College of Humanities & Social Sciences
Department of Public and International Affairs
Profectus discipuli, gloria magistri
"The progress of the student is the glory of the professor" Gerbert d’Aurillac, c.946 – 1003 AD
PUAD 520-001 - Organization Theory and Management Behavior Spring 2014 - Monday, 4:20 to 7:10 PM
Arlington Campus, Founders Hall, #468
Dr. Daniel L. Cuda. Robinson Hall A 252, MSN 3F4
email dcuda@gmu.edu, (Routine) Phone 703-575-4671 (emergency only) Office Hours - email to schedule appointments
Course Objectives. The course introduces you to the major ideas about organizations and their governance. These ideas are offered to improve your practice of public management by helping you to think clearly and effectively about organizations and their operations. The emphasis is on public and not-for-profit organizations. Many innovations in public management such as
agency performance measurement and networked governance are based on earlier
developments in organization theory. Research about organizations is multi-disciplinary, and theories range from models of organization as decision-making systems to organizations as cultural artifacts. The applications of organization theory are similarly broad ranging from improving the design and coordination of organizations to new ideas about motivation and program implementation. The course is design to inform you about some of these
developments. Achieving these objectives require timely and thoughtful reading of class assignments, thorough preparation of public management case studies, and informed participation in class discussions.
Class Attendance & Class Participation. Class attendance matters. Lectures and participation in class discussion are a designed component of the learning process. Class participation allows you to begin testing out your managerial ideas within the class. Participation includes your contributions to discussions of the readings, asking and answering questions about
organizational ideas within the course, your personal oral presentation, and finally offering suggestions about problems and remedies in other student’s oral presentations. A record of active and constructive participation in the class will contribute to your final grade, while
failure to attend class, particularly more than two classes, will begin to detract from class grades.
Reading Requirements. Readings are planned for approximately 100 pages per week, but may differ due to the ease or difficulty of the readings. Students should read the assigned texts for substance and understanding. Active reading that seeks to synthesize ideas within the material will more effectively achieve course objectives than a rote reading of sentences, paragraphs, and pages. Readings will be taken up on the week they are listed in the schedule below. In the prior week, there will be a short introduction to the readings.
Public Management Cases for In-Class Discussion. Several cases describing a public
management problem will be distributed for class discussion. The cases will help prepare you to think about applying organizational theories to solve management problems. Read the case before class discussions. In class, we will identify some of the problem dimensions presented within the case and attempt to describe a feasible plan of action to address these problems. We will use concepts, theories, or research findings to analyze problems and suggest solutions. There are few rote solutions either to these case studies or to real world organizational
problems. Observation and reasoned action are almost always required. These discussions will form part of the participation grade for the course.
Writing Requirements: These include two organizational case analyses based on your own experiences. Each analysis should be around 9-10 pages (about 2000-2500 words) in length. They are described in more detail below. There will also be a take-home midterm and final examination. These examinations will consist of short, take-home essays in which students can demonstrate what they have learned about organization theory and about their own
developing approach to organizational management.
Written Case Analyses: Twice during the course, once approximately at mid-term and once at the end of the course, you will prepare a case study and analysis based on a personal
organizational experience The purpose of these written assignments are to demonstrate your ability to apply the readings and the lectures to actual organizations.. These cases will typically focus on an organizational problem, incidents, or conflict. They may also be a success story. The two cases should address separate organizational issues. The case analysis approach invites you to stand back from an event and use the ideas, research, and theory within the course to analyze your organizational issue.
You begin the paper (after a suitable introduction) by describing the situation or events at the heart of the case, and then explaining why the problem arose and what might be done or might have been done to improve the situation. The problem description, explanations, and analysis must use concepts, theories, or research findings from within the course and make explicit citation to these ideas. You may alternately identify an action or event that represented an organizational success, again explaining what happened and why it was successful using the
concepts and theories from the course. Again, be sure to make explicit reference to particular theories, authors, and research from the course readings. The first case should generally use concepts addressed in the first half of the course and the second should utilize topics and ideas from the second half. In the end, your analysis should show us what can be learned from the incident about effective organizational management.
Grades for these autobiographical cases will be based on the clarity and colorfulness of your description of the event, the specificity and appropriateness of the theories you have used to analyze the event, and the reasonableness of your discussion of management solutions. Proper citation of articles and description of the APA citation or Author Date System which is generally preferred in the social sciences. See http/wally.rit.edu/pubs/guides/apu.mam.
Late case analyses will be accepted, but receive a half-grade reduction out of fairness to other students. Grades of “Incomplete” will be considered if a student applies in writing at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled final exam. Requests must detail the reason for requesting the incomplete, document the partial work done towards completing required course work, along with a timetable for finishing the coursework.
Oral Presentations: In connection with your first paper, you will make a 5-10 minute oral presentation summarizing your first paper’s analyses for the rest of the class. This will be followed by 5 minutes of discussion and feedback from the class. Class feedback that can clear up ambiguities and focus the presenter on overlooked elements of their case are particularly appreciated and will be noted as significant and helpful classroom participation. For the presentations, there is no requirement for Powerpoint slides or visual aids in making the presentation although a laptop and projector will be available for your use.
