Rationale 

This course aims to introduce students to the key perspectives, theories and approaches to public management. Students will get acquainted with public sector organisation, leadership, management and governance. The emergence and significance of new public management, the role of regulations in public sector governance, the different types of public organisations and their modes of operation and administration as well as the process of establishing accountability in the public sector will be discussed among others. The course also addresses issues of public service efficacy and explores different approaches for improving the performance of public organisations. The course concludes with the examination of the “means” and “ends” of public management reforms.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course students will be expected to:

(i)    Describe how the concept and nature of public management have evolved throughout time.
(ii)   Assess management and leadership strategies used in government and public sector organisations.
(iii)  Identify the different forms of governance in the public sector and their characteristics.
(iv)  Identify the principles of effective governance.
(v)   Describe the tools and techniques employed to improve the performance of public sector organisations.
(vi)  Discuss the significance of regulations and accountability in public sector management. 
(vii) Assess the role of leadership and leadership techniques in public organisations.
(viii) Identify the forces that lead to public management reforms.
(ix)  Justify the changing approaches to the management of the public services. 
(x)   Define the main challenges of present-day public management.
(xi)  Produce systematic, critical, and analytical arguments.