Justice Christine Cahill (ret.) transplanted the FSI project from the University of Michigan Law School for implementation in King County, WA, by her organization, the Child Justice Advocacy Center (CJAC), which focuses on child welfare issues. Externally, the FSI relies on authorizers and referral partners with widely varying interests to refer cases and cooperate in addressing clients’ legal needs. Organizationally, the FSI is managed by Jennifer Clancy of the CJAC, which also employs and houses the social worker. Other project partners – the Washington Justice Center and the Parent Support Association – employ the remaining team partners and contract their services to the FSI project. Internally, the multi-disciplinary aspect of the team brings together professions not accustomed to collaboration to address and manage clients’ legal issues.
Jennifer Clancy, Project Director for the CJAC and protagonist of this case, implemented and supervises the project. As we meet Clancy, two social workers, two attorneys, and one parent ally have left the project in its short two-year history – a turnover rate of 167 percent. Upon the most recent departure, Clancy faces the decision to shut down the time-limited pilot or reengage stakeholders and modify aspects of governance and management to address deficiencies in communication and accountability that are impacting staff performance, engagement and satisfaction.
This case depicts the policy challenges and strategies of Mi Young Hong, the Director of the Air Pollution Control Department in South Korea’s Ministry of the Environment (MOE). Hong encounters various obstacles and opportunities as she design and enforce air quality regulations that directly affect the life and health of citizens. As students read, they will gain a concrete understanding of the possibilities as well as the frustrations that inevitably come with managing a controversial government agency in a political environment.
Privatization and Performance in Northern California's Battle with the Opioid Epidemic is a single, comprehensive case study that examines administrative efforts to combat opioid drug abuse in Northern California. In response to rising opioid addiction and drug overdose deaths, coupled with state-level mandates for local areas to provide drug treatment options, county administrators in Northern California pursue a regional consortium offering treatment services through contracted arrangements with private sector providers, known as the Nor Cal Rehabilitation Services Consortium(NCRC). Although based upon real-world events, various aspects of administrator names and titles, agency characteristics, and caseload details are fictionalized and curated for classroom activity and assessment. The broad purposes of the case revolve around identifying and developing central aspects of public administration research methods, program evaluation, and performance management. To this end, the case study and teaching plan center on creating a comprehensive evaluation design, including developing various components such as research questions, logic models, sampling and data collection approaches, and data analysis techniques. This case relates to timely administrative issues that are occurring within municipal and county-level health and human service departments across America.
The Gangnam district government in the City of Seoul, South Korea, faced a challenge all too familiar to urban governments around the world: growing parking demand and a corresponding shortage of parking spaces. As the gap between parking service demand and parking space supply increased, the Department of Parking Management (DPM) in the Gangnam district government dealt with an increasing number of illegally parked vehicles in residential and commercial areas as well as on public streets. Illegally parked vehicles generated not only terrible traffic, but also complaints from different citizen groups, such as drivers who received parking tickets and residents and business owners who could not use their assigned parking spaces when needed. Facing these citizens’ complaints about illegal parking, Mr. Joo, head of the DPM, adopted new digital technologies (e.g. online parking payment systems, GIS/GPS-equipped parking enforcement vehicles) to provide timely and effective responses to such complaints. The DPM’s adoption of new digital technologies, however, created other challenges. Once the new technologies came online, Mr. Joo and his team struggled to balance improving the performance of new technology-enabled parking services with promoting citizen end users’ participation in the development of online parking services and managing resistance from parking employees concerned about the potential use of the new digital technologies to directly monitor their work.
This case study will help students to learn comparative analytic perspectives and conflict management using an innovative approach. It helps students understand the use of the Public Participation Geographic Information System (PPGIS) method as a scientific and systematic tool for participatory governance to reduce conflict in allocating undesirable facilities.
Through a new human resources approach, the city of Goyang, South Korea was able to provide clear and fair career opportunities for its employees. This case study will help students understand the conditions and requirements necessary for the adoption and implementation of strategic HR practices in local governments.
As an example of interagency collaboration, this case allows students to think further about feasible and sustainable conditions of interagency collaboration where a collaboration network should evolve as government agencies learn more about its possibilities and challenges, and be continuously refined based on emerging demands and changing environments.
This case describes how Amanda Fellows, a newly hired Environmental Specialist with limited experience in the electric utility environmental sector, exercised leadership within a shifting authorizing environment in which integral relationships were strained and the organization’s culture was not focused on environmental excellence.
There are five major learning objectives in this case: asset specificity, agency theory, stewardship theory, market management, and contracting for high-stakes, costly mega-projects. The case enables instructors to lead students through discussions of these topics by offering a retrospective view of several elements of the space industry in different time periods: development and operation of the Space Transportation System (STS, also known as the Space Shuttle), development of a commercial market for space technology, and issues facing NASA at the time it retired the STS.
Chief Kelly Bloom walked into his office to find the North Point Press on his desk with an oddly familiar story on the front-page – the leaked memo he had just sent out to his command staff yesterday. This case will help students to develop problem identification, potential solution development, and reflection skills.
Fostering Success launched an equity initiative to meet its ambitious goal of high school graduation parity in the surrounding county. A consultant led the agency through several required trainings and in starting an Equity Team.
This case is useful in an educational policy class, undergraduate level policy course, or graduate public policy courses in which students are learning about how stakeholder mapping and advocacy coalitions can help with managing the policy agenda.
This case allows students to imagine themselves within the role of a representative and decision maker carrying out a policy design process in a highly-sensitive and challenging economic and political environment.
By 2011, Korean society suffered from pervasive social disorder, including a high suicide rate, troubled schools, murder and other crime, deepening unemployment and poverty. As a policy response to these serious social ills, Seoul’s Mayor Park Won-soon offered community building as a solution to the problems, moving away from government-directed uniform solutions to citizen-led solutions.
Executive Director Lundberg has a new five-year contract, but must deal with a board that is divided over the use of the school’s land, only a small portion of which is actually needed for the school’s facilities. A showdown is brewing...
This case follows an ongoing leadership challenge within a small volunteer-dependent non-profit crisis support organization called the Corvallis Crisis Line (CCL), and the impact of poor management on vulnerable agencies. The Corvallis Crisis Line is an anonymous crisis phone line staffed by volunteer community members who participate in extensive training around active listening, appropriate intervention, and service referral for local community resources. The primary protagonist in this case is the current acting Board President and former long-time volunteer of CCL, Charles Bowden, who is working to maintain consistency and leadership for the organization after a series of poor hiring decisions made by the former board.
The case enables classroom discussion and analysis of volunteer and personnel management, authorizing environments, the effect of poor decision-making, and how community partnerships can impact small organizations. Courses focused on organizational performance, human resources management, program administration, and strategic communication can utilize this case. Students can richly explore mapping and analyzing authorizing environments, professional relationship dynamics, and bridging communication challenges.
The case is based on real events at a real organization. All names and locations have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.
CFLs pose potential environmental, health, and safety risks, but are a necessity. What do we do about products, or practices, that have obvious benefits and yet also pose some risks? What is “acceptable risk” in a democratic society? And who decides?
Should the consumer have the "right to know", or are nanotech food labels unnecessary and unhelpful?
After 5 cyclist fatalities in 16 months, city leaders decided something needed to be done.
This E-PARCC award-winning case chronicles Seattle’s effort in 2014 to become the first major city in the country to pass a law raising its minimum wage to $15 per hour. It’s told from the perspective of protagonist Ed Murray, the newly elected Mayor of Seattle who attempts to broker a deal by assembling a large and diverse committee of affected stakeholders to write the law.
Learning objectives for this case exercise are:
1. To provide the students with a decision support tool to support the discussion of trade-offs between readiness/mission capacity achieved (MCA) and LCC when making large-scale capacity investment decisions in the public sector,
2. To develop and support a proposal for cost reduction or mission capacity improvement with quantitative analysis,
3. To understand the sensitivity of capital investment decisions to the capital discount rate selected when computing the net present value (NPV) of the LCC,
4. To understand the trade-off between cost risk (probability that the LCC will exceed a certain budgeted threshold value) and readiness risk (probability that MCA will fall below a mission-planning threshold).
Mayor Nickels had a simple goal: he wanted to try to end all forms of racism in the workforce and the city. The city of Seattle, however, was 70% white and like many cities across the United States, had a history of explicitly racist policies and practices.
This piece proposes mapping as one way to generate frames that contribute to situational awareness. It presents a collection of maps that illustrate visual methods to simplify the environment and clarify distinct dimensions and relations among actors that influence purposive judgment. Mapping clarifies and organizes the dynamic world of actors linked to achieving purpose or mission.
“We are tired of being marginalized. We are tired of being the last community to get anything, to receive anything, to be spoken to, to be asked about, to be taken care of” - South Park resident. How will county officials navigate the controversial closure of the South Park Bridge?
