Academics

Introduction to Public Management

This module explains the framework conditions and theoretical principles of public management. Based on fundamental knowledge of public tasks and public organizations, the module deals with administrative modernization and the accompanying recent reform movements. It gives an overview of various functional modernization elements (especially strategic management, process management, organization, and human resource management). It discusses the transferability of business instruments to administrations. The aim is to consider the administrative actions from a (strategic) management perspective. 

Project Studies

The project studies deal with the current challenges of public management.

The project studies should allow the students to apply and deepen the acquired knowledge to work on specific research or application-oriented questions after introducing scientific work. Students develop solutions for detailed and complex problems using their interdisciplinary knowledge. The students search for literature and evaluate the literature concerning the research question. Through the project studies, the students gain the necessary knowledge for writing a bachelor thesis and get trained in professional methods, media, and social competence. The results are an individual written draft about a scientific subject referring to the overall project topic (literature research) and a project report prepared in groups and final presentation.

Guidelines for writing the literature research are shown in our Ilias-Group.

Managing Public Services

This module deals with the management of public services. It introduces the legitimation of public services and their fulfillment in the context of tension between competition and social cohesion. The module deals with strategies and organization of the accomplishment of public services. Moreover, it also covers forms of cooperation (public-private and public-nonprofit). It gives an overview of the management of selected public services, such as transport, energy supply, or social services.

Public Human Resource Management

Topics on the agenda are current challenges in human resource management and leadership in the public sector. From a theoretical perspective, we will discuss the characteristics of employees in the public sector. The module covers theoretical and applied knowledge referring to selected action fields of human resource management and leadership in the public sector.

After completing the course, the students should be able to explain and discuss current challenges in human resource management and leadership in the public sector by referring to scientific findings.

Applied Public Management

The module's subject is a selection of current challenges in public management, which will be analyzed based on practical case studies or current practice projects. A practical application of theoretical knowledge on specific questions takes place. Management implications are derived.

After completing the course, students should be able to critically discuss public management characteristics and transfer theoretical knowledge to specific practical questions. They should be able to derive implications for the accomplishment of current challenges.

Seminar Module

The seminar module deals with selected specific topics on public management, for instance, talent management in the public sector, public leadership, opportunities, and limits of cross-sectoral cooperations. Moreover, the seminar module is focusing on qualitative and quantitative research methods.

The seminar module aims to allow the students to deepen their theoretical knowledge through scientific work within their selected specialization. This improves the expertise of the students. Furthermore, it fosters especially the methodological skills and analytical, intellectual abilities.

You will find information about the procedure of the seminar module and introductory literature in our Ilias-Group.

Public Management and Governance

This module covers detailed consideration of strategy and organization of fulfillment of public tasks. The fulfillment of public tasks plays a central role in (cross-sectoral) cooperation. Against this background, the course provides theoretical and application-oriented knowledge. This includes, for example, the discussion on the management of investments as well as the management of citizen participation. Beyond, The module also discusses challenges in sustainability management in the public sector and cooperations.

After completing the course, students should be able to describe and discuss current governance challenges in the public sector and the value of governance and sustainability management for public administrations, state-owned enterprises, and cooperations against the background of the current scientific findings.

Business Ethics

The course encompasses Business Ethics (lecturer: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Hirsch), Corporate Ethics (lecturer: Miriam Maske), and Corporate Social Responsibility (lecturer: Prof. Dr. Julia Thaler).

In this course, economic issues are analyzed from an ethical perspective. Students will be introduced to typical questions, justification patterns, and fields of application of business and corporate ethics. The importance of ethical aspects in the economic and corporate contexts is illustrated in a practical way by discussing and working on concrete, practical examples and case studies.

Bachelor Thesis

The bachelor thesis deals with current practical-oriented and research-related issues of public management.

Students should demonstrate that they can deal with a specific problem with scientific methods within a given period. Because the bachelor degree is the first academic degree qualifying for a profession, a bachelor thesis’ specific qualification objectives are

• the systematic application of learned scientific methodologies to a practice-relevant problem
• the presentation of the current state of research and its relevance to the practical problem
• the preparation of an empirical study if applicable (for instance, in the form of a representative survey)
• a conclusion stemming from the evaluation of the students’ results and identification of further research questions."

You can find guidelines for writing your bachelor thesis here.

The topics to be covered in the autumn term are shown here. 

Master Thesis

The master thesis deals with current practical-oriented and research-related issues of public management.

Students should demonstrate that they can work independently with scientific methods on a specific problem within a given period. In particular, the master’s degree provides knowledge and skills at a high scientific level. So the systematic search and processing of international literature on the current state of research are particular qualification goals of the master thesis. Besides, students should describe and use adequate theories and methods in their analysis of a problem. They should independently conduct an empirical investigation (if applicable) and derive firm conclusions and derive management and research implications.

You can find guidelines for writing your master thesis here.

Information regarding the topics in the spring term you will find here.