PADM 7170 Assignments

Assignments

Fall 2007

Course Requirements:

General Reading Assignments and Participation
Unit/Chapter/Article Content Presentations (Can be Group or Individual)
Organizational Assessments (Individual Project)
Group Case Presentation: The Caves of Steel
Individual Participation in Class Discussions

General Reading Assignments and Participation: Each student is expected to complete all readings prior to the discussion of the material in class, and to be prepared to summarize and evaluate any of the readings upon the instructor's request.

Unit/Chapter/Article Content Presentations (Group or Individual): During the first class meeting we will decide on the method for student involvement in content presentations. It is possible for a group to prepare a unit, or for an individual to prepare and present a chapter or article to the class. Generally the content presentation will be through a PowerPoint©, but it could also be Flash, HTML, or other presentation medium approved by the instructor.

Organizational Assessments (Individual Project): Each student will prepare and present an organizational assessment. The assessment methods may vary with the individual organization type, size, etc., and depending on the level of analysis chosen by the student.

Group Case: The Caves of Steel project will be completed as a group assignment and presented during the final two class periods. Further instructions concerning the written assignments will be provided.

Read the detailed description of the case study using The Caves of Steel (group project).

NOTE: Each student should examine each paper completed in this course to see if it may be useful to include as an artifact in your portfolio. If you haven’t begun to assemble your portfolio, you should do so now!

Topic and Reading Assignments: The readings combine organizational theory and organizational behavior. While this is one of the more artificial distinctions in public administration, it does reflect a difference in approach to the study of organizations. Each student should attempt to integrate the theoretical work contained in Denhardt with the behavioral studies found in Ott, Parkes, and Simpson (referred to as Ott from this point on). The reading assignments make some attempt to do this for the student, but each student should keep in mind that any of the readings could be placed with a different chapter from Denhardt's text than they are placed with in this syllabus. Try to synthesize the text and readings into a coherent whole. The novel, as a case study, is designed to assist each student in this process. Note that the readings from Ott are identified by number. Each student should also read the editor's introduction to each chapter, preferably prior to the start of the course.

Participation: Students are expected to take part in class discussions. Attendance is required for this to take place, so attendance is a prerequisite for the participation grade. If a student misses class without an excused absence, the participation for that class will be deducted from the total. Although a student might not contribute to every class discussion, the grade will be based on regular contributions. At least one contribution weekly is expected. Questions will count as participation because they are often valuable in helping everyone learn more about the topic from the answer to the question.

Project Submission: All project files and assignments will be submitted using your through WebCT or your VSU E-Mail account. Send the files as attachments to E-mail and formatted as outlined below unless another format is negotiated with the instructor. These files will follow the formatting and file naming conventions listed and explained below:

	Text documents will be formatted as either Microsoft Word©, Adobe Acrobat© *(PDF) or Flash documents.
	Data files (if needed) will be Excel files (for spreadsheet data) or Access files (if a database is required).
	Presentations will be PowerPoint©, HTML, Adobe Acrobat© *(PDF) or Flash files.
	File Names: For all assignments use a description of the assignment in the file name, such as "unit3.ppt" (or article author), "organalysis.ppt" for the organizational assessment, or "case.ppt" for The Caves of Steel project.
	Ownership of files: to indicate your ownership of submissions, use your first and last names with either a dot (.) or underscore (_) between the parts. For example: "gerald_merwin_organalysis.ppt" and "gerald_merwin_case.ppt"
	Course Codes in Subject Line: We will use WebCT as the primary method for communication in the course. WebCT has automatic filtering built in to the system, so use of the course code in the subject line is not required. If you are using BlazeNet/VSU email, you need to include the course code (PADM 7170) in the subject line. This is to associate your submissions with our course to aid in filtering of E-mail, use the PADM 7170 in the subject line of all messages sent to the instructor other than WebCT.
	Questions: Please ask questions if any part of this information is unclear.

Reference http://www.valdosta.edu/~gamerwin/pa/classes/padm7170/assignments.html

Updated 09/23/2007, contact Jerry Merwin