This case allows students to learn about organizational change, teamwork, and capacities by providing an enthralling scenario, which provides opportunities to discuss ways to lead organizational change, how teamwork can be an integral and fundamental part of an organization, and ways to identify, expand, and prioritize organizational capacities. “Rescuing Search and Rescue” should be taught near the beginning of the course.
This case is designed to illustrate the difficulties of working to improve customer service in a resource-challenged setting with little or no formal authority.
This fictional collage is based on actual incidents and situations observed by the author in human service agencies in different jurisdictions. The case has been taught in a course broadly concerned with the development of information systems for government and nonprofit organizations. The course approaches the topic from three perspectives: 1. The systems thinking tradition; 2. Principles of data architecture; 3. Challenges of software development methodology.
This case study presents the instructor with a wide range of topics to which the case can be applied and around which it can be used as a basis for discussion such as: ethics, public policy, administrative law, citizen participation in local governance, public human resource management, intergovernmental relations, governmental budgeting, organizational behavior, and research methods.
This case's key focus is on the management of personnel and systems and building program capacity within the constraints of a bureaucratic agency.
This case describes the founding and growth of 23andMe, uptake of its services, questions raised by medical experts about the associations made in its tests, and regulatory issues raised in Congressional hearings and by the FDA.
Two potential Ebola patients have just arrived at the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Go through this Case and corresponding Role Playing Exercise to make reccomendations for how each stakeholder should interact in this situation.
In the course of a series of investigations into scientific fraud and misconduct involving Nobel laureate David Baltimore and research scientist Thereza Imanishi-Kari, new policies were established in the United States and internationally. The case asks whether Baltimore should resign as president of Rockefeller University. His short tenure had been rocked by controversy over allegations concerning a publication from 1986 in the leading journal, Cell. Although Baltimore himself was never accused of misconduct or data manipulation, investigations into the underlying data led to questions about his role as co-author.
The overarching goal of this case is to step away, for a moment, from Payatas and comprehend the challenges of urban waste management in developing countries. These public health, environmental, and management problems are caused by various factors which constrain the development of effective solid waste management systems. With this mindset, students should be able to discuss how Payatas was able to overcome technical, financial, institutional, economic, and social constrains.
In this role-play exercise, students will decide how to allocate operational funds to implement programs. Programs should be aligned with mission and organizational goals set by the board of a new health oriented nonprofit. Each group has three roles – an Executive Director, a Nutrition Program Director and a Sports Program Director. The Executive Director will seek input from program directors about how to spend money, but makes the final decision about how to allocate funds.
This case addresses issues of economic development for urban renewal in the post-industrial city of Baltimore. It focuses on commercial real estate development as one policy tool and stimulates readers to develop their own conclusions about its success.
The marketplace for information on nonprofits is growing. It involves competition for donor attention as well as for nonprofit participation. This variety of systems can be quite confusing, leading nonprofits and donors alike to wonder: What would be the most effective system? What kind of information do donors really want, and what kind of system would lower the barriers to nonprofit participation?
This case demonstrates the complexity of and challenges to managing contracted social service networks. It can be used in undergraduate or graduate nonprofit and public management courses. This case can also be used to supplement discussion of the following topics: federal government devolution of service production and the emergence of the Hollow State; nonprofit utilization of government funding; mission driven management; network management; networks with diverse stakeholders; and geographically dispersed networks.
This ethics-related case focuses on documented corruption in a county sheriff’s department. It is well suited for use with the traditional discussion question approach or for use as a Case Analysis exercise or assignment.
This case should first get students to think about the multifaceted nature of sustainable development decisions and assess the various constituencies and incentive structures involved. Second, the case raises some counterintuitive questions and encourages students to challenge their preconceived ideas. Lastly, after reading the case, students should be able to discuss the role that energy plays in economic growth and sustainable development.
This case presents a macro view of the decision-making process that Kenya’s Ministry of Energy underwent to address recurrent blackouts in Nairobi specifically, and the remainder of Kenya, generally.
As the director of the economic development division, you have been charged with selecting a new sustainable development specialist. How can you bring in new ideas and energy to your department?
This case study explores the various dimensions and challenges of developing Baja California state’s first wind farm and illustrates the energy dilemma faced by a region experiencing high electricity costs due to climate, detachment from the national grid, and an incompatible national energy regulatory structure. The case addresses multiple pillars of sustainability.
This case explores the Brazilian city of Curitiba in its pursuit of sustainability through urban planning and development, referencing flood management control, recycling programs, and bus rapid transit specifically.
This case focuses on the Singaporean government’s strategy for implementing smart grid technology as a means to further empower its energy dependent modern economy. The Intelligent Energy System (IES), a Singaporean government led smart grid pilot project, can be seen as a part of a long term urban development plan to: invest in critical energy infrastructure ahead of demand to make markets more efficient, open new areas for economic development, and strengthen the energy security. This case discusses the rationales behind the IES project, the government’s aspiration to be a ‘sustainable living lab’ in a global context, and its implications for other countries and megacities. As a city-state Singapore has similar capacity and significance of megacities that are progressively seen as substantial economies by themselves able pursue individual infrastructure development towards sustainability with global impacts.
Mr Modi, Indian PM candidate, leads the development of GIFT, a smart city and global finance hub with high quality of life and green infrastructure. Success for the GIFT PPP means balancing private and public interests. Built from scratch, GIFT must attract industry and people to be sustainable.
The case is designed to highlight the role of the REC in addressing cross-boundary water issues in two specific projects and to discuss the reasons why the organization has taken the role of intermediary and secretariat, as opposed to taking on more of an action-oriented role. The most important lesson the readers should glean from this case is that cross-boundary sustainability issues require more process-based approaches than cases where just one city or country is involved. The text box on the Pilot Harju Sub-river Basin Project in Estonia should spark discussion regarding these differences.
Further, the stakeholders’ perceptions of an issue are extremely important and contribute to the success or failure in resolving the problem. From Bulgaria’s perspective, the Timok River degradation was seen primarily as a Serbian problem. As a result, the onus to complete the project fell almost entirely on Serbia. In addition, because the mining industry was responsible for most of the point-source pollution of the Timok River Basin, the problem was seen as a mining issue. When the project ended, no other stakeholders came forward to continue to seek solutions. The Drina River pollution, on the other hand, involved three countries, several cities, and many local communities, all of whom had a stake in managing waste and keeping the river clean. Even when the initial project was terminated, other international actors, such as the World Bank and Oxfam, deemed the issue significant enough to initiate projects on their own.
This case study examines the structure of an organizational network as a way to create cities resilient to climate change. It take a look at the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network and presents different methods used to create network sustainability specifically how the network planned to replicate its work from city to city and from country to country. This replication process is essential to ACCCRN's model of success and depends on organizations functioning at the local, country, and regional levels.
This case is designed to illustrate the challenges associated with urban infrastructure development as they relate to the transportation sector and public-private partnerships (PPPs). Jakarta’s monorail provides an excellent example of the trials and tribulations facing decision makers in this context. Resolving infrastructure logjams in developing countries is messy: local institutions cannot always manage a transparent and competitive bidding process, while the range of bidders is constrained by the existing vested interests in the public and private sectors. The prospects for a sustainable solution may be limited in this context. However, in a difficult business environment, certain PPP structures can still succeed with strong government support and a robust risk mitigation strategy. Given all of the complexity in developing countries, strong political leadership and the strategic alignment of actors and interests can produce results, imperfect as these results may be. For now, Mr. Soeryadjaya’s eagerness to tap into Jakarta’s infrastructure market and public support for public transit have placed the monorail project on solid ground.
This case explores the incentives guiding a P3 transit company in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire after the government (its primary stakeholders) collapses. As a main tool for post-conflict recovery, the company attempts to address growing needs around public transit as well as its own financial setbacks.
Technological advances in hydrofracturing have spurred an oil drilling frenzy around the town of Willston, ND. The community has seen it all before: oil executives arrive, drill, make promises about community development, but leave the town with nothing in the end. Will this boom be different?
This case examines the development challenges facing Haiti’s energy industry in the wake of the 2010 earthquake. A top policymaker considers environmental, social, and economic factors to determine whether liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports could solve the country’s electricity problems.
This case study addresses issues related to water, sanitation, institutional capacity building, and storm water drainage. It analyzes efforts by the World Bank and DWASA to improve storm water drainage, institutional performance, and sewerage systems in Dhaka.
This case study explores the various dimensions and challenges surrounding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The case emphasizes multiple pillars of sustainability.
This case urges the reader to consider the links between the competing priorities of sustainable development, infrastructure, and globalization using the Colombo Port Expansion Project (CPEP) as an example.
This case study focuses on the rollout of an ambitious bio-toilet initiative by the CEO of one of New Delhi’s civic bodies to tackle the problem of poor sanitation in the city’s slums. Many competing and complex factors come into play when attempting to develop new infrastructure at scale.
This case looks at sustainability and suitability of large-scale ‘green’ tree planting efforts in combating desertification, sandstorms, and air quality issues in urban China. Case focuses on progress in Zhangbei County to examine local implementation of national environmental projects.
