Leadership, Decision-Making, and Governance ((3 Credits))

Catalog description

This course is designed for MPA students in the Non-Profit Management, Disaster Crisis and Emergency Management, and General MPA Administration tracks. It provides an in-depth analysis of effective and well-adaptive leadership, decision-making during crisis and non-crisis periods, and strong and effective governance for public sector and non-profit professionals. This study explores various leadership, decision-making, and governance models that are applicable to the public and non-profit sectors. Decision making models students will learn include rational choice, organizational process, and bureaucratic politics models. The course is intended to highlight political and governmental influences on leadership styles, decision making, and governance and to distinguish where applicable the differences between public policy decisions and private sector decision-making. Students will explore challenges such as sustainability issues (from funding, to staffing, to complex political challenges), learn how to carry out specific functions in an organization, and how do deal with complex structural issues such as donor and government relations, divisions and conflicts, and staff and organizational wellbeing. Culture, ethics, and rights will be considered throughout the course. Finally, students will recognize biases in judgement that can have impacts on leadership, decision making and governance.