Public Policy & Management
Core Courses
All students will be required to take two 30-credit modules: Public Policy; and Managing Change and Innovation. In addition, there is a 20-credit module on Professional Development and Reflective Practice.
Public Policy for Public Managers (PP)
This core course provides a broad foundation for the study of public policy. It offers an integrated and systematic overview of some of the key theoretical ideas and practical dilemmas facing policy makers dealing with complex, real world problems. It recognizes that policy is increasingly made in a context where there are complex networks of actors with different resources, power, and influence over the policy process.
It contains three elements: Democracy, Participation and Governance; Policy Analysis; and Policy Design and Delivery. The successive elements of the course are designed to provide a progression from considering the issues that concern public policy at the broad national level, through to the perspectives of those actors and institutions tasked with delivering national policy, and then finally to how these issues play out at the local, urban and regional levels and on citizens and local actors at various subnational scales.
This core course is designed to identify issues, provide cutting-edge case studies and tools, and develop skills associated with the implementation and sustainable management of Public Policy. It comprises three integrated components of: Change Management; Performance Management in Organisations; and Service Innovation and Systems Design.
Change Management will address how organisations and managers should set about the implementation and management of change. It will draw down upon on-going research into the “servitisation” of organisations, societies and economies. Performance Management deals with the need to match and monitor strategic intent with key performance indicators. The third element provides an integrating exploration of service innovation and, in particular, how best to design whole systems that promote and support innovative actions.
Professional Development & Reflective Practice
The aim of this course is to introduce students to ideas of professionalism in relation to public servants. It starts by examining what it means to be a professional and relates this to the codes of conduct which public servants are expected to adhere to. Through case studies, students will learn to identify different ethical issues that may face them in their professional careers and debate appropriate responses. They will also discuss how diversity (in terms of factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, sexuality or class) may impact on their role and debate appropriate responses. In addition, they will be introduced to ideas about the competencies that public and voluntary sector professional may require and tools for assessing their own professional development priorities. They will carry out an audit of their own professional competencies leading to a personal development plan.