This case study explores flood management in Jakarta and its implications on the affected communities. The case highlights issues related to the role of key decision makers, hard and soft infrastructure solutions, interagency coordination, and mitigating the risks of resettlement.
Changes in São Paulo’s rainfall patterns and increased usage from growing urbanization have greatly stressed water availability. Historically low dam levels in the Cantareira system have prompted calls for the government to ration water, however the upcoming elections have compelled the government to pursue other demand and supply side options. With the 2014 World Cup approaching its opening in São Paulo, the government faces both local and international pressure to alleviate its scarcity issues permanently, with a few financial and political costs as possible.
This case provides an overview of the challenges facing the electricity sector in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and explores various strategies implemented by Rio’s main electricity provider to overcome high non-technical loss rates.
This case study uses the Maboneng Precinct, a mixed-use creative hub in downtown Johannesburg, to understand better the role of a private sector developer in urban development and to explore the concepts of urban regeneration, gentrification, and sustainability.
The central theme of this case study is that cities facing drastically distinct development challenges may still pursue similar sustainable solutions. In pursuing the same objective of re-densification, the cities are considering similar strategies: rezoning and redefined land use, enhanced public transportation, and green urban infrastructure, to name a few. This case ends by prompting students to consider these strategies: which are the most important for achieving re-densification?
Quito’s rapid income and population growth over the past several years has forced its mayor to address the problem of how its citizens efficiently commute throughout the city. The existing public transportation system can no longer accommodate the city’s growing population. As a result, Quito’s mayor is building the city’s first metro system, an ambitious project, which is not only constrained by economics, but also by the city’s physical characteristic, surrounded by the Andes.
This case addresses the development of the Jiuquan Wind Farm in China. Readers will make a decision on the future of Chinese wind power investment, given the technical, financial, and environmental challenges facing large-scale renewable energy.
Rwanda has seen remarkable economic growth. However, food security remains a challenge in its rapidly modernizing capital city, Kigali. This case explores if an urban agriculture program can address the complex drivers of food insecurity in Kigali.
In this case, the definition of sustainable is based on how the energy is produced and does not consider public or environmental prosperity. Through this we see that just because something carries the label of sustainable development, it doesn’t make it a good thing— it can make many relevant actors worse off than they were before. This case brings the reader to consider how varied motivations for implementing a sustainable development project may not always be environmental protection.
This case is focused on the urban forest in Washington D.C. It examines the evolving understanding on the role that trees play in cities and discusses the administration’s target of expanding the city’s urban forest canopy to 40% by 2032.
This ethics-related case focuses on violations of the state’s Sunshine Law by city council members via their email communications. While this is a violation that is easily committed without intent, it invokes suspicions of more serious wrongdoing and is, in fact, illegal. When charges are filed and the members of the council are called into court to face a judge, the seriousness of the matter becomes real and ultimately leads to fines and resignations for and among leaders in a small city already facing serious problems throughout its leadership.
This case examines Santiago’s effort to combat air pollution by installing catalytic converters on all consumer vehicles particle filters on its buses. These policies have successfully reduced air pollution from these sources in Santiago but have not significantly reduced air pollution as a whole.
This case study focuses on decision-making from an applied perspective in a national policy priority area where the issue is salient to the public yet scientific evidence and projections are quite controversial. It simulates policy analysis and examines legislative process through the application of several analytic tools. Tackling climate change threats requires sophisticated policy design, and that design must account for complex scientific modeling and uncertainty about magnitude and timing of negative environmental effects. Such analytic challenges are compounded by lay skepticism and entrenched political and economic conflict from many interest groups. This environment should be understood as limiting options in policy design and shaping legislative outcomes.
This case demonstrates most clearly the challenges to starting and sustaining a collaborative partnership. By examining the different steps that the Eight Neighbors partnership has taken between September 2008 and August 2010, this case also highlights the potential benefits and challenges to tackling community-wide issues with an approach that involves different sectors and a diverse set of stakeholders.
The five mini-cases on ethics in managerial decision-making are intended to portray real life managerial dilemmas in a way that will help students develop frameworks for addressing those dilemmas.
Over the past decade, immigrant rights organizations in several states seized the opportunity to shift their advocacy efforts from a narrow focus on reform of the nation’s immigration laws to a broader platform of improved immigrant integration into American society. This meant an expansion of policy focus into all aspects of immigrant life, including education, health care, and employment opportunities.
This case illustrates the struggles of a well established nonprofit to understand its financial position after expanding its real estate and long-term debt just prior to the Great Recession.
This two-day simulation focuses on the negotiation of controversial and complex issues related to the 2,000-mile border that separates and joins the United States and Mexico as neighbors. Originally designed for an Introduction to Latin American & Latino Studies course, the simulation can also be used in other academic settings to highlight the complexity of international negotiations, to help students identify with a non-U.S. perspective, and/or to showcase the practical and emotional implications of theoretical foreign policy.
This case presents challenges in linking policy analysis and development to implementation when confronted with conflict from within and without a public organization. It is appropriate for use in a graduate level public management course and would also work well in a leadership or ethics class.
This case, which was developed from primary sources, highlights the array of competing objectives and political tensions involved in local government administration and ethical public sector decision making.
This is a complex, multi-dimensional case that forces students to step outside comfortable boundaries in health care, public health, public policy, and community development.
This case can be used in a graduate level public management and leadership course to allow students to consider different approaches for Vice Minister Quesada in implementing major organizational change and how he handles the pressures upon him as a person and leader. This case can also be used in a leadership and organizational performance course to evaluate Quesada’s restructuring approach in managing rural health implementation and how to monitor and focus attention. Finally, this case could be used in a management course related to international development in the health sector to analyze the complex environment public manager’s face in implementing sweeping organizational changes in the developing world as well as his tactics for dealing with institutional opposition.
This case serves as a basis for class discussion of why good policy ideas might fail to be implemented or taken up on the agenda. Dr. Viau’s perspective allows students to consider the strategic planning and framing necessary in developing, presenting, and advocating a policy idea in a complex environment.
This case analyzes the challenges facing PANDA, a private-sector interest group, as they decide how to move forward in a complex political environment. Students must keep in mind the nature of the political regime in Pandora, the various components and goals of PANDA, and the relative positions of other political stakeholders.
The material on Central Falls is presented chiefly as a ―retrospective case‖ in which an instructor and students can review how the issue of school failure emerged in this community and state, how different actors were mobilized by it, and how the initial impasse between administration and teachers ultimately came to be resolved.
This case exercise will help students learn to:
This case prompts students to think critically about the costs and benefits presented by each decision option, and choose accordingly, ultimately realizing there may be no “best” option. It teaches students that public values of responsiveness and effectiveness have to be weighed against the value of efficiency gains.
Through this simulation students will experience the policymaking and implementation process firsthand. “Wolf Politics” is intended for use in a public policy- or environmental policy-oriented course.
This teaching note characterizes op-eds and discusses a few challenging aspects about initiating op-ed writing such as how to prompt student writers to go beyond a topic to determine a specific issue and finally forge a statement of purpose. This note offers one way for academics to introduce student writers to a prevalent genre in the field of public policy.
This case study will examine the leadership challenges and key decision points in designing a system that did, in fact, facilitate the adjudication over 99 percent of the appeals received within the statutory timeframe of 15 days. It will also discuss how decision-making choices led to the development of new technologies and intra-agency collaboration that will be carried into the future to further improve services to the public.
This case is offered as part of the Recovery Act Case Program and serves as a best example of the efforts of the large network of federal, state, local, non-profit, and private sector partners who contributed in the implementation of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
This case is offered as part of the Recovery Act Case Program and serves as a best example of the efforts of the large network of federal, state, local, non-profit, and private sector partners who contributed in the implementation of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
This case is offered as part of the Recovery Act Case Program and serves as a best example of the efforts of the large network of federal, state, local, non-profit, and private sector partners who contributed in the implementation of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
This case is offered as part of the Recovery Act Case Program and serves as a best example of the efforts of the large network of federal, state, local, non-profit, and private sector partners who contributed in the implementation of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
This case is offered as part of the Recovery Act Case Program and serves as a best example of the efforts of the large network of federal, state, local, non-profit, and private sector partners who contributed in the implementation of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
This case is offered as part of the Recovery Act Case Program and serves as a best example of the efforts of the large network of federal, state, local, non-profit, and private sector partners who contributed in the implementation of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
This case is offered as part of the Recovery Act Case Program and serves as a best example of the efforts of the large network of federal, state, local, non-profit, and private sector partners who contributed in the implementation of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
This report is offered as part of the Recovery Act Case Program and serves as a best example of the efforts of the large network of federal, state, local, non-profit, and private sector partners who contributed in the implementation of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
This case is based on a number of family obstacles; poverty, addiction, teen pregnancy, neglect, adolescent risk-taking, and others. The case also supports learning of human growth and development in the context family circumstances and surroundings.
