Public Management

Earn an O'Neill MPA with a Public Management concentration

The Public Management concentration prepares students with the strategic and technical skills needed to address the challenges and opportunities found in and surrounding government organizations.

The strategic and evidence-based management skills students acquire through courses in this concentration will be matched with the development of leadership skills essential to guiding organizations toward ethical and self–accountable decision making.

The Public Management concentration leverages the expertise of the O’Neill School faculty in combination with the vibrant public service community in and around Indianapolis to provide students with applied learning experiences.

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Gain management skills across all sectors

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Because government increasingly works in concert with the nonprofit and private sectors to address complex public problems, such as education, healthcare, and sustainability, the Public Management concentration also provides students with management skills that will enable them to collaborate with organizations outside of the government sector.

Simply stated, governments and organizations cannot effectively implement public policies without managers skillfully leading the efforts of personnel, organizations, and collaborative networks.

Required courses (18 credit hours)

Analysis of concepts, methods, and procedures involved in managing public organizations. Problems of organization, planning, decision making, performance evaluation, and management of human resources are considered. Cases are drawn from a variety of public services found at federal, state, and local levels of government.

An examination of the role of public affairs professionals in policy processes. Focuses on relationships with political actors in various policy areas.

The fiscal role of government in a mixed economy; sources of public revenue and credit; administrative, political, and institutional aspects of the budget and the budgetary process; problems and trends in intergovernmental fiscal relations.

Analysis of the structure, operations, and design of public personnel systems, including government agencies and public enterprise. Relationships between public policy and personnel concepts, values, and operations are considered.

The course offers an in-depth examination of factors that contribute to successful executive leadership practice in a wide variety of organizational settings. Topics include what leadership is, what impact leadership has, and how leaders use various approaches and powers to achieve their goals.

Explores and applies theoretical and empirical research from a management perspective on workforce diversity. Topics include theories and constructs pertaining to diversity in work organizations, organizational postures toward workplace diversity, the interface between heterogeneity, work processes, and management practices; and the effects of heterogeneity on work-related outcomes.

Public Management students will also take two 3-credit-hour electives to complete the degree requirements.