Theories and Research Methods for Public Administrations

The program consists of two Teaching Units (a+b) of 20 hours each.

Teaching Program - Unit (a)

The first Unit is devoted to introducing the fundamental concepts for analysing Public administration as a complex form of organisation in a functionally differentiated society such as the Western one. After illustrating the object of study, i.e. the public administration as a focus framework in the Public sector, which makes use of technology and human resources for the production of public goods, the main paradigms of organisational analysis useful for understanding public bureaucracies as complex organisations will be explained. The new paradigms of administrative organisation that are influencing the processes of change in Public administration, in Italy as in other countries in the Western world, will be introducted, from New Public Management to Public Governance and recent versions of the Neo-weberian State, will be examined. The theoretical framing of these themes takes place from the perspective of the existing relationship between the structures of modern society and bureaucratic organisations. An attempt will thus be made to relate the transformations of society, in their essential structure and dynamic evolution, with the analysis of the role and function of public administration.

Unit (a) - Topics
1- The organisational analysis of public administration: concepts and methods. Public administration as a complex organisation and form of social order. The Weberian bureaucratic idealtype and public bureaucracy as a rational organisation. Theories of organisation and theories of social order: individualist order and rational choice theory; systemic order, social evolution and functional differentiation.
2. Transformations of the bureaucratic idealtype: beyond Weber, from Merton, Goulder, Mintzberg, to Crozier and Williamson, to Luhmann and Weick. Bureaucratic dysfunctions and deviations from the Weberian bureaucratic ideatype, to the negotiated order and transaction costs of governance. The crucial relationship between bureaucratic organisation and environment: from the institutional to the systemic approach.
3. Neo-institutionalism and variants of the individualist approach: Coleman and Boudon (Neo-Weberian approaches to social order). Bureaucratic organisation as institution: the function of social norms. Stability and change, power and heterogenesis of ends. Organisation as a natural system according to Selznick. The bureaucratic organisational model: decision-making and planning; evaluation and control. The role of organisational leadership.
4- The bureaucratic organisation, organisational power, the negotiated order. The relationship between politics and administration and its contractualisation. The organisation between sources of uncertainty and organisational power: the formal and informal structure of organisations according to Crozier. The economic analysis of organisations according to Williamson: transaction costs, agency theory, strategic behaviour and actor opportunism. Organisational design in the light of contract theory.
5- The cultural model: administrative culture and change in public administration. Knowledge and learning. Information models. The community of practice and bureaucratic communication. Models of bureaucratic change. New paradigms of administrative organisation and change management. From New Public Management to Public Governance. Administering in terms of multilevel governance and stakeholder approach.
6- The ecological model: administration as a systemic environment. The system/environment distinction: first- and second-order cybernetics). The Luhmannian model of organisation. Administrative governance and vertical/horizontal governance. Weick's sensemaking and resilient organisations: organisations that govern change.
7- Recent trends. From the expansion to the crisis of welfarist bureaucracies, to a new 'comeback' (the new-found role of the public in the face of the pandemic emergency). From regulation to regulation. Towards a post-bureaucratic and post-Weberian public administration.
8- The organisation as an autopoietic system: Niklas Luhmann's systemic approach. Membership and motivation for organisational action. The paradox of organisational decision-making. Time factor and uptake of uncertainty. Decision-making premises and organisational programmes. Structural change in organisations. The self-description of the organisation. Organisational rationality. Organisation and complex society.

Teaching Program - Unit (b)

The second Unit is devoted to the methodological and theoretical investigation of behaviourist approaches to the study of Public administrations, which will be considered and examined in their evolution, starting with the introduction of the Weberian bureaucratic idealtype and relative deviations illustrated in Unit 1, and ending with the most recent perspectives inspired by cognitive sciences, behavioural analysis and "Nudging". First, the paradigm of bounded rationality (Simon) will be considered. Approaches originating from cognitive sciences (Kahneman, Gigerenzer, Weick, Thaler, Sunstein) will be examined, with particular attention to their application to Public policy design and performance management in Public administrations, with some case studies.

Unit (b) - Topics
1. Cognitive science, behavioural analysis and new actor models. From bounded rationality to decision-making heuristics. Expert decisions, uncertainty and intuitive decisions. Decision making and sense making. The use of the principles of "anticipation" and "restraint" in administrative behaviour.
2. Judgment and decision-making. Rational Choice Theory and Game Theory: Utility Theory Axioms under under conditions of certainty and uncertainty. Solutions of games in normal and extensive form: Strategic dominance, Nash equilibrium, Backward induction equilibrium, Subgames perfect equilibria.The nudging approach: nudge and liberal paternalism. Uncertainties of autonomous decision-making, unintended consequences of intentional actions and the harms to others principle.
3. Behavioural analysis of administrative systems to improve performance in public services: case studies (public management, health, education, environment etc.).
4. The nudgeathon: encouraging behavioural change at the system level. The behavioural public administration approach for improving managerial performance. Conflict, bargaining and negotiation in organisations.