This case covers an in-basket exercise that was designed for mid to lower-level supervisory management development programs for investor-owned electric utility personnel, such as power plant foremen and supervisors, as well as those from other corporate functional areas such as general office, transmission/distribution, engineering, finance, and marketing.
This case is a useful teaching tool in a graduate course focusing on international development, humanitarian relief, logistics, and coordination and collaboration with other agencies.
This leadership story offers an introduction to the Gwich'in Nation and their role in a formidable public policy struggle.
The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless is a national model for integrating housing and homeless support services while engaging in advocacy to influence public policy to pursue the mission to prevent homelessness and create lasting solutions.
AIDS Housing of Washington develops innovative housing facilities to meet the continually changing needs of people with HIV/AIDS. This leadership story explores the forefront of the AIDS housing struggle, and outlines some ongoing challenges.
This case can help students examine how the issues of race and diversity affect management responsibilities and performance. It would be most likely to be used in courses addressing public or non-profit management, organizational change, or human resources.
The purpose of the case is to analyze public financial management and leadership. The case focuses on Kit Hadley, the director of the Minneapolis Public Library System (MPL), and a number of others that were critical in leading the MPL to consolidate with the Hennepin County Library System (HCL). The case also focuses on both the local public finances that brought the MPL to the consolidation conclusion and the financial agreement between the MPL and HCL to facilitate the consolidation.
Key questions covered include:
The central theme in teaching this case is how a nonprofit organization that is a coalition in itself can achieve organizational excellence.
OVEC is a relatively small group that effectively takes on the most powerful industrial interests in West Virginia. Since 1987 Janet Fout, Dianne Bady, and their co-founder, the late Laura Forman, have organized Appalachian communities to protect their air, water and mountains from being destroyed for oil, timber, coal and other profitable enterprises. With research-grounded strategies, and bolstered by spirituality and heartfelt conviction, Bady, Fout and their colleagues pursue the a number of approaches.
The Village of Arts and Humanities engages neighborhood residents, business owners, community groups, and other organizations in revitalizing North Central Philadelphia by recognizing and strengthening the communities existing assets and leadership.
Nearly 70 congregations, two universities, and dozens of allies set aside differences and focus on what the congregations have in common for improving the quality of life for their communities through the creation regional transportation authority.
Through engaging community residents, buying property and creating sophisticated financial negotiations, New Road Community Development Group has brought long-sought sewers and home ownership to a formerly disenfranchised neighborhood.
Oaxacan Indigenous Binational Front educates migrants about their rights and assists with improving wages and working conditions. With many Oaxacans migrating between the U.S. and Mexico, the coalition has offices and members in the two countries.
Barbara Miller and a coalition of local activists address the environmental and health consequence of mining are up against the physical damage of lead poisoning as well as community members' deep reluctance to speak out against the mining companies.
As part of a nearly 20-year movement to unionize janitors, immigrant workers in the Los Angeles area have won significant improvements including wage increases, insurance benefits and job security. Their team of seasoned organizers includes many former janitors. The organizers enable workers to overcome fear and apathy, speak out about low-pay and workplace mistreatment, join or form unions and demand change. Their strategies include the following:
In this Leadership Story, organizers from Justice for Janitors share what they say and do to engage workers in this successful movement for unionization and essential rights.
Regional AIDS Interfaith Network (RAIN) enables members of North Carolina's faith community to overcome fear and judgment about people with HIV/AIDS and to act on the policies of their national denominations. Since 1992, RAIN has trained over 2,600 volunteers while building a network of congregation-based teams. The teams care for individuals with HIV/AIDS while engaging in relationships that foster understanding and strengthen all involved. RAIN's approach includes the following:
This leadership story outlines RAIN's philosophy and the CareTeam model.
"When I first started, I of course saw this as a way to help a group of folks that I felt were marginalized, ostracized, and mistreated. But as I continue to work here, what I see is that I've ended up getting something back as well." Reverend Debbie Kidd, Director of CareTeams, RAIN
"I had been a lab tech at a hospital for seven years, and a lot of people there were afraid to go in and draw blood and things. I would go in and I just felt so sorry for people to have no visitors. It was just like everybody had a sad look on their face. I said 'That could be me. That could be my son. That could be my next-door neighbor. That could be us lying in that bed. And they need their blood drawn to find out what they needed just like anybody else.' So that stayed in my mind when I did go to a RAIN meeting. And after I prayed about it and got involved with a team. I knew for sure that it was something that God wants me to do." RAIN CareTeam Member
For over 15 years, Bill Rauch and the Cornerstone Theater Company have been creating theater productions that explore issues of race and prejudice. Members of the ensemble travel to communities throughout the country. They engage community members from all walks of life to help create and perform plays that reflect their local experiences and build bridges. The Company produces commissioned and contemporary works as well as classics. They are intentionally, even radically inclusive in the following ways:
In this leadership story, Bill Rauch and Cornerstone members offer examples of their productions and demonstrate how an arts organization can engage crucial community issues.
After Major League Soccer announced a plan to bring a team to Salt Lake City, the subsequent intergovernmental tensions with regard to funding and building a stadium caused the Major League Soccer to question their decision.
This is a leadership story about how PODER Activates Latino and African American communities to protect the earth and community health.
CASA of Maryland responds to the growing phenomenon of immigrants working as temporary laborers, ripe for exploitation. Going beyond services, CASA also develops workers as leaders in their communities and engages them in broader policy issues.
Project H.O.M.E. explores the emergence of leadership in the fight to end homelessness. This ethnographic study documents the struggles for family unification, fair housing, and human dignity, and the leadership that flourished in the organization.
The Laotian Organizing Project builds trust and leadership among Laotian refugees from tribal groups that do not have a history of interacting and for whom getting involved is both new and scary. Faced with industrial accidents impacting thier community and issues such as a lack of affordable housing or living-wage jobs, community members are speaking out and challenging traditional tribal conflicts and beliefs.
The Burlington Community Land Trust has a radical vision: to secure housing as a basic right. Through grassroots organizing, democratic leadership, and balancing opposing opinions, the trust enables low-income families to buy homes on land it owns.
CVH is an organization working to build power to improve lives of welfare recipients. CVH uses a multi-pronged strategy that includes public education, grass roots organizing, and training low-income people about their rights.
The Center for Young Women's Development employs young women just out of juvenile detention. The women learn about the roots of the social and political factors that have shaped them and their communities and engage in community activism.
Nebraska Appleseed Center's track record encompasses significant victories in public policy, from immigration to welfare. They also give individuals and community groups the legal tools they need to win on housing, labor and other struggles.
Junebug Productions enables artists, community members, and students to share their experiences of the Civil Rights Movement. The process creates opportunities to engage in art and social change activities to improve their quality of life.
FAC is a community development corporation that is a model for partnering with residents to create affordable housing and living-wage employment, form community benefit agreements with developers, and enable former prisoners to rejoin society.
Despite not holding a traditional leadership position, Denis Altvater works to reverse the poverty, school dropout rates, drug abuse and other damage done by hundreds of years of repression and prejudice; while preserving the Wabanaki Indian culture.
TROSA uses a social entrepreneurial model to provide services for substance abusers. The ethnography outlines TROSA's unique vision and methods, and explores how the organization practices leadership development as part of everyday life. The accompanying leadership story highlights how TROSA was able to pursue its goals.
Justice Now pushed hard for prison abolition while advocating for better health care and condition. They offer interns the opportunity to learn firsthand about prisoners'' human struggles as well as the policy implications of state sponsored violence.
This leadership story demonstrates how angry and grief stricken families of people incarcerated under mandatory drug sentencing laws are mobilized to put a face on injustice and build diverse alliances to combat mandatory minimums.
This story focuses on a coalition formed in the wake of the 1996 federal immigration policy reforms. This includes a shared approach to some service delivery as well as policy strategies and intentional development of new immigrant leaders.
The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission combines the tribes' cultural heritage with modern science and public policy strategies in the following ways: build capacity, remain united, develop guiding principles, and leadership planning.
The Northwest Federation of Community Organizations is engaged in the fight for social and economic justice. The ethnography focuses on the very personal process by which people begin to self-identify and act as leaders.
Faced with a local ordinance that would effectively ban mobile food stands, the story shows a longtime organizer for indigenous Mexican rights, helped to organize and mobilize taco vendors to fight back.
Lideres Campesinas empowered women farm workers to solve the problems of injustice in their communities. The ethnography addresses the organization's history, changes in leadership, community organizing; and pedagogical model.
This ethnography examines what can allow quality solidarity work to happen between organizations with diverse leadership and constituencies, and explore the history and lessons learned from the collaborative work between the two organizations.
This leadership story describes how, with the powerful motivation of community survival, the Black AIDS Institute is raising the participation of African-Americans in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Grassroots leaders secured funding to build affordable housing, enabled immigrants to become U.S. citizens and created a welfare to work center for living-wage jobs. Through these efforts the community focused on leadership development.
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center has woven together a powerful network focused on refugee and immigration policy and practice. It builds the capacity of grassroots groups to deliver services and serves as a conduit for political advocacy.
