The M.P.A. capstone workshop focuses on the knowledge, skills, and abilities that define a competent public or non-profit sector manager. A central theme of the course is the roles, responsibilities, and outlooks of the manager today and the competing influences in public decision making under fragmented authority that result in public sector management as the art of compromise. Through role-playing in the various roles of elected officials or professional administrators, students will conduct a city council meeting to experience the actual administration of the political agenda. They will learn to integrate public values and ethical perspectives in decision-making including the mobilization of support for decision-outcomes and garnering resources for implementation of policy. This course gives students first-hand experience in dealing with political mandates that often come loaded down with special interests that make it hard to reconcile the manager's desire to guard the general public interest with politically driven policy. This class is pass/fail and does not calculate into the student's GPA. This course is not financial aid eligible when taken by itself.

Not required

At the conclusion of the course each student will have intermediate knowledge of the techniques and practices of public management professionals, including:

1) What a leader needs to believe and do in order to promote high performance in the organization.
2) The importance of values and the congruence between individual and organizational values for improving public management.
3) The Forced-Field technique for reconciling competing political, interest group, and professional objectives in management decision-making.
4) The role of elected officials in the administration of governments.
5) How to integrate public values and ethical perspectives in decision-making.

1. Required Materials


1. Textbooks

The Leadership Road - 2007
Dr. Robert Preziosi
Llumina Press
ISBN: 9781595267726


Camelot: A Role-playing Simulation for Political Decision Making - 5.Edition - 2006
Woodworth, James R., & W. Robert Gump
Thomson Learning
ISBN: 0534602797





Notes: Pre-course Packet Notes: Pre-course packet will be mailed to the student's home address on record in WebStar six weeks prior to the capstone. If you have not received it six weeks prior, please call Tracie Cooper at 954-262-5131.


APA Manual
Effective October 1^st 2009, the 6th edition of the APA Manual is required for all courses.

NSU Bookstore
Textbooks and Case Studies may be purchased from the NSU Bookstore (located in the University Park Plaza) by calling 1-800-509-2665 or online at http://www.nsubooks.bkstore.com.

The NSU libraries comprise the Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center, East Campus Branch Library, Health Professions Division Library, Law Library and Technology Center, North Miami Beach Branch Library, University School Library Media Centers, and the William S. Richardson Ocean Science Library. Students are strongly encouraged to visit one of the physical locations and/or take advantage of the vast electronic library available for research. For more information, please visit http://www.nova.edu/library.

Please note that all required and recommended materials should be referenced in APA style.