Teaching Public Administration - Beyond Balzac

[DMC]

As I assume most reading this know, I'm a graduate student in political science.  While I'm on fellowship now, I felt it was unethical to apply again for the next AY because I'll be finishing by the end of the fall semester.  Anyway, that means I was assigned to teach again before I finish the diss, and I got exactly the class I asked for - public administration.  That's a fancy way of saying it's a bureaucracy class:

Quote

This course provides an overview of bureaucracy and bureaucratic behavior with an emphasis on the United States. The central objective is to help us understand why bureaucrats and government agencies do what they do (rather than what we want/expect/think they should do).

That's the first sentence of the course description from a syllabus a friend of mine gave me.  So, why am I making this topic?  Because I can teach bureaucracy, but it's going to be incredibly boring for the students.  As I prep for the course, I appeal to this great forum for any advice to make that class fun, entertaining, are at least not suicide-inducing?  Seriously, any and all thoughts/ideas/whatever are welcome, there are no wrong answers - any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

[Larry of the Lawn]

Name one of the lectures "Oligarchic Bureaucracies and You"

 

[DMC]

Thanks for actually playing.  Don't think Imma get much of a response.  Should have title it - Avengers 5: Bureaucracy!

[Larry of the Lawn]

Design a new administrative agency group project

[DMC]

11 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

Design a new administrative agency group project

That sounds like a lot of work.  And I'm not entirely sure what it means.

[Errant Bard]

Split the course in half: first half you teach them why and how bureaucracy does what it does, next half is applying that knowledge to reality, to try and swerve some easily reachable administration.

Also, roleplaying. Involve them. I know MBA courses can have (in my experience) more than half the grade be a group venture management simulation, in isolation or in group competition, this could be doable, maybe.

 

[Larry of the Lawn]

Ooh that's a great idea, have them fill out FOIA requests or apply for a variance or something.  Or have them shadow people going through some process.  Are you in DC?  Field trip to GSA!

[DMC]

1 minute ago, Errant Bard said:

Split the course in half: first half you teach them why and how bureaucracy does what it does, next half is applying that knowledge to reality, to try and swerve some easily reachable administration.

This is good advice, but also pretty much how the course is designed.  Other than reading different chapters of Wilson, that's really all I got for the second half.

5 minutes ago, Errant Bard said:

Also, roleplaying. Involve them. I know MBA courses can have (in my experience) more than half the grade be a group venture management simulation, in isolation or in group competition, this could be doable, maybe.

I'm of two minds on group projects.  The dominant one is informed by when I was in undergrad - I either was the guy doing all the work, or I was the guy watching the person do all the work.  Either way, I'm not much of a fan.  OTOH, "roleplaying," as lame as it sounds, does get the students involved.  And, as you say, I could develop an individual assignment that they all could do together.  That's a cool idea and exactly what I'm asking for!  Problem is, I don't know how to design that with the material.  Bureaucracy doesn't lend itself to these teaching methods.  I suppose I could pit agency against agency, but I'm not sure I want to do that.  If I don't, how?  Regardless, thank you very much @Errant Bard for the suggestions.

1 minute ago, larrytheimp said:

Ooh that's a great idea, have them fill out FOIA requests or apply for a variance or something.  Or have them shadow people going through some process.  Are you in DC?  Field trip to GSA!

I wish.  Nah, I'm not anywhere near DC.  The FOIA idea is great though.

Want to clarify - it may seem like I'm shooting down your ideas, but actually you're totally helping me prep for this course.  Keep em coming!

[The Grey Wolf]

I'm not a humanities major but here's my two cents from when I was an undergraduate TA (which wasn't too long ago just to be clear). Humor and the ability to relate material to the RL concerns/culture of your students goes a long way towards improving the quality of the class itself. Also, don't be afraid to be opinionated.

Sorry if that doesn't help.

[OldGimletEye]

On 6/1/2018 at 9:03 PM, dmc515 said:

That's the first sentence of the course description from a syllabus a friend of mine gave me.  So, why am I making this topic?  Because I can teach bureaucracy, but it's going to be incredibly boring for the students.  As I prep for the course, I appeal to this great forum for any advice to make that class fun, entertaining, are at least not suicide-inducing?  Seriously, any and all thoughts/ideas/whatever are welcome, there are no wrong answers - any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Honestly, the course actually sounds interesting to me. I've always been interested in why people or institution do the shit they do.

I think a lot of times whether a class is interesting or uninteresting depends on the style of the instructor. Things like having good voice inflection matter. Being humorous and approachable helps.

Some people could take a class like "Introduction To Beer/Wine" or "Introduction To Procrastination and Fucking Around" and turn it into a real snoozefest.

[horangi]

As a manager for a federal agency, I'd suggest giving the class a scenario to develop a policy response to.  This could be a quick response FEMAesque type issue (chemical spill, earthquake, etc) which would probably be fun, but for better insight into PA, I'd suggest a slower moving issue such as addressing the opioid crisis or reducing car accident fatalities.  If you really wanted to something fun- how about "NASA detects a comet that has a trajectory with a 2% chance of impacting Earth in 5 years.  As government agency representatives X,Y,Z, how do you respond."