FANM have been providing direct service, leadership development and advocacy programs for Miami's Haitian women. FANM also builds relationships with organizations representing divers ethnic groups, enabling it to impact public policies.
In the context of the developing generational divide in contemporary African-American social life, this study examines the program Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers (AIM) and its successes and challenges in transitioning youth to leadership.
This case examines the net employment effect of NAFTA over its first ten years, given widely varying measurement approaches and conclusions, and can be incorporated into public policy courses to analyze the employment implications of NAFTA.
This case is intended to help students explore the strategies associations and non-profit organizations can use to significantly change the environment in which they operate and thus the services they provide the public.
The Hartland Memorial Hospital case is a two-part exercise with related but different learning objectives.
Part A is an "inbox" simulation which requires students to understand and address a number of managerial/organizational issues in the case, including:
Overriding the simulation are issues around values and work-family balance, i.e., juggling multiple demands, both job-related and non-job related. The inbox exercise is intended to give insight into organizational dynamics and the pressures and conflicts affecting a busy senior hospital manager.
Part B presents the same situation as Part A, but asks the students to now approach the case from an organizational diagnosis and social network analysis standpoint, considering the inbox material as information to understand communication flows and forces impinging on the organization, from the perspective of the senior hospital executive. Issues implicit in Part B include:
The Hartland Memorial Hospital case is designed for first-year graduate students in hospital/health care administration, but can also be used with advanced undergraduates and graduate students interested in management of complex organizations.
This case contains themes pertinent to policy analysis, science and public policy, public management, and ethics. It can facilitate a rich discussion that can last 45-70 minutes, but it is suitable to shorter, more focused discussion of specific issues as well.
Covers the history of the Pacifica Foundation of California, including a detailed description of interpersonal conflict between 1993 and 2000. This case explores the relationship between organizational behavior and organizational design.
The decision cases in this collection differ from the cases commonly used in social work education. Whatever their experience with the case method of teaching or with end-of-life care, most instructors will benefit from the extensive teaching notes written for each of the cases.
At the monthly meeting of the beach cities chief of police meeting a relatively new member to the group proposes the regionalization of SWAT services. The lack of response to his proposal leaves the chief wondering "what happened and what next?".
After two unsuccessful attempts to appeal the decision to allow a merger between Superior Propane and ICG Propane, the Canadian Commissioner of Competition is left wondering where and how policymakers should define the line between efficiency and equity. It can be used in courses on cost-benefit analysis, antitrust policy, law and economics, or policy analysis.
This case demonstrates the value and the risks of public dispute resolution efforts. In 1997, the Texas legislature accidentally repealed Senate Bill 1704, which exempted thousands of acres of undeveloped land from Austin, Texas' stringent water quality guidelines. Faced with the near-certainty that the law would be reinstated during the next legislative session, Austin's Mayor Kirk Watson and council assembled a focus group of developers and environmentalists to help in developing a local ordinance that would satisfy both sides and preempt further legislative meddling. The law was scheduled for repeal in only six weeks, and public scrutiny was intense.
Case A describes the political and legislative background, the decision to form a focus group, and the group's deliberations and final product - a draft ordinance designed to replace the state law and balance the needs of developers and environmentalists. Case B briefly describes public reaction to the draft. Lastly, Case C describes the mayor and council's efforts to improve the draft and resolve the dispute.
This case shows why integrative bargaining is more difficult than mere compromise. It demonstrates the potential and risks of public dispute resolution processes, and the need for public managers and policymakers to examine the details closely to determine what each side can and cannot afford to give up. It has been used successfully in courses on local government policy and management, leadership, and dispute resolution.
The case begins in Spring 2007 with Paul Shoemaker and Ruth Jones, the respective executive directors of Social Venture Partners (SVP) Seattle and Social Venture Partners International (SVPI). It chronicles the history of SVP Seattle and the subsequent formation of SVPI, the international network of SVP affiliates. The case contrasts the ambitious goals for the exponential growth of SVPs in 2001 to the moderate growth it had actually achieved by 2007. In doing so, it presents positive and negative opinions from affiliate and network leaders on the organization's past choices and future potential. These perspectives help to frame questions about the organization's development since formation related to replication and scale, sustainability, and leadership.
The purpose of this case is to analyze the challenges of nonprofit organizational development in the context of an international membership organization. It specifically looks at a network moving from early, internally focused stages of development toward a stronger focus on scale and a higher level of sophistication on the impact level. This case is applicable to courses focused on nonprofit management and/or organizational development that seek to explore program design decisions for replication and scale of national or international organizations. It provides opportunities to evaluate the organizational strategies, capacity, and structure of an affiliate membership organization balancing local and network-wide needs. The case can also be used for classes that focus on entrepreneurship and human resources issues around shared leadership and management. It encourages discussion of challenges and opportunities in areas of leadership, infrastructure, capacity building, affiliate service delivery, determination of brand standards, funding, and expanded programs in achieving higher levels of scale.
Additionally, this case provides information and history for the venture philanthropy model utilized by Social Venture Partners. It offers some background on different types of grants, unrestricted funds to build capacity and restricted funds (primarily for programs or projects).
This case was prepared by Leslie Dozono, MPA, under the supervision of David S. Harrison and Cory Sbarbaro at the Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington. The author and the Electronic Hallway are grateful for the cooperation from the staff and leaders of the Social Venture Partner organizations.
Focuses on the academic, administrative, local and regional issues surrounding a county school board's failed attempt to partner with a local college and successful partnering with an out-of- state University in creating a dual enrollment program.
Examines the negative impact high turnover and increased workloads can have on employee morale and output. The case is ideal for role play; the characters reflect the changing age, gender, and educational level dynamics of the current workforce.
This case is about dealing with community attitudes toward growth. It is told from the viewpoint of a county commissioner who is dealing with townships coping with encroachment from cities and restrictions from the County and the regional planning agency.
The goal of this case is for the student to realize that budgetary preparation is not merely a quantitative exercise but has real ethical human consequences. This case is unique in that the emphasis on budgeting occurs at the departmental/agency level rather than at a wider jurisdictional level.
Legacy Parkway and Preserve follows stakeholders as they negotiate an agreement to alleviate current and predicted congestion while dealing with environmental concerns on the Davis County Corridor.
This case highlights the political challenges contemporary urban school leaders face, it can be used in courses that focus on Education Policy, Political Representation, and Leadership and Management.
This case outlines 2V/ACT's strategic planning process and the challenges the organization faced in implementing the plan. Primary objectives include:
This case sensitizes readers to the political dynamics that surround intra-organizational performance auditing and illustrates the complex problems that arise when organizations attempt to use performance as a basis for service delivery decisions.
Hurricane Katrina resulted in a tragic humanitarian disaster due to a decades-long combination of government action and inaction. In this sense, it was a preventable disaster.
The purpose of this case is to discuss the conditions and resources required for empowering historic fishing communities, how to fulfill these requirements, and to what extent the ideas presented can be applied to present-day fishing communities.
This case looks at the future of Residential Habilitation Centers in WA State and explores problem-solving approaches to a highly emotional issue, involving multiple constituents, federal and state laws, and state and federal service systems.
The dilemma facing a citizens' organization formed to support creation of a large new city park. The organization has developed many policy and advocacy options, and must now decide the best approach.
This case follows Greg Nickels as he navigates how the King County Board of Health will address reporting individuals with HIV.
As urbanization increases, the potential for conflict between urban and agricultural interests grows. In Salem, Oregon, an Audubon Society report expressed concerns about pesticide use on agricultural lands that were part of Minto Brown Island Park. The report recommended that the city of Salem ban the use of pesticides known to cause health or environmental damage. R.G. Andersen Wyckoff, president of the Salem Parks Advisory Board, felt the issue could turn into a divisive conflict between farming and nonfarming interests in the Salem community. This case presents Andersen Wyckoff's dilemma as he decided what action to take to alleviate tensions between environmental and agricultural concerns. By working through this case, students consider and discuss varying perceptions about pesticide use by farmers while evaluating data concerning pesticides. In addition to enhanced awareness of pesticides and controversy surrounding their use, students also gain appreciation of the need for improved communication between agricultural and nonagricultural interests.
This case offers students the opportunity to practice defining the unique needs of a diverse population, and translating this definition into effective program design and service delivery.
This case focuses on Casa Amiga, a nonprofit organization struggling to address a growing trend of violence against women in Juárez, Mexico a town situated directly on the U.S.-Mexico border. Casa Amiga is guided by its overall mission of eliminating and preventing the different forms of oppression that affect women, particularly violence. To this end, Casa Amiga has been working towards two primary goals: to end a string of violent murders affecting women in Juárez, and to highlight the critical services the center offers to women suffering from domestic and sexual violence.
