LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide in-depth knowledge on the functioning of public administrations, the power dynamics within complex organizations and the main theoretical paradigms that have inspired the trajectories of public sector reform in many countries: New Public Management, Public Governance, Nudge. The central themes addressed concern administrative reforms and the different approaches to design and change from a comparative perspective. In this sense, different organizational solutions implemented in various institutional contexts will be analyzed. The course aims to develop knowledge to be applied to the design of change interventions, analyzing the complexities that characterize administrative reforms. Using tools and methodologies of the social sciences, such as case studies and comparative approaches, the processes of diffusion of changes and administrative innovations will be analyzed. The course aims to provide the knowledge useful to carry out the analysis of individual processes of innovation in public administrations and students will be asked to critically read the specificities, solutions and effects that various organizational designs can have in different institutional and organizational contexts.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

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

• Describe the dialectic relations between the political and administrative sphere in relation to the organizational models in order to detect the main problems related to the public/private sphere.

• Analyze the reforms and solutions within the complexities that interest the public sphere and administrative context.

• Identify both opportunities and constraints that technological innovations offer to public administrations.

• In the analysis of public administration activities and public administration reforms the students will be able to distinguish between judicial, political and economic logics identifying the prevailing logic that drives the changes.

TEACHING METHODS

The course will be carried out mostly online with frontal lectures. Students must get involved and participate also through online presentations based on their own analysis of singular cases that will be decided together with the course convener.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course will be divided into two main parts.

In the first part the main themes addressed will be:

• Logics and Purposes of the functioning of public administrations
• Functions and changes of public institutions
• Actors that operate within the public administrations
• Main theories of decisional processes in public institutions
• New Public Management, Neo Institutionalism, Public Governance and Nudge
• Distribution of power and changes in the public sectors

In the second part we will concentrate on the reforms and organizational models of public administrations also relying on practical examples and case studies.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Compulsory readings:

Francesco Longo, Alex Turrini, Giovanni Fattore, Maria Cucciniello, Elisa Ricciuti. 2018. Management pubblico. Egea, Milano (capitoli: 1, 2, 4, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20)

 Natalini Alessandro, Di Mascio Fabrizio. 2018. Oltre il New Public Management. Le riforme amministrative tra meccanismi e contesti. Roma, Carocci. ( capitolo 1, paragrafo 1.1, 1.6;  capitolo 2 paragrafi 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4; capitolo 3 paragrafi 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 3.5; capitolo 4 paragrafi 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5).