PUAD 611 Government and Non-Profit Informatics
(3 credits)
The use of information technology in public service organizations. Includes basic concepts and terminology, government and non-profit applications, the systems approach to organizational processes, database concepts, web-engineering, decision support, user involvement, methodologies for developing operating systems, and future trends.
PUAD 620 Public Marketing and Strategic Communications
(1.5 credits)
Principles of marketing and strategic communication used by government agencies to identify features of government performance relevant to citizens; market government services; bring about changes in citizen behavior; and enhance the image of government agencies. The conceptual and theoretical framework for developing communication campaigns is aimed at advancing public policy. Also includes marketing techniques such as focus groups and surveys to identify the causes of social behavior as well as citizen preferences and needs.
PUAD 622 Leadership for Key Executives
(3 credits)
By focusing on the leadership skills of class members, this course is designed to sharpen the capabilities of executives to lead and manage others. Students examine their own managerial style, methods of communication, techniques of motivation, delegation of work, and approaches to group leadership. Class exercises are used to illustrate research findings from the behavioral sciences.
PUAD 623 Executive Problem Solving
(3 credits)
In this course, Key Executives study the methods for gathering and analyzing information in ways that lead toward more effective and accurate decisions. Specific techniques for analyzing public policies and evaluating agency performance are examined. During this course, each Key Executive develops a prospectus for analyzing a program or activity within his or her own agency.
PUAD 624 Budgeting and Financial Management
(3 credits)
The use of the executive budget as a device for management planning and control is the focus of this course on public financial management. Key Executives develop their skills in understanding different budgetary systems, the elements of budgetary review and execution, and various strategies and tactics employed by participants in the budgetary process.
PUAD 625 Analysis and Evaluation
(3 credits)
The broad set of research activities essential for designing, implementing, and appraising the usefulness of government programs. Students assess the effectiveness and efficiency of innovative initiatives, as well as programs already in place, and gain skills critical in implementing the Government Performance and Results Act.
PUAD 626 Legal Issues in Public Administration
(3 credits)
This course deals with the leagal basis of government authority and the ways in which legal processes authorize yet limit executive action. Using statute and case law, Key Executives study the delegation of legislative power, rule-making, administrative appeals, and judicial review. Attention is focused on the legal issues in which Key Executives are most likely to become involved.
PUAD 627 Politics, Policymaking and Public Administration
(3 credits)
Key Executives examine the relationship of the legislative process, congressional oversight, and EOP/OPM review and approval to the administration of government policy. They study response to pressure groups, clientele groups, and the general public. Executives also address their relationship to political executives, the political basis of government organization, and the difficulties of interagency coordination.
PUAD 628 Executive Skill Module: Action Learning
(1 credits)
The philosophy of the Key Executive Leadership MPA Program is grounded in an active approach to learning known as “action learning”. Action learning, a form of learning-by-doing, challenges each Key student to work on a real problem facing the student’s agency.
Action learning is built around a short-term challenge that is a priority for senior managers in the student's agency. Solving the problem and learning individual capacity for leadership are intertwined. While engaged in this project, students learn to become more insightful managers and leaders.
Action learning uniquely combines “work” with “learning.” Action learning focuses as much on learning and reflecting as it does on action. The student’s experience in implementing the project is as important and exciting as working on the organizational initiative.
The action-learning project will also be the cumulative application of a student’s graduate-level courses in public administration. The final exam in the Key program consists of both an oral and a written report. In these reports, students will be expected to draw on and apply learnings from at least four Key to their projects.
PUAD 628 Executive Skill Module: Executive Clarity: Thinking and Writing
(2 credits)
This skill module focuses on the elements of effective writing and covers subjects such as organizing concepts and pre-writing, wordiness, parallel structure, paragraphing, subordination, passive voice, transition, report structure, nominalizations, prepositional decay, proofreading, and document design and layout.
PUAD 628 Executive Skill Module: Language of Statistics
(1 credits)
This course will cover a number of techniques and strategies designed to enhance analytic and decision making skills. The primary objective is to equip the student to interpret statistics that are widely used in statistical reports, studies, evaluation, etc, with a focus on how these statistics can aid management policy and decision making and problem solving.
PUAD 628 Executive Skill Module: Project Management for Executives
(1 credits)
This skill module focuses on the techniques, models and tools available to executives for effective project management. Using case studies, students evaluate leadership challenges in managing complex, highly technical time-sensitive projects.
PUAD 630 Public Managerial Economics
(3 credits)
Microeconomic theory as a framework for understanding the problems of public managers. Resources scarcity, consumer behavior, production, cost, economics of efficient management, operation of product markets under competition and monopoly, labor markets, market failure and public goods.
PUAD 634 Acquisition Management
(1.5 credits)
Provides students with the requisite understanding to exercise leverage in both the award and administration phases of the acquisition cycle. How to influence outcomes that further programmatic goals in support of public policy objectives. Basic rules, regulations, laws, directives and ethical considerations are covered with respect to both competitive and sole source acquisitions.
PUAD 638 Human Resource Management for Executives
(1.5 credits)
How executives exercise discretion in the application of human resource policy to enhance organizational effectiveness. Subjects covered include labor/management relations, merit-based staffing, performance management, employee selections, EEO, employee relations, and other workplace issues.
PUAD 639 Ethics for Public Managers
(1.5 credits)
Explores ethical philosophy and its implications for executive action and decision making. Includes conceptions of the public trust, conflicting interests, ends and means, deception, personal integrity, work place civility, and the need for the government to keep its promises. Using case studies, students examine the ethical implications of alternative courses of action.
PUAD 654 Organization Diagnosis and Change
(3 credits)
Alternative theories and methods of intervention designed to bring about effective organization change. Students develop skills by applying theories and models to organization cases.
PUAD 659 Action Learning for Executives
(1.5 credits)
Action learning is a group and leadership process that solves organizational problems in real time. This course provides students with the knowledge and skills to understand the theory and practice of action learning and prepare a proposal to conduct an action learning project for the Executive MPA degree.