Casa Amiga operates in a culturally complex international environment in which economic, cultural, and political divisions complicate and constrain the options available to the case's protagonist, Esther Chávez Cano. Good policy and management in this context requires careful consideration of diverse viewpoints and creative thinking about options that will be workable for multiple constituencies in a turbulent environment. The case will ask students to analyze the complex operating environment in which Esther must work and assess the opportunities and threats inherent in relationships between the various stakeholders and how these relationships can help further Casa Amiga's goals. Additionally, the case requires students to develop concrete organizational strategies and analyze specific advocacy alternatives that take into account diverse perspectives, issues of social justice, and political constraints and opportunities.
This case can be taught in nonprofit management, NGO, strategic management courses and courses on gender and human rights to engage students in thinking about how a nonprofit organization can effectively achieve its goals at a local, national, and international level amidst a situation of dire human rights violations. The case covers such major topics as:
The case represents a variety of interests and how these interests change over the course of time. The case is structured to fit into one 80-minute class period.
The challenges facing the founder and executive director of a small nonprofit organization related to organizational growth, issue advocacy, and board development.
Difficult market conditions have made flu vaccine production and distribution a perennial problem in the US. Students are challenged to define the public interest and outline policies to secure the production and distribution of a public good.
The dilemma facing a city government agency manager who must figure out how to implement a bold new policy that the mayor has recently announced to the public.
Chicago Public School's CEO wants to implement a new budgeting system in the district called the Weighted Student Formula (WAF), or per-pupil budgeting, and then add certain weights depending on student need.
Air Force Materiel Command (A) & (B) are about the intellectual work that managers do to design and change organizational purposes and practices.The cases deal with dilemmas facing a new commander of a huge, support organization, in danger of losing control of its destiny.
The Welcome Pole case involves public arts management, public administration, nonprofit management, Native American tribal politics, and murder-for-hire, among many other intersecting issues
This case presents the challenges facing Seattle city council member Tom Weeks, who is interested in improving service delivery and cost-effectiveness in city services.
With society becoming increasingly wary of conventional chemical pest control methods, this case looks at some decisions around the use of biological control approaches using microorganisms, insects, or diseases for pest management.
A local Philippine organization collaborates with PATH, an international nonprofit organization to implement an environmental management project. This case gives students an opportunity to consider the dilemmas that commonly arise in institutional relationships between culturally dissimilar organizations.
The Chief Executive Officer of a rural nonprofit regional referral health system located in north central Arkansas is confronted with the closure of a rural hospital in his service area. He has to make a difficult decision that involves weighing his mission obligation to serve the north central area population against his fiduciary responsibilities to the health system he manages.
A case about the importance of the judiciary in American politics and how a few dedicated feminist activists in Minnesota mobilized large numbers of men and women to open the judiciary to women.
The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition must decide whether to sign a negotiated agreement for constitutional change without the electoral reforms that allowed the group to be represented at the peace talks.
The case tells the story of how a simple project to raise HIV awareness among sex workers evolved into a larger project that sought to empower one of the most marginalized populations in Bangladesh to fight for their basic human rights.
This case describes the challenges facing the new city auditor of a newly created department within city government, as she begins to define the vision for her department and is presented with her first audit request.
Describes a conflict between historic preservation and economic development in Malaysia in a multicultural environment where issues of race, religion and economic class complicate the preservation versus development debate.
Mapping can become, with the use of this note, a systematic and theoretically sound tool for managers and leaders, one of the basic building blocks of sound leadership analysis and development of organizational strategies and management tactics.
Hazard Perry County Community Ministries redefine the interrelated problems facing their community. They create solutions through building partnerships, addressing the underlying issues, and following through with service delivery.
This case covers challenges of varied stakeholder groups cooperating to solve serious health and environmental problems in one of the largest cities in the world, both English and Spanish versions are posted on the website.
The events that led to the bankruptcy of the San Antonio Symphony illustrate conflicting goals that nonprofits face, addressing both financial viability of their organizations and artistic and cultural views of how nonprofits should operate.
How should a complex public organization such as a public university respond to changes in the organizational environment when there are many "voices" with power to speak on emerging public issues that affect the university in different ways?
This teaching note accompanies the Mikhukhu People case, which is available from the Kennedy School of Government, and it demonstrates how to determine the mission of a nonprofit organization amid shifting political circumstances and market demands.
The dilemmas and escalating crises facing a new executive director of a small, multipurpose nonprofit, plus the particular challenges of taking charge after a popular founder/executive director leaves. The case presented an overview of general management responsibilities and some basic principles of board management and staff relationships.
This case, taking place in an urban transit system, provides an excellent vehicle for teaching about crisis management of circumstances. Difficult systems and cultural problems require attention, as do immediate safety and public confidence issues.
The executive director and the board president of a religiously affiliated nonprofit social service agency struggle with employee and donor demands to endorse the boycott of a local business.
A development project leads a rural Philippine village into setting up a cooperative to build a fish sanctuary. Farmers and fishermen fall out over raising the necessary capital, leaving the village in disharmony and the project facing death.
A skeptical consultant sets out to evaluate a rural development project and discovers it to be a genuine success, then ponders how to analyze its strengths and write a report that will help similar initiatives gain support.
A county administrator carefully prepares a plan to replace a deteriorating elementary school with a new building that meets current safety and environmental standards, but voters scuttle authorization of the bond issue needed to finance it.
This note, by The Evans School’s J. Patrick Dobel, Harvard’s Richard Elmore, and Evans graduate Laurie Werner, covers memo writing in depth—audience, organization, writing, and language—plus notes on email.
The incoming president of a nonprofit organization makes putting its financial affairs in order her first priority but runs into opposition from her board and has to address miscommunication between "accountants" and "artists" among the members.
Harvard's Joseph S. Nye, a senior public policy professor with an extensive background in high-level public service, outlines ten critical considerations to apply in urging higher-ups toward action.
A widely published and skilled writer, experienced in government, research, and teaching, presents a powerful tool for accomplishing writing tasks. Written by UC Berkeley's Michael O'Hare, its form exemplifies the concept.
In brief memo form, longtime writing and communication teacher John Boehrer lays out systematic steps in writing memos and details key features that make them effective.
Early in his teaching career at a graduate school of public affairs, an assistant professor leading a management case discussion is brought up short by an African-American student's objection to "racism" in the case text. It is suitable for discussion in faculty groups focusing on teaching about diversity, leading discussion on charged subjects, and leading discussion among diverse participants.
This is a short, nontechnical case about a local official trying to site a landfill. Although written about Eastern Europe, the case might as well take place in the United States. The case primarily illustrates the role, skills, and patience required of public leaders who seek to resolve such issues. The case also illustrates problems communities and public managers face in the newly democratized countries of Central and Eastern Europe. By examining the story of a city government in Poland facing widespread community resistance to its landfill siting plans, students grapple with the notion of collective good vs. individual or neighborhood interests. Class discussion can focus on strategies for building community consensus around controversial issues, while analyzing the costs (to public leaders and institutions) of simply using government power to force community acquiescence. The case can be taught very effectively in one to two hours. It is suitable for U.S. or Eastern European audiences and would be excellent in a basic course about consensus building or environmental policy and management.
This case was written by Piotr Obraniak, who teaches negotiation and public relations at the Higher School of Local Government and Public Administration in Lodz, Poland. His other activities include working with Polish government agencies to design recruitment and training programs for public officials. Professor Obraniak researched and wrote this case as part of the 1994-95 Case Project for Central and Eastern Europe, a faculty and curriculum development initiative conducted by the Cascade Center for Public Service and funded by the Institute for Local Government and Public Service in Budapest, Hungary. The case was supervised by John Boehrer and Jon Brock.
The assistant to the director of a state welfare division applies research design and a variety of statistical skills in seeking to determine the causes of recidivism affecting the state's welfare caseload.
A doctoral student takes the opportunity of a "natural experiment" to investigate whether public transportation systems that facilitate "reverse commuting" might provide a policy response to the problem of urban unemployment.
A team of Japanese medical experts and their Thai counterparts disagree on the priorities of a health project focused on HIV/AIDS care and prevention. As it nears completion, the question becomes how to evaluate the project's impact.
Five transit agencies contend with conflicting agendas and technical complexity while sorting out cross boundary fare payment and collection in preparation for the launch of regional transportation service.
This case was developed to enable students to form a sense of the complexity of the public manager's role in steering a major transformation effort while providing essential services in a turbulent political environment.
An award winning public agency development group applies innovative approaches to transportation issues. The group's success in using private sector concepts and public-private partnerships transforms the agency's outlook on providing services.
A privately funded cross age tutoring program enlists high schoolers as coaches to improve the reading skills of elementary school students. Interpreting impact and achieving more informative evaluation prove challenging for the program manager.
A local nonprofit organization's rapid success at applying a venture capital approach to philanthropy creates widespread interest in replicating its model in other cities.
EPA's careful planning of a Superfund cleanup encounters community and Congressional opposition organized by an environmental advocacy group. Escalating conflict, years of delay, and mediation followed by a questionable outcome result.
A non-profit organization employs a variety of advocacy strategies that work in concert with those of other activists to advance the policy objective of debt relief for poor countries while achieving broader organizational goals.
