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Contextualizing the MPA Learning Experience: Concepts and Practices

from Experience with Executive MPA Students from China and the United

Arab Emirates

Christopher A. Simon

J. Steven Ott

Melissa Y. Hall

University of Utah

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PURPOSES FOR THIS PAPER

• Describe and analyze the UofU’s experience adapting U.S. MPA curricula and courses for effective use with mid-career government managers in China and the UAE

• Explore how we can learn to teach U.S. MPA students more effectively in this era of rapid transition – learn from our experience interactively teaching students from other countries that are also undergoing rapid transition.

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1) Executive MPA Program at Zayed University,Abu Dhabi, UAE (“EMPA”)

12 courses over 24 months

A no-electives cohort model

Most courses are taught by instructors from Indiana U - SPEA and the U of Utah

Students are mid-career managers in municipal and emirate government

Students are nationals

Classes are fully co-educational

Instruction is in English

The MPA degree is from Zayed University

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Teaching An EMPA Course at ZU in Abu Dhabi

We (“foreign instructors”) fly to Abu Dhabi to teach face-to-face, 30 to 32 contact hours

2 days of teaching, 4 days off, 2days of teaching

Back to the U.S.

Individual and group assignments on Blackboard,

A final examination and a part-day videoconference

Courses are 6 calendar weeks in length

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2) A Leadership Program with the Government of Hainan Province, China (“HMPA”)

HMPA students are government (and a few NGO) mid-level managers nominated by their agency, pass TOEFL

Interviewed in Hainan by faculty from UofU, and a handwritten essay.

Must have a valid bachelor’s degree. Many already have master’s degrees from universities in China (including MPAs).

14 courses over 18 month in a no-electives cohort-model

Full-time, in residence in Salt Lake City

2 courses at a time for 6 weeks

The MPA degree is from the University of Utah

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Both of these MPA programs require their own country-specific adaptations, but the principles that underlie the

adaptations are similar and consistent with those proposed by Craig Shinn and Doug Morgan.

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Table 1:Comparing the MPA Curricula

Chris: I need technical assistance. I don’t know how to copy in Table 1 (2 slides probably) and keep the formatting.

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It is obvious from Table 1. The adaptation/contextualization is only minimally

in the choice of courses.

This reflects the strong intention of Hainan Province and Zayed University for their students-managers to experience a Western-style accredited (or accredit-able) master of public administration program.

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The adaptation lies in the course contents and, how courses are taught.

Example – HMPA at UofU

PADMN 6550, “The Nonprofit Sector and NGOs”

China’s attitude toward and policies governing NGOs have gone through waves of acceptance and suppression. We were extremely surprised when Hainan officials “insisted on” a course on NGOs.

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There appears to be growing sentiment among Hainan government officials that the province would benefit from a more vital NGO sector. The sector, however, must fit with the culture and political system of China.

Hainan officials wanted the HMPA students to have course on nonprofit organizations (NGOs) to provide ideas and insights from around the world for Hainan to consider.

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The Course Content and FlowPADMN 6550

1. Global Concepts and Principles. Generally accepted concepts, principles and/or criteria for identifying organizations as “nonprofit” or “nongovernmental” in developing as well as in developed nations around the globe (Salamon & Sokolowski 2004).

2. The U.S. Sector. What is distinctive about the nonprofit sector and nonprofit organizations in the United States and why? Historical factors that have shaped and continue to affect the sector. Current data, e.g., finances and capital, in the sector (Ott & Dicke, 2012).

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3. The Sector in China. The NGO sector’s history, current status, and reasons why. Challenges it faces in finding its place in China’s/Hainan’s society. The likelihood its role may be expanded to complement and supplement government in Hainan (Brødsgaard 2009).

4. The Sector In other Nations. The NGO sector’s history, current status, reasons for its history and current status, challenges. The likely future of the sector in selected other countries (Read, 2009). 5. What Hainan and China Might Import from Sectors in Other Countries. What ideas and insights might be adopted or adapted usefully and effectively in Hainan and China.

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Student Team Research Papers on the NGO Sectors In, for Example –

Argentina

Bangladesh

Brazil

Cambodia

France

India

Japan

Korea

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And, in PADMN 6550 for UofU Domestic MPA Students

The UofU MPA faculty could not help but use our new knowledge to introduce globalization into PADMN 6550 for domestic students. Now, 6550 introduces many key aspects of the sector internationally.

Including, HMPA students present papers to domestic MPA classes and lead the discussion/analysis.

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Second Example of Adaptation – EMPA at ZU

EMPA 511, “Strategic Leadership for Organizational Improvement” designed to provide skills in strategic planning, management and leadership.

Thus – mission, vision, strategic-transformative leadership, performance measurement, and radical organizational change.

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BUT

After teaching EMPA 511 twice, we learned that –

These skills would not be used by ZU EMPA students, most of whom are lower-middle-level to middle-level managers.

Very few public managers at these levels in the UAE have opportunities to participate in the design of strategic change processes.

They often are responsible for implementing changes, usually without having had a voice in the design or timing of the changes and resistance to changes is common.

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Repositioned EMPA 511 to --

The application of organizational behavior when initiating and leading incremental change.

Topics now – motivation principles and approaches; group dynamics as enhancers of and barriers to change; inter-group dynamics, including competition and cooperation; and sources and types of power in organizations.

Productivity and performance improvement strategies introduced but not emphasized.

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And Repositioned EMPA 510, “The Practice of Public Administration,” to –

A case-based course on the “nuts and bolts” of leading and managing incremental change. Builds upon EMPA 511. A course on the use of “management of change models” and “management tools” for implementing policy and organizational changes.

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However,

Essentially no cases existed about policy processes or the management of government in the UAE.

Writing original case studies is now a requirement for students in the “Capstone Seminar” (EMPA 599).

Many of these student-written cases have been edited and are used in other EMPA courses, including EMPA 510.

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The forces of globalization and associated rapid change have led Chinese and UAE public administrators –

- to place greater emphasis on MPA education in efforts to understand and cope with new demands on public and NGO administration.

- to a shared desire to learn from one another about methods to cope with rapid and pervasive change.

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And have led our faculty to –

- New perspectives about teaching in our domestic MPA courses.

- An appreciation that comparative public administration has become a source of ideas and insights about preparing U.S. students for work in public organizations.

- A realization that comparative public administration is providing a useful conceptual frame for strengthening our ability to teach domestic public and nonprofit managers.

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References

Brødsgaard, Kjeld Erik. (2008). Hainan – State, Society, and Business in a Chinese Province. London: Routledge.

Ott, J. Steven, & Lisa A. Dicke. (Eds.). (2012). The Nature of the Nonprofit Sector (2nd ed.). Boulder, Colo.: Westviw/Thompson.

Read, Benjamin L., with Robert Pekkanen. (Eds.). (2009). Local Organizations and Urban Governance in East and Southeast Asia: Straddling State and Society. London: Routledge.

Salamon, Lester A., & S. Wojciech Sokolowski. (Eds.) (2004). Dimensions of the Nonprofit Sector, Vol. 2. Bloomfield, Conn.: Kumarian Press.