Leadership in Public Administration

The course aim is to prepare students for advanced study and research in the field of public sector leadership. A related aim is to increase individual student understanding of the public sector as a working life context, in which a better grasp of administrative and other leadership issues can be instrumental in forwarding careers. The starting point is that public institutions, organizations and a variety of public policy processes are formative for public sector leadership. Independent course work should contribute to building such individual competence as is required for leading positions in state, local or international organizations where different public policy guidelines, whether directly or indirectly, are crucial to activities. Course work comprises instructed, self-determined and cooperative formats. Independent literature studies are reported in writing and orally. Self-organized seminars, i.e. led by participants, are also part of the required course work. Initial lectures are given by the course instructor and guest-lectures from practitioners and/or researchers in the field of public leadership are organized according to availability. Large part of the course work is aimed at authoring a written report under scientific guidance from the course instructor. The report may focus upon a particular organizational context in which administrative change is planned, ongoing or recently finished. Alternatively, the individual report may focus upon a theoretically or conceptually driven analysis based on secondary empirical observations.