Grades: The two written cases analysis will each be respectively weighted 20% and 25% of the final grade, the mid-term exam will be 15%, and the final exam, 25%. Since so much of the course material will be taught through discussions of readings and management cases, class absences are relevant to achieving course objectives. Class attendance, quality participation and active listening to class lectures will count for 15% of your final grade. Students who anticipate missing more than two classes will be encouraged to take the course another semester. Class attendance, along with informed, relevant participation in discussion of
readings and cases will count in the student’s favor in determining the final grade - especially in borderline cases.
Disabilities: If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me along with contacting the Mason Office of Disability Resources at (703) 993-2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through that office.
Honor Code Policy. The Honor Code policy endorsed by the members of the Department of Public and International Affairs relative to the types of academic work indicated below is set out in the appropriate paragraphs:
Quizzes, tests and examinations. No help may be given or received by students when taking quizzes, tests, or examinations, wherever taken, unless the instructor specifically permits deviation from this standard.
Course Requirements: All work submitted to fulfill course requirements is to be solely the product of the individual(s) whose name(s) appear on it. Except with permission of the instructor, no recourse is to be had to projects, papers, lab reports or any other written work previously prepared by another students, and except with the permission of the instructor no paper or work of any type submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements another course may be used a second time to satisfy a requirement of any course in the Department of Public and International Affairs. No assistance is to be obtained from commercial organizations that sell or lease research help or written papers. With respect to all written assignments, appropriate, proper footnotes and attribution are required.
Plagiarism: All work must be your own. Inappropriate use of the work of others without citation and attribution is plagiarism and a George Mason University Honor Code violation punishable by expulsion from the University. Paraphrasing the work of others without attribution is also plagiarism. All students should familiarize themselves with this honor code provision (http://www.gmu.edu/facstaff/handbook/aD.html) to guard against plagiarism and to treat students equitably. Written work may be checked against existing published materials.
The books available in the bookstore for this class include
Hal Rainey, Understanding and Managing Public Organizations 4
thed. 2010
James Q. Wilson, Bureaucracy, 2002
Edgar Schein, The Corporate Culture Survival Guide, 2009
Spring 2014 PUAD 520-001
Schedule of Lessons and Readings
LESSON 1: 1/27/14
Introduction to Organizations and Bureaucracy
Item Author Assignment Source Pages
1 Simon Public Administration in Today's World of Organizations and Markets
email 8 2 Rainey Ch 1. The Challenge of Effective Public Organizations and
Management
Textbook 21 3 Rainey Ch 6 . Pp. 145-153. in "Organizational Goals and
Effectiveness"
Textbook 9 4 Rainey pp 50-58 in Chap 2, Controversy over Distinctiveness of
Public Organizations
Textbook 8 5 Rainey pp 24-38 in Chap 2, A Historical Review of Organizational
Study
Textbook 15 6 Wilson Preface (pp ix-xii), Describing What Government
Organizations Do (Wilson’s Purpose & Perspective)
Textbook 4 7 Wilson Chap 1: (SKIM) Bureaucracy: Intro - Armies, Prisons,
Schools
Textbook SKIM 8 Wilson Chap 2: Bureaucracy: Organization Matters Textbook 18 9 Rousseau Why Workers Still Identify with Organizations email 14
LESSON 2: 2/3/14
Operator (Employee) Behavior in Organizations
1 Rousseau Psychological Contracts in Organizations, Introduction &Chap 4
e-reserve 28
2 Barnard The Economy of Incentives:” Chapter 9 from, “Functions of the Executive.”
e-reserve 10
3 Wilson Chap 4: in Bureaucracy, "Beliefs" [of Operators] Textbook 22
4 Wilson Chap 8: Bureaucracy: People [from "Managers"] Textbook 17 5 Rainey Pg 251-272 in Rainey Ch 9, "Understanding People in
Public Organizations: Values and Motives"
Textbook 22
LESSON 3: 2/10/14
Classical Organizational Roles and Structure
1 Gulick “Notes on the Theory of Organization” (1937)
e-reserve 10
2 Wilson Chap 3: Bureaucracy: [Operator] Circumstances Textbook 19 3 Wilson Chap 9: Bureaucracy: Compliance [from "Managers"] Textbook 25 4 Wilson Chap 18: Bureaucracy: Rules Textbook 14 5 Rainey Ch. 8 pp. 201-232 in "Organizational Structure, Design,
Technology, and Information Technology
Textbook 31
LESSON 4: 2/17/14
Organizational Coordination, Conflict, Communications
1 Downs Ch 10 from “Inside Bureaucracy:” Communications inBureaus
e-reserve 20
2 Rainey Ch 12. pp 366-369 +Exhibit 12.1 , “Communications in Organizations”
Textbook 4 3 Graber Ch 3. Channeling Bureaucratic Information Flows
e-reserve 26
4 Galbraith Information Processing Model
e-reserve 9
5 Rainey Ch 12. pp 359-366 & 368-373, Teamwork and Conflict in and Among Groups
Textbook 14
6 Chisholm Ch 4, “Informal Coordinative Mechanisms,” in
“Coordination without Hierarchy in Multi-Organizational Systems (1989)”
e-reserve 29
7 CASE
STUDY NASA Columbia Accident Investigation Report. [excerpt]
e-mail 9 6
LESSON 5 2/24/14
Organizational Boundaries & Environments
1 Wilson Chap 10: Bureaucracy: Turf [from "Executives"] Textbook 18 2 Pfeffer &
Salancik pp xi to xxxiii in "The External Control of Organizations - A Resource Dependence Perspective" (2003 reissue)
e-reserve 23 3 Moe Exploring the Limits of Privatization
e-reserve 9
4 Bozeman Exploring the Public-Private Organizational Boundary e-reserve 3 5 Rainey Ch 8. pp. 232-240 in "Organizational Structure, Design,
Technology, and Information Technology Textbook
Textbook 9 6 Rainey Ch 4. pp. 89-96, 100-109 in "Analyzing the Environment of
Public Organizations."
