Role Playing Assignment

ROLE PLAYING ASSIGNMENT

This assignment is one in which you are to demonstrate your familiarity with that week's material. You will be working with one or two other classmates, and together your two- or three- person team is expected to clearly communicate to the rest of the class the main concepts and principles from that material. You will be graded on the quality of your preparation, and the clarity and accuracy with which you communicated the information. It is important that you select as a team member someone who you feel to be responsible, as it would be a disaster for your teammate to leave you "high and dry" on the night of your scheduled presentation. Feel free to be creative, though creativity is not especially required. I realize that you did not intend to enroll in an acting class, and therefore your acting skills will not be evaluated. During your role-playing, you are free to work with notes or script, but please do not read them to us. I anticipate that the exercise will take fifteen to twenty minutes or so. You will be expected to stand for questions from the class and from me, to which you should be prepared to respond "in character." I will be available for consultation as you prepare for your presentations. This assignment is worth 10% of your semester grade.

ROLE PLAYING SCENARIOS (two-member teams, except where indicated by [3].)

B. Public and Private Administration One student is the head of an industrial corporation, the other is the head of a government agency. At the clubhouse of the local country club, they have a discussion in which they explore the ways in which their jobs are similar and those in which they are different.

C. National, State, and Local Administrative Systems [3] A state governor, a member of Congress, and the mayor of a large metropolitan city discuss what they each feel to be the appropriate distribution of authority or power between the three levels of government. They also discuss the consequences of changing the existing distribution of power.

D. Administration and Policy Making [3] A member of the president's cabinet (the Secretary of ) is enjoying a private dinner with two friends, one a member of Congress and the other a city manager of a city of 30,00 people. Their conversation covers their successes and frustrations about getting things done within that setting.

E. Organization Theory [3] Three of the organizational theorists covered in your text meet over coffee in the local bookstore, and discuss their respective approaches. During their conversation, each tries to convince the others of the error of their ways. They draw examples or illustrations from organizations around them.

F. Decision Making [3] Three friends try to decide where to go and what to do on Winter Break. Their conversation illustrates the strengths and pitfalls of group decision making. They even consider seeking outside assistance to help reach a decision.

G. Communication [3] The president of a public university, the head of the faculty senate, and the head of the administrative employee council discuss their differences regarding organizational communication. Their conversation covers paperwork, electronic communication, the appropriate amount of communication, and the strategic release of information.

H. Leadership Two famous historical figures have an enthusiastic discussion about whether leaders are “born” or “made.” Using examples from their own lives (and possibly from those of others), they struggle with defining leadership and what makes a person an effective leader.

I. Personnel An agency head and its newly-hired director of personnel have a conversation about their respective philosophies of personnel management. They discuss the prospects for bringing about significant change in the organization, and how the employees of the agency might respond.

J. Budgeting One student is the head of a state environmental protection agency, and the other is the chair of the legislative appropriations committee. They discuss the agency's budget request, and their conversation illustrates many of the political strategies of the budgeting process.

K. Values and Ethical Considerations An agency head and a university professor of public administration have been asked to prepare an afternoon “short course” for agency employees on the subject of administrative ethics. In their discussion, the two explore which subjects they should cover and which ones they should leave out, and how to make the entire subject relevant to the target audience. A.Introduction to Public Administration (Sept. 8) Wilson and Weber in a coffee shop conversation, wherein they discuss their own and each other's concepts of administration.

Administration and Democracy (Dec. 1) One student is the president of a public university which has decided to raise significantly the admissions standards for new students. The other is the head of an organization of parents whose children will not be admitted under the new standards. Their discussion explores the relationship between administration and democracy.

Mayo gives advice to a professor in a graduate program about how to motivate, or maximize the production of, the students in his/her classes. This professor has been known to occasionally experiment by assigning group projects to the students in graduate seminars.

A Washington "insider" explains to a newly-elected president why incrementalism is an appropriate strategy to use, and why not to expect to enact significant change over a short time period. D

H.Implementation (Mar. 29) A state governor and a state legislator confer over a new program that both of them wish to see enacted and implemented. Their conversation takes place early in the process, when a version of the proposal is still pending before a legislative committee. They discuss plans and strategies which they feel might improve their chances of seeing this program through to its successful implementation.

K.Quality (Apr. 26) A graduate student tries to convince the Dean of Graduate Studies to apply principles of quality improvement to the Master of Science in Administration program. Their conversation deals with both the "why" and "how" of quality improvement.