Divide the students into manageable groups and have each tackle the same scenario to see the diversity of responses.  Have each group member represent a stakeholder (federal/state/local agencies, impacted public/industry, congress, etc.)  Have them research the applicable CFR and agency enabling legislation/appropriations mandates, then develop responses within the boundaries.  The idea being to have the students recognize the limitations of individual entities, the need for cooperation, and most critically- the understanding that effective public policy doesn't have an ideal solution. 

[Yukle]

Imma brainstorm some ideas and get back to you. I think this would be fascinating!

[dornishpen]

Have them read Kafka.

[Isis]

19 hours ago, horangi said:

As a manager for a federal agency, I'd suggest giving the class a scenario to develop a policy response to.  This could be a quick response FEMAesque type issue (chemical spill, earthquake, etc) which would probably be fun, but for better insight into PA, I'd suggest a slower moving issue such as addressing the opioid crisis or reducing car accident fatalities.  If you really wanted to something fun- how about "NASA detects a comet that has a trajectory with a 2% chance of impacting Earth in 5 years.  As government agency representatives X,Y,Z, how do you respond."

Divide the students into manageable groups and have each tackle the same scenario to see the diversity of responses.  Have each group member represent a stakeholder (federal/state/local agencies, impacted public/industry, congress, etc.)  Have them research the applicable CFR and agency enabling legislation/appropriations mandates, then develop responses within the boundaries.  The idea being to have the students recognize the limitations of individual entities, the need for cooperation, and most critically- the understanding that effective public policy doesn't have an ideal solution. 

Yes. I was going to say case studies/scenarios. But you've provided the perfect answer.

Getting people solving problems, either individually/small groups/big groups is a good way to get people to apply 'rules' and see how they work in practice. Also, get them to do as much work as you! They are going to learn much better from doing presentations etc than you just telling them shit. Lectures can be dull in general, but surely they are going to be even more dull when it comes to bureaucracy. Presumably you already do a variety of teaching methods and not just 'lecturing'?

[Mentat]

Quote

This course provides an overview of bureaucracy and bureaucratic behavior with an emphasis on the United States. The central objective is to help us understand why bureaucrats and government agencies do what they do (rather than what we want/expect/think they should do).

As a bureaucrat (though not based in the US, so some of this might not be applicable...), this topic is of interest to me. The course seems targeted to address both why bureaucracies don't work as they should and why sometimes public expectations aren't realistic.

As to the first, analysing some anecdotal bureaucratic horror stories seems useful (these usually involve some unfortunate citizen trying to obtain a permit/subsidy/other and being blocked by an obnoxious system that demands they produce an interminable number of documents or refuse their petition for ridiculous reasons). What went wrong? Who was to blame? What improvements could be made to the system to ensure such things don't happen?

An analysis of regulations (the soul of bureaucracy) also seems interesting. Finding regulations that are archaic, nonsensical, unintelligible or that were passed for completely spurious reasons should be possible. What is the objective of the regulation? How can the regulation be improved to better serve said purpose? Why was the regulation passed in the first place? Why hasn't it changed or disappeared?

Studying how bureaucracies can become self-perpetuating and self-serving is also interesting. How are bureaucrats selected? Can they be removed? Who supervises them and how effective is said supervision? How does said process ensure an independent and professional bureaucracy and how could it be improved? Many bureaucracies have systems and regulations set in place to ensure the welfare and job security of the bureaucrats themselves rather than to serve the public and to ensure the quality of the public service that constitutes their raison d'etre. This also ties into the relationship between the decision makers (politicians) and the bureaucrats. How might their interests diverge?

If you haven't seen the UK series "Yes, Minister", I consider it a must. The episodes "The compassionate society", "The greasy pole" and "A question of loyalty", from its second season, are all personal favourites of mine, and each highlight different failings of bureaucracy and how and why they come about.

The second target (public expectations about bureaucracy) should address the cost of maintaining a bureaucracy and how it is funded. Have your students go back to all the possible solutions to the problems from the first part and examine how cost effective they are. It could also examine why public perception of bureaucracy might be distorted. How much does the common citizen know about bureaucracy and how it works? How much do they trust it to help them?

I hope some of this is useful to you!

[Yukle]

Applied learning works well. A few posters have already suggested as much above.

I don't know your level of experience, so if any (or all) of this is obvious, sorry, I'm not trying to be condescending.

Real world examples tend to be easier to understand, since they hold the most relevance to your students. Good education practice says you should have your assessment outcomes known in advance. Ideally, have your final assessments written before you begin, so that you know precisely what you are heading toward. You don't need to know down to the wording of the question (although that'd help).

Altering both the style of delivery and the medium of assessment both increase interest (in general). Can you find videos? Are some of them comedic?

