging:  Has the writer used a variety of stylistic devices to engage the audience's interest, excitement, and attention?  Has the writer avoided jargon and used language that is crisp, specific, and descriptive and used a format that makes the information easily and clearly accessible to the audience?

2. Acceptable Usage:  Has the writer communicated ideas in the grammatical conventions of standard English so that the meaning is clear and the audience is undistracted by errors?