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Public Accountability and Governance

Module description

This module will allow students to analyse the impacts of various institutional structures and tools for public accountability that shape public employees’ attitudes and behaviours. It will also deal with evaluation techniques that are essential to measure the impacts of policy and institutions. Public accountability is a leading theme in the current discussion of public management, both in theory and practice. The desire for better accountability system has been key to citizen satisfaction and government efficiency. It has been reflected in most major public management agendas such as the New Public Management and Modernizing Government. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will introduce you to the concepts of public accountability in public organizations as well as policy evaluation techniques, which are essential to measure the impact of public accountability. The emphasis is on the intellectual foundation and practices of public accountability including performance management, civil service appointment, and decentralization. It will also provide you with knowledge of subfields of public accountability, such as government reform, evaluation, and managerial leadership. By the end of the module, you will be able to understand how we can ensure that bureaucrats are accountable to the citizenry. Ensuring bureaucratic accountability and integrity may be challenging in a decentralized, outsourced, networked government system.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Analyse impacts of public accountability and develop strategies to hold public organizations accountable
• 2. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of using public accountability tools in public organizations
• 3. Articulate contemporary models and perspectives of subfields related to public accountability including public values, organizational behaviour, and leadership in public organizations

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Contribute to meaningful and critical comments on academic literature in public management and policy
• 5. Understand policy evaluation designs and their limitations in academic papers
• 6. Apply theoretical concepts in public management and policy to real-world cases and practices

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Deliver complex ideas clearly and concisely through writing
• 8. Communicate and interact ideas productively with diverse colleagues and audiences

Syllabus plan

• Introduction of public accountability: background, tools, and up-to-date issues
• Civil service appointment system: political appointees, political tools to hold public organizations accountable
• Performance-based accountability: performance management system and feedback process
• Individual and organizational responses to public accountability: individual and group behaviours,  organizational climates, and unethical behaviours
• Decentralization: the relationships among parliament, central government, local government, and other types of public organizations
• Empirical models measuring and appraising organizational policy and institution outcomes

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Bovens, M. A. P., Goodin, R. E., & Schillemans, T. (Eds.). (2014). The Oxford handbook public accountability. Oxford handbooks.
• James, O., Moynihan, D. P., Olsen, A. L., & Van Ryzin, G. G. (2020). Behavioral public performance. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
• Lewis, D. E. (2010). The politics of presidential appointments: Political control and bureaucratic performance.

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Academic papers related to performance management published in prominent journals

Key words search

Public Administration, Government, Accountability, Public Policy, Policy Evaluation