Final Paper For your final assignment you will write a 8–9-page paper that explores a contemporary issue related to a topic covered in this course, including the interplay of democracy and bureaucracy, administrative reform, accountability, or issues related to culture and the self, teams, leadership, or decision-making.
Be sure to choose a topic that is closely related to your profession and future career aspirations, as this makes the paper much more valuable and interesting to write.
Regardless of the topic of choice, it must clearly and directly impact the management of public organizations.
You must situate that topic you choose within a specific context, focusing on an issue in a single country (excluding the United States), a comparison between two countries (one may be the United States), or some type of cross-boundary collaboration.
Topic: Intolerance Towards Homosexuality in Democratic Countries: United States of America and China
A comparison of accountability mechanisms in two different countries
Your final paper should include the following sections:
- Introduction (1–2 paragraphs): Provide a general introductory paragraph for the paper with a general statement about purpose.
- Overview of the topic and focus (1 page): What is the topic of your paper (for example, reform, accountability, culture and leadership) and what is the focus (for example, comparison of the US and another country, or a single country, or a cross-cultural team).
- Discussion of course material (4–5 pages): Clearly and directly link the literature we’ve discussed in the course and other material from peer-reviewed journals and scholarly books to your topic / focus.
- Implications for stakeholders (1 page): In what ways are internal and external stakeholders impacted by the topic and focal context of your paper?
- Recommendations for Managers (1 page): Given the discussion you’ve presented so far, what are the considerations for those managing public and nonprofit organizations? Be specific.
- Conclusion (1–2 paragraphs): Provide a conclusion that effectively integrates the content of the paper and highlights key takeaways.
You will submit various components of the paper early in the round, which will be incorporated into the final document. The breakdown of components are as follows:
Problem Statement and Outline (due 2/2/20): You will draft a brief and succinct problem statement that will serve as the focus on your paper, and a simple outline that addresses key paper content. The statement should be no longer than one paragraph (about 5–6 sentences), and you will find a document designed to help you think about and structuring your problem statement on iLearn listed with this assignment. The outline should include major, primary sections of the paper, and secondary level will reflect main arguments/points being made. Please note that outlines should not contain text or prose that we normally associate with a fully developed paper.
Final Paper (due 2/20/20): Your final paper will be the culmination of all of these elements in one document. Please note that higher quality problem statements and outlines end up resulting in better papers – and those papers are often easier to write as well. Please be sure to include in-text citations and a fully developed and properly formatted reference list.
For the final paper you are required to use a minimum of seven (7) peer-reviewed journal articles as reference material. Popular media articles may be used for background, but do not count toward the minimum number of peer-reviewed journal articles
Course Description
This course provides an overview of the management of public and nonprofit organizations situated in unique political, legal, and cultural contexts. Specifically, this course highlights processes of globalization and increasing interconnectedness of public and nonprofit organization while acknowledging the linkages between bureaucracy, democracy, and accountability. The course then builds on students’ understanding of context and integrates them with administrative theory by examining concepts of the self, organizational practices, work teams, leadership, and decision-making as shaped by culture. The emphasis here is on the manner in which individual background may affect how one thinks and behaves, and that this awareness allows for increased managerial effectiveness in culturally diverse environments.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Describe the impact of globalization on public and non-profit organizations.
- Effectively link aspects of globalization and cross-boundary collaboration to service provision in public and nonprofit organization.
- Discuss the relationship between bureaucracy and democracy, and link concepts of accountability to administrative functions.
- Understand and apply knowledge of administration, culture, and national contexts, and the interaction of these in specific and complex public and nonprofit sector functions.
- Discuss the interrelationships of the self, leadership, teams, and decision-making as situated in varying national contexts and cross-cultural teams.