Possible Real World Intro

As an early introductory explanation, you could pick a very normal and real-world scenario and explain how it works. An interesting hook might be, "How I got out of a speeding ticket." This is made up, but it's an example (although I have done this).

For this, I'd introduce what law I had broken (I was speeding) and the process that went into how I was detected breaking the law. I wouldn't make it overly complicated, other than to say that a series of automated machines pinged me, a person verified it and I was sent an infraction. I then looked up how to get off with a warning. I sent a letter to a particular person, that person cross-referenced my letter to particular expectations (I admitted I had done it but provided a reasonable excuse for leniency, which was momentary inattention in an otherwise stellar driving history).

And then I was let off with a warning.

After this, I'd then explain the purpose of the bureaucrats with whom I worked. This whole thing could take 3-5 minutes. But it's the sort of task that would be intriguing (I hope).

Formative assessment

Your students will be at different stages; if you don't have any data it's worth doing some early assessment. Do they all know at least the basics of government? The branches of government, what an agency is, who a bureaucrat is, what an agency does, how they are funded, and so on?

Do they understand interest concerns? and lobbyists? It depends on the scope of your course, but a rapid crash course to begin is worthwhile; let your students know it's certain they've done this before, and you're just refreshing their memories (which isn't true, some won't recall this stuff). It's a good way to start.

Possible Extended Example

Have a ground-up example. You want to build a brand new house on plot that has never been developed before. At the moment, it's part of a forest. What would go into this process? Narrow it to 5-10 defined parameters (environmental concerns, how to connect services, roads and transport access and so on).

This could be either an assignment they do or an example that you provide.

Discussion technique

Provide students within a workshop with a specific interest concern. Write it on a piece of paper and give it to them. For instance: "You're the head of Yarra Valley Water, and you're entirely focused on water management," "You're the head of the CFME Union and you're entirely focused on worker safety," "You're in charge of the NDIS, and you're entirely focused on disability access," and so on. Provide a realistic scenario requiring them to form a collaborative opinion. For instance: McDonalds wants to renovate its kitchen.

They should look up the relevant restrictions within their chosen field to see how this could happen.

The Dark Side

Pick a government agency everyone hates. Off the top of my head, just as a plausible candidate, suppose that it's the ATO (or the IRS for the USA).

This could be either a lecture or an assignment depending on how you structure it. But the idea is that you want the students to feel, by the end, that you should join the dark side.

How does this agency actually operate and what is their purpose? What is the best aspect of what they do? What is their end goal? And why should you love them? How are they funded? What restrictions control them?

When it all goes wrong

It can also work as a teaching strategy to show something as effective by providing examples of when it doesn't work. For instance, pick a realistic scenario of water management. It might sound tedious and dull, and certainly it's often taken for granted. So what happens when you don't do it properly?

Well, consider extended examples of damming the Nile or the Yangtze Rivers, both of which led to cataclysmic food failures years later. The prevalence of damaged dams in the USA has come as a result of excellent foresight in building them and essentially none in maintaining them in recent years.

This can also be done in a cheekier way. Play a sequence from Die Hard. Once the standing ovation finishes: what would actually happen as a result of this event? How would - and should - government agencies respond to this?

[Yukle]

Oh, and I forgot to add, but as above shows like Yes Minister are great for their cynicism and satire. But they're also informative of how, at an extreme, different interest groups clash.

Another example is Utopia, originally aired in Australia four years ago. If you can get past our accents* it's hilarious.

 

*Australians don't have an accent. Our timbre of speech is pure English and it's the rest of the world who has it wrong.

[Maithanet]

I would use clips from The Wire to demonstrate institutional dysfunction.  You could just splice together a few Carcetti scenes if you're trying to be quick about it, although police dysfunction is covered in far greater detail.

Then you could talk about how these shortcomings happen and why government agencies with good intentions so often fall short (or are vilified for only half-solving problems). 

[Mlle. Zabzie]

Have them participate (really participate) in the notice and comment process on regulations (really comment).  That would be a hard, but worthwhile, project on a number of different levels.

Also, have you thought about tapping state and local agencies for guest speakers/examples?

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

It looks like you’ve already gotten a lot of great advice, so IDK if you want/need any more input, but let just add to the choirs that you need to make the course applied. That way your students will be more engaged and get more out of the class than if you just talked at them. Out of curiosity, what is the size and structure of the course? Is it mainly a lecture hall course or are there small group sessions. What academic level is it? How many credits and the expected workload for your students? Information like that can really help shape what you’re going to need.

ETA:

More questions. How much of the course work is online? Are the students grades going to based off of essays, tests, projects or some combination of the three? If there are projects, are they individual or group projects? And maybe the most important question of them all, how much with this course affect your students’ degrees and their post-graduation life? Is it a throwaway class where you learn something that is a small aspect of your overall studies or is it a class that has a level two, three etc. follow up course(s)?