Undertaking major social service reform during the 90's, Missouri seeks to deliver more family centered services and achieve a greater level of partnership with local governments and nonprofit organizations.
Bottlenecks and poor use of personnel severely limit service at a rural clinic, greatly inconveniencing patients and staff. Students learn how to analyze resource imbalances and alter policies and production flow to improve service.
This case looks at the ethical challenges one manager faces as he attempts to create productive a relationship with his board while maintaining loyalty to and from staff. Lessons in local government, ethics, management and dealing with boards.
This case is a popular exercise illustrating issues in government/nonprofit contracting. Especially interesting in light of current discussions about contracting out government services.
This case deals with achieving consensus when different program elements within an institution compete for limited private funding, a situation that finds parallels in the public agency budget process, or in multifaceted nonprofit institutions where funding is competitive.
The primary objectives of this case are to involve the class in a hands-on exercise, to practice facilitation skills, and to consider the kinds of managerial decisions that are appropriate for this type of process.
Another important objective is to demonstrate that agreement and consensus may not result in the "best" or even a "good" decision, without careful consideration and acceptance of broader organizational goals.
Comparison of the agreements reached by the student groups usually suggests that the operative criterion was that everyone should get a "fair share." Class focuses on the degree to which this should be a priority and how to avoid consensus processes that result merely in "divvying up" resources.
Set in rural Wyoming, this is a multi-faceted consolidation case, which depicts the efforts of Holy Family Hospital and Gorsich General Hospital to reduce operating costs by combining services. Assisted by a consulting team, hospital administrators must decide the extent of their consolidation efforts. This case provides a glimpse into a highly charged and complex scenario, which shows the conflict between the hospital's potential savings and the ideological/cultural conflicts of the involved parties. Students gain valuable insight into the controversial political conflicts that could result in a merger between a Catholic hospital and a secular institution with a community ownership base. The scenario is further complicated by hospital staff that are opposed to any kind of consolidation for a fear of job loss. Conservative independent physicians, who favor "pure competition" and the benefits they currently receive from a two hospital system, also present a serious obstacle to integrating hospitals.
This is an excellent case for teaching students about the complexities involved in merging institutions and forming affiliations. It is also a valuable exercise to convey lessons in culture conflicts and the importance of retaining a hospital's mission while accommodating other's divergent values.
"Hospital Consolidation," was excerpted from "Ambulatory Health Care: Case Studies for the Health Services Executive" an anthology of health administration teaching cases edited by the University of Washington's Austin Ross.
Written in an interview format, this case illustrates the dilemmas and opportunities faced by a mid-level county manager seeking to improve the performance of a community planning division. The case can be used effectively to explore: the use of the budget as a management tool; building credibility and winning support in a politically charged environment; and identifying and seizing opportunities for reform within an agency.
Hired to head a unit about which internal staff, external constituents, and elected officials have no clear sense of mission, the manager featured in the case must improve her unit's programmatic performance and secure its budgetary future. She effectively uses the county budgeting process as part of a larger organizational strategy to build a cohesive and effective staff team, to reform the way in which her unit carries out and communicates its mission, and to solidify the unit's importance in the eyes of internal and external constituencies. This case is told entirely from the perspective of a protagonist who successfully employs pragmatic strategies to bring about change in a complex bureaucratic environment.
Examines accountability at several levels within social service and intergovernmental grant programs for 'special needs' children. Asks students to define problems carefully before offering solutions.
Taking place in a unit of a state public welfare agency, a new manager must come to terms with a growing case backlog in a confused, out of control case system. The manager decide how to allocate or expand the capacity of constrained resources.
A secretary's shortcomings appear to be causing problems, but closer inspection finds weaknesses from other sources. Develops skills for analyzing and fixing a weak organizational culture.
Engages class to find cost saving and performance improvements in providing outside medical care for inmates. The case demonstrates how to identify simple changes that can lower costs and improve performance.
Controversial waterfront development project involving diverse opinions from city council members. Valuable lessons in management, dealing with boards and councils, development and implementation, and conflict resolution.
Students gain insight into the subtle and unsubtle mechanics of state health politics and how they affect managed care demonstration projects. Also familiarizes students with fee-for-service provider plans and programs for low-income consumers.
In the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, the newly elected Clinton administration attempts to balance competing foreign policy interests in successive decisions about renewing China's most-favored-nation (MFN) trading status.
City government seeks affordable daycare for municipal workers' children. This two part exercise reinforces key concepts in public budgeting through practice in applying them, and develops skills in spreadsheet use for budgeting and analysis.
A dispute over fisheries conservation in the Northwest Atlantic leads to the first ever military confrontation between Canada and Spain. Negotiations involving the European Union lead to an agreement in which both sides claim victory.
Agency head develops strategic, inclusive budget process in response to drastic federal cutbacks. A powerful example of internal and external consensus building under extreme pressure, as well as insight into political aspects of good budgeting.
Eastern European NGO is tempted to violate its own policies by granting a special request from the country's president, and must face political forces not easily dismissed. In addition to its focus on the conflict between organizational and political priorities, this case can be used to illustrate principles of crisis management and staff/board relations.
Seven Letters is a classic case that dramatizes the perennial dilemmas of budgeting in a public agency, and illuminates the contrasting perspectives of program managers and budget officials. The sequence of documents going back and forth between program agency and budget office provides a provocative stimulus for exploring the tensions and release valves in the relationship between key players in governmental budgeting. The escalating rhetoric prompts discussion of better ways to communicate, by first understanding one's own role, perspective, and priorities, and then those of the other. While simplified, and brought up to date with minor modifications, the documents are taken from an actual exchange that is so timeless the case could just as well be titled "Seven E-Mails."
By engaging in observation, critique, and revision of this documented dialogue, both pre- and mid-career students, budget experts and novices alike, can gain insight into the management of key relationships and the process of bureaucratic problem solving. The case is used in Masters degree courses and mid-level executive programs in budgeting, often as the basis of an introductory discussion. Such classes frequently include budget professionals as well as program managers, and the exchange in class can be highly illuminating to both. The case also yields general lessons about bureaucratic rivalries and turf wars, and about how common practices and reactions can be counterproductive to organizational goals and destructive of the trust and communication necessary to work in a system of divided powers.
The exemplary, insightful teaching note by Arn Howitt of the Kennedy School of Government will assist budgeting course instructors in leading students to gain a clearer perception of the power and influence among players in the budget process, and to play a more effective role in allocating resources to public programs.
Seven Letters was written by Edwin O. Stene of the University of Kansas and published originally in "Public Administration Review." It appears on the Electronic Hallway by permission, and through the courtesy, of the American Society for Public Administration.
A United Nations hydrologist discovers the political complexity of adopting an environmentally sound riparian resource plan for the Zambezi River, which flows through eight African nations. The case asks students to identify the political problem or problems threatening a technically sound environmental plan.
State legislators argue policy on flying the Confederate flag at the capitol building. The case examines an ongoing public controversy and how leaders and policy makers handle symbolic issues in the context of political management.
This three part case forces students to grapple with the complex decision to cut costs by downsizing. Students then explore what leadership must do to implement continuous quality improvement and rebuild staff morale.
Provocatively describes circumstances of contracting out janitorial services in an environment of political patronage and limited resources. Explores contract management issues.
New manager scrambles to cope with day-to-day crises while trying to take on new tasks. How does she create organizational capacity in this situation? What should she do when problems persist?
Does a growing arts organization have the management skill and structure to survive its success? This case examines board dynamics, development issues, and board effectiveness.
The hospital must cut costs, and shift from a primary nursing model of patient care to an integrated practice model. This case explores working with a grant to reorganize, and to implement new programs with an interdisciplinary approach.
A century old environmental conservation nonprofit undergoes major organizational change from volunteer leadership to professional management. The case enables analysis of multiple perspectives on major organizational change over time: from systems, structure, and strategy to deeper cultural issues.
Senior citizens ask the city council to put a crosswalk outside their apartment building, so they can cross a busy street safely. The city's traffic engineer finds the crosswalk unwarranted according to nationally accepted traffic safety standards.
The case reveals the practical and ethical tensions inherent in many grassroots based advocacy organizations between sustaining the grassroots membership and supporting a professional staff who must effectively interact with the relevant policy elite.
This case provides students with an excellent opportunity to make decisions and plan strategy for two important phases of the life cycle of a new nonprofit technology service organization.
A hospital CEO must lower costs in a regional burn care unit while averting a nurses' strike. Use data on patient acuity classification, scheduling, and skill mixes to devise a strategy that will enhance nurses' long-term job satisfaction.
Legislative committee chair tries to separate two administration witnesses. Emphasis on different viewpoints of career civil servants and appointees, and dynamics when legislature and executive are controlled by opposing parties.
A political appointee pressures a seasoned career official to authorize an unethical contract. The official's judgment and experience steer the appointee clear of a dangerous course, and end up winning his respect.
An environmental role-play in which a multi-party committee employs a negotiated rule making process to achieve consensus. Recommended for students already introduced to negotiation and who have background in economics and management dilemmas.
