ClassInfo

By the end of the semester, students should be able:

• To obtain basic knowledge and terminology of budgeting and financial management;

• To summarize budgetary process, revenues, and expenditures of a public or nonprofit organization;

• To apply basic tools of financial analysis, such as break-even analysis and marginal cost analysis, in making simple financial decisions;

• To know how financial information is organized and reported in the accounting system;

• To interpret data in financial statements and relate them with each other; and

• To determine and calculate financial ratios to assess financial condition

There will be a first exam (30 points) and a second exam (30 points) for this course taken at the Humphrey School. The first exam will be an analysis of a real budget and real financial statements of nonprofit and public organizations, word questions, and financial problems. The second exam will be an analysis of real annual financial reports of nonprofit and public organizations, word questions, and financial problems. The second exam ONLY covers material from the second half of the course.

The final assignment is a group project in which you will review the financials of a real government or nonprofit organization and present your findings to the class in person. You will be assigned to groups in the second week of class. The group should submit a 5+ page paper of your findings at the last class. The group will also present a power point presentation (no more than 10 minutes) of the findings at the last class. The group should provide me a copy of the power points and any other information that would be helpful. This group paper (20 points) and presentation (8 points) are worth 28 points.

By the end of the semester, students should be able:

• To obtain basic knowledge and terminology of budgeting and financial management;

• To summarize budgetary process, revenues, and expenditures of a public or nonprofit organization;

• To apply basic tools of financial analysis, such as break-even analysis and marginal cost analysis, in making simple financial decisions;

• To know how financial information is organized and reported in the accounting system;

• To interpret data in financial statements and relate them with each other; and

• To determine and calculate financial ratios to assess financial condition

There will be a first exam (30 points) and a second exam (30 points) for this course taken at the Humphrey School. The first exam will be an analysis of a real budget and real financial statements of nonprofit and public organizations, word questions, and financial problems. The second exam will be an analysis of real annual financial reports of nonprofit and public organizations, word questions, and financial problems. The second exam ONLY covers material from the second half of the course.

The final assignment is a group project in which you will review the financials of a real government or nonprofit organization and present your findings to the class in person. You will be assigned to groups in the second week of class. The group should submit a 5+ page paper of your findings at the last class. The group will also present a power point presentation (no more than 10 minutes) of the findings at the last class. The group should provide me a copy of the power points and any other information that would be helpful. This group paper (20 points) and presentation (8 points) are worth 28 points.

Organizations pervade human life. They are sites of power, innovation and social change but can also be places that discourage initiative and reinforce inequalities found in society. Effective organizational management and leadership are critical to achieving broadly beneficial social, economic, and public value. The task is difficult because of the complexity of human behavior in organizations, constrained resources, competing demands of many stakeholders outside of the organization, and pervasive changes in the world we live in. Most of you will work in some kind of organization when you graduate and many, if not most, of you will be managers and leaders during your careers. This course will help prepare you to be an organizational leader in this realm, focusing on empowering you with the courage to act under uncertainty in order to strengthen the effectiveness of your organization. Furthermore, it aims to provide both "the forest" and "the trees", and give you practice in thinking back and forth between the different levels so that when you are working and approach a problem at one of these levels, you have an awareness of the complexity of the situation at the alternative level.

To create that foundation, we focus on different ways to analyze organizations and develop sound recommendations for change - leaders and managers must understand organizational complexity in order to act.This course introduces students to some of the major theoretical approaches to organizational analysis, including concepts from public administration, sociology, political science, organizational psychology, and management. Learning to use multiple perspectives is critical because all perspectives contribute to understanding how to develop and sustain effective organizations and, ultimately, to how well individuals can help create public value. By gaining insight across different theoretical perspectives, students will develop an understanding of how theories provide distinctive windows into understanding behavior in complex social settings. Throughout, you will come to see that organizations provide opportunities and constraints as well as power and privilege within particular contexts.

25% Reports/Papers/Memos

15% Student Presentations

Individual Assignments 60%

10 Reflective Essays 10%
5 Online Forum Essays 10%
Quiz #1 20%
Quiz #2 20%

Team Assignments 40%

Team Reading Response Paper 5%
Peer Evaluation of Team-Led Discussion 5%
Problem Statement 5%
Policy Brief 10%
Peer Evaluation of Team Policy Brief Presentation 5%
Within-Group Peer Evaluation 10%

o Examine the organization and structure of crisis decision-making within the U.S. national security apparatus;

o Analyze in depth four foreign policy crises: the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962); Vietnam - Tet (1968); Iraq (2006-2008) and a Current Events Crisis (2016).

o Put themselves in the position of national security leaders as part of a crisis simulation; and

o Write an analysis of a historical foreign policy crisis.

Four books will be required for this course and will be available through the UM Bookstores:

o Allison, Graham T., and Zelikow, Philip D., "Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis" (2nd edition), Pearson Longman (January 1999).

o Stern, Sheldon M., "The Week the World Stood Still: Inside the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis (Stanford Nuclear Age Series)" (Paperback) Stanford University Press (January 18, 2005).

o McMaster, H.R., "Dereliction of Duty," Harper Perennial; Reprint Edition (Paperback), (May 8, 1998).

o Harris, David, "The Crisis: The President, the Prophet, and the Shah - 1979 and the Coming of Militant Islam," Little, Brown and Company (Paperback) (2004).

• Attend every meeting of the seminar. Anyone who cannot attend due to illness should contact the instructor via email before class begins. Unexcused absences and systematic lateness will lower your grade.

• Report-in at each class. Questions asked each week include: What goals did you have for today? Did you meet them or not? What are reasonable goals for next week?