Textbook 20
LESSON 6: 3/3/14
Paper I Submission // Class Presentations (no readings)
Note: GMU Spring Break Next Week
LESSON 7: 3/17/14
Newer Concepts of Organization & Structure
1 Milware &Provan “A Manager’s Guide to Choosing and Using Collaborative Networks.” (2006)
e-reserve 23
2 Wise Organizations of the Future - Greater Hybridization Coming
e-reserve 3
3 Robertson Ecological Governance -- Organizing Principles for an Emerging Era
e-reserve 11
4 Davis &
Lawrence “The Matrix Organization: Who Needs It?"
e-reserve 9
5 LaPorte &
Consolini “Working in Practice but not in Theory: Theoretical Challenges of “High Reliability Organizations.”
e-reserve 30
6 Rainey Ch 2, pp 26-33 in "Understanding the Study of Organizations"
Textbook 8
7 Moynihan How Do Organizations Learn?
e-reserve 9
8 CASE
STUDY Hurricane Katrina: A Man-Made Crisis?
e-mail 20
Lesson 8: 3/24/14
Mid-Term Completion // Presentations (no readings)
Lesson 9: 3/31/14
Organizational Decision-Making & Rational Management
1 Hoover General Management of the Executive Branch [of theFederal Government]
e-reserve 40
2 Rainey Ch 7. pp 179-196. in "Formulating & Achieving Purpose: Power, Strategy, & Decision Making
Textbook 18
3 Wilson Chap 11: Bureaucracy: Strategies [from "Executives"] Textbook 23 4 Van de
Ven & Delbecq
The Effectiveness of Nominal, Delphi and Interacting Group Decision Making Processes
JSTOR or
eq 17
Lesson 10: 4/7/14
Management, Leadership, Power, & Politics
1 Rainey Ch 11. pp. 314-333 in "Leadership, Managerial Roles, and Organizational Culture"
Textbook 20
2 Ouichi Markets, Bureaucracy & Clans
e-reserve 12
3 Pfeffer Management as Symbolic Action: The Creation & Management of Organizational Paradigms. (pg 1-28)
e-reserve 29
4 Wilson Chap 12: Bureaucracy: Innovation [from "Executives"] Textbook 18
5 Janis Group Think: The Desperate Drive for Consensus at Any Cost e-reserve 8 8
Lesson 11: 4/14/14
Advanced Organizational Topics: Money, Budgets & Culture
1 Schick The Road to PPB [Planning, Programming, Budgeting]e-reserve 16
2 Wildavsky Ch 10. "Reforms" in The New Politics of the Budgetary Process. 2nd Ed (1992)
e-reserve 45
3 Rubin Who Invented Budgeting in the U.S.? (1993)
e-reserve 8
4 WIlson Chap 6: Bureaucracy : Culture [from "Operators"] Textbook 20 5 Schein Ch 1. Why Bother? [about Organizational Culture] Textbook 19
Lesson 12: 4/21/14
Organizational Culture, Identify, & Management
1 Schein Ch 2. What is Culture Anyway? Textbook 17 2 Schein Ch 3. What are the Elements and Dimensions of
Organizational Culture?
Textbook 35 3 Schein Ch 4. Deeper Assumptions Textbook 17 4 Schein Ch 5. When and How to Assess Your Culture Textbook 27 5 Schein Ch 11. Cultural Realities for the Serious Culture Leader Textbook 11
Lesson 13: 4/28/14
PAPER II SUBMIT // COURSE REVIEW (no new readings)
Lesson 14: 5/5/14
Remaking, Renewing, Reforming Organizations
1 Segal Roadblock in Reforming Corrupt Agencies: The Case ofNew York City School Custodians,”
JSTOR or
eq 16
2 Rainey Ch 13. Managing Organizational Change and Development Textbook 37 3 Rainey Ch 14. Achieving Effective Management in the Public
Sector
Textbook 38 4 Schein Ch 6. Cultural Learning, Unlearning, and Transformative
Change
Textbook 19 5 Schein Ch 10. When Cultures Meet: Acquisitions, Mergers, Joint
Ventures, and other Multicultural Collaborations
Textbook 26