This short piece richly conveys the essence of cases, the critical tasks of case teaching and case writing, and the key indicators of quality in both case texts and class discussions.
"Maintaining Mission" describes the efforts of Providence Portland Medical Center (a hospital with a strong religious mission) to control expenses by redesigning its patient care services at the patient care/nursing unit level. This case makes a significant contribution to our understanding of what it takes to manage large hospital bureaucracies.
This complex role-play presents valuable lessons in restructuring and downsizing, joint hospitals and affiliations, negotiation, demographic changes and management under pressure.
When an aid worker arrives in remote Nepal, she discovers that local politics of ethnicity, gender and caste may be incompatible with the ideals of the development agency.
With a focus on daily operations, this piece shows students viable alternatives to "command control" management styles. Accompanied by thorough teaching notes, this four page case provides important lessons in the politics of the administration of small integrated practices and creating accountability for production through local tracking systems.
This exercise is an intricately structured role-play about a development project in Zimbabwe. Summarizing a donor agency's efforts to plan and analyze the most effective measures for improving conditions for underprivileged segments of a rural society, this exercise offers a look at the interaction of government officers, non-government organizations, local farmers and specialists from many fields, as they work out the details of an aid project. Students learn to cultivate sophisticated problem-solving skills and to grapple with the complex technical and sociological considerations related to institution building in a developing country.
Confronted with developing countries. They are also a wide array of approaches to solving problems which include crop development, livestock, water supply, diminishing natural resources and sanitation conditions in a rural African village, students are forced to work with the restrictions and limitations that exist ind to consider the importance of ordering criteria for project evaluation and how to adopt a set of approaches using these criteria. In the process of reaching a conclusion, students learn development concepts such as ownership, institution building, appropriate technology, women in development, and sustainability.
Accompanied by thorough teaching notes, this case is highly teachable and is designed for all students who are interested in development or third world issues. This exercise is especially suited for individuals who wish to study the structure and selection of projects, and the measure of a project's economic and social impact.
This two-part case is based on the history of South Korean development in the 1960s and 1970s. Designed for a course in the political economy of development, it focuses upon Korea's struggle to establish a modern, integrated steel mill—a highly political decision, which bordered on economic irrationality. This case depicts a story of success at a great personal cost to the nation and is an ideal introduction to the 'state or market' argument in development.
An organization in Japan that supports a language training institute in Myanmar (formerly Burma) finds resistance when it seeks to influence Japanese instruction methods at the institute.
Illustrates a typical situation of a developing country where privatization or commercialization of public authority has taken place. Students must search for ways to balance useful market forces with comprehensive government planning.
When a Japanese economic development advisor introduces management techniques that emphasize devolution of decision making, he finds Uruguayan managers decidedly unresponsive to his ideas.
A new technique for recreational shrimping sets off opposition from commercial shrimpers and concern among environmentalists, while the situation raises questions about an administrator.
Ann Branston, a white-collar professional, finds herself in charge of the large blue-collar workforce of the equipment maintenance division of the San Francisco public transit system, "Muni." Beginning with her arrival in the midst of a serious service delivery crisis for the transit system, this three part case traces Branston's actions during her five year tenure as deputy general manager. The A case sets the stage by outlining the service problems, organizational structure, human resources issues, political environment and the budgetary status of the unit. In the B case, Branston and her senior associates implement a successful strategy to solve a major problem, an excessive level of missed runs by the transit fleet. However, serious problems of fleet degradation emerge which are addressed by the development of a preventive maintenance program and other strategies outlined in the C case.
The "Muni" case is well suited to classes dealing with organizational change, particularly the role of crisis in facilitating structural change. It is conducive to numerous other discussions including but not limited to: the technical, political, bureaucratic, and behavioral aspects of management; comparisons of "hard" production processes like the transit technology to the "soft" processes of social programs; management priority setting and dealing with different organizational cultures and interpersonal styles; interagency cooperation; and gender similarities and differences in management.
Larry Frymire, founding Executive Director of New Jersey Public Television, opens the case pondering his sudden removal from his leadership post. The case details the first decade of the public television station's existence, during which the disparity increases between Frymire's sense of his role and of the station's mission, and that of his various constituencies, including a newly elected governor, recent commission appointees, and community representatives.
This classic case study offers a strong basis for classroom discussion of key attributes of public leadership such as: strategies for balancing political, operational and legislative obligations and constraints; responsiveness to executive and legislative branches and constituency groups; and managing effectively in a changing political and cultural environment. This case may be taught effectively in conjunction with such Electronic Hallway system case studies as "Leadership Change in the Division of Cultural Programs" or with the Kennedy School case, "Job Corps." Students then have the opportunity to compare the manager in this case with other leadership examples.
Conflict erupts when the Catholic Church seeks to reclaim a building that has housed a popular public school for almost fifty years based on a Hungarian law requiring localities to return all property to local religious orders. The case also prompts analysis of how local governments are caught between the dictates of nationally driven policy or regulation and the specific, unique needs of their own communities.
Role-play exercise in which a manager has to resolve a conflict over the annual vacation schedule. Illustrates and applies key principles of conflict resolution.
Set in the context of urban renewal, a classic case of a manager making a professional judgment that fails to adequately consider the political dimension.
After an environmental disaster, an agency's organizational weaknesses and dwindling political capital are laid bare. Students will see how strong leadership can use a crisis to redirect policy and restructure the organization.
Thought provoking compilation of objectives and reminders for making compelling presentations to senior officers and executives. Provides a practical outline of considerations to develop students' briefing and presentation skills.
A classic case of operational problems in delivering a service familiar to us all. Allows students to think practically and analytically about service quality and operational issues.
Describes utility's efforts to solve customer service failures and make transition to ambitious new recycling program requiring changes in citizen, as well as agency, behavior.
Operations management and customer service in a political environment are crucial skills for public and non-profit managers. The Snow Removal case is a classic in public administration for teaching ways to analyze operational circumstances. To many students and instructors, analyzing capacity and demand often seem daunting. But this case, and a companion case on service delivery systems Case Processing of Welfare Assignment Collections allows plain language, low-math skills approaches, which take into account important dimensions of politics and resources. In a compelling presentation of how to deal with the seeming unpredictability of a snowstorm (which could shed light on how to prepare for other seemingly unpredictable circumstances), the case provides a backdrop for teaching students:
The case is used in warm weather and cold weather areas of the country with nearly equal success.
Professor Stephen Rosenthal of Boston University School of Management, one of the originators of using operations management concepts for assessing and improving public services, wrote this case. The case first appeared in Managing Government Operations Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Co., 1982, and the concepts were later discussed in "Producing Results in Government Programs: Moving Beyond Project Management and its Limited View of Success" Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 8 (1) (Winter 1989)
With conflicts over development, environmental protection and economic growth heating up across the nation, and citizens groups everywhere becoming more organized, sophisticated and influential, this case's themes and issues are familiar even to people without any knowledge of or experience in land use and zoning. The conflicts have a ring of truth; the characterizations of the various interest groups and their initial concerns, needs, fears and positions are realistic and credible.
Presents a group of career civil servants and each individual's approach to engaging or reacting to political appointees who may be hostile to current agency policies and practices.
A civilian air traffic radar facility is proposed in a popular recreational forest and the local administrator must confront hostile environmental, political, and grass roots opposition in a region of newly democratic Poland.
Compelling history of the EPA's first administrator and his influence on the mission and direction of the agency. Describes external pressures and political landscape of U.S. environmental policy and how a senior manager sets agency strategy.
National Student Aid Board is inefficient almost to the point of collapse. Case describes the fundamental transformation that restored the agency, and elicits discussion of problem definition, organizational productivity, and operational capacity.
For both new and experienced case method instructors. This essay uses a single case as a point of departure to richly discuss some of the most basic issues in case teaching.
This three part case chronicles a philosophical and practical shift in services to children and families at the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS), and the resulting collaborative process for change across distinct human service jurisdictions.
Role-play exercise teaching subtle and practical lessons about legislative/executive relations and strategies for making progress on program issues through legislative processes.
As U.S. involvement in Somalia disintegrates, Clinton administration policy on multilateral peace operations evolves from an expansionist view of UN peacekeeping to a more limited perspective on its role in U.S. national security and defense.
Traces the unsuccessful efforts of many, in and out of government, to solve lead poisoning of poor New York City children. Gordon Chase confronts the dilemma.
A simulation exercise on environmental issues. Students experience the process of conflicts and the personal responses that both cause and result from it. Teaches key principles in conflict resolution and multiparty negotiations.
The case describes the situation as newly appointed commissioner walks into it her roll in Department of Juvenile Justice, including the internal tensions and significant operational problems in every division, the agency's history of bad press and feuds with City Hall. This case illustrates strategic analysis and management's role in change.
On the eve of an inspector general's critical report to a hostile Congress, HEW faces the dilemma of how to handle the fallout. This case may be used as a vehicle to discuss press relations and how public managers should frame an issue for the media.