The University of York

MPA module outlines

Brief thumbnails of the module content are given below. Further detailed information can also be provided.

Public Management and Delivery

The trends and pressures affecting public services and their implications for public management.
Public/ private sector boundaries and the role of market-based arrangements. Measuring and managing performance. The linkage between these systems and strategic management.
The users of public services and their role as consumers and customers. Governance and accountability.

Policy Analysis and Process

How policy is made, how policy agendas are set and influenced and the issues that affect policy ‘success’ and policy ‘failure’.
Decision-making techniques. Implementation and evaluation techniques. International learning: policy transfer.

Leading and Managing Change

Leading and managing change at the societal, organisational and individual level. The skills and behaviours of change leaders and change agents, including influencing change.
Organisational structure and culture and their impact on change processes.
Tools and techniques for successful change management.

Understanding Governance

How do the state, society and public organisations interact in shaping public services?
What makes for ‘good’ and ‘bad’ governance?

Strategic Planning

Differences between strategic planning and management in the public and private sectors.
Mission statements and goal-setting techniques. Strategic decisions and evaluation.
Strategic leadership. Coordination and networks. Crisis management. Transformational strategic management.

Public Finance

Sources of public and private finance.
The role of public, private and non-governmental bodies in the national economy and the provision of public services.
Budgeting, and financial management and control. Contemporary public finance issues, including PFI.

OR

Organisational Learning and Performance

Organisational learning and the ‘learning organisation’.
Techniques for knowledge management and for the application of learning to the improvement of performance.
Performance improvement at the level of the individual and the organisation.

Public Policy and Management in the Information Age

How are new information and communication technologies shaping public service delivery?
What is their role in welfare delivery?

Using Evidence in Social Policy

What counts as ‘evidence’ and how evidence can and should be used in the development and implementation of policy
How can evidence-based approaches to policymaking be developed?

Globalisation and Social Policy

What is ‘globalisation’ and how is it affecting poverty alleviation, pensions, health and labour rights?
What is the impact of globalisation in Asia, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe

Organisational Learning and Performance

(an elective module for those students who took Public Finance at Diploma level.)

Organisational learning and the ‘learning organisation’.
Techniques for knowledge management and for the application of learning to the improvement of performance.
Performance improvement at the level of the individual and the organisation.

Comparative Social Policy

What can be learned from a ‘comparative’ approach to studying social policy, and welfare provision in particular?
What are the issues involved in comparing welfare states?

Project Management

The role and importance of project management and programme management. Skills and techniques for project management.
Project acquisition, scheduling, budgeting and control.
Effective communications (client, supervisor, team). Team-building. Projects and risk management. The role of project leaders.

Enterprise and Innovation

Innovation within government and the public sector: barriers and enablers including people, structures, resources and ways of working
The concept of social enterprise and its links with the third sector
Initiating and managing a social enterprise: behaviours, skills and tools