Masters of Management in the area of Public and Development Management (MM-P&DM)

P&DM is still accepting final applications for the July 2012 block release intake. 

In 2012 the Graduate School of Public and Development Management presents a revised curriculum for the Master of Management in the field of Public and Development Management (MM – PDM) degree. 

P&DM has offered a successful MM PDM degree since 1994, and has from time to time reviewed and ‘recalibrated’ the curriculum to meet the needs of the public service and the development sector generally.  The most recent curriculum review was done in 2003, shortly before the 10 year celebration of the end of apartheid and the realisation of a legitimate state and government.  Since 2008, P&DM has been thinking about ways in which to change the curriculum for the Masters degrees with a view to achieving a range of outcomes:  the requirement to shorten the time taken to complete the degree;  positioning the degree to meet the needs of a changing SAQA and NQF environment; responding to a long articulated call from students on the degree to deal with subject overlaps in the content; and to increase a focus on fiscal and financial management for the public sector.  This the school has successfully managed to do and after a range of consultations, the door is open for applications for the academic year 2012.

Delivered across full time, part time and block release modes to accommodate managers from all over Africa, the MM PDM is aimed at people who are tasked with managing complex processes in dynamic organisational and environmental contexts.  The MM-PDM contextualises the interplay between the public, business and not-for-profit sectors.  If you work in government, an NGO or similar organisation, you will benefit from this specialised programme which provides in-depth exploration of the challenges confronting public and development managers today.

The MM PDM is designed for managers wanting to improve their professional management skills or refocus their management expertise to a public and development context.  The course provides an opportunity for participants to:

• Expand their managerial knowledge
• Test and explore new ideas and experiences
• Interact and network with leading academics and practitioners
• Reflect on personal goals, values and career.

The MM-PDM explores the complex interaction between public policy, management and development and enables participants to develop a critical awareness of the relevance of research and academic insight to the practice of public and development management.  It examines the challenges of management and knowledge leadership, restructuring of systems and institutions, facilitation of economic development and improved service delivery within environments of global competitiveness, technological innovation and limited resources.

Who should apply?

The MM-PDM is a professional management qualification. As well as a good honours or equivalent four-year degree, you will need to have at least three years of relevant work experience.  This may be salaried or voluntary but must include organisational experience, preferably in management.  This Masters is designed for middle to senior level managers from across the public service, the public sector, as well as parastatals, development organisations, community-based organisations and unions.  The programme is also relevant to larger voluntary organisations and those employed in regulated industries.

All applicants are required to complete an admissions test which assesses comprehension, writing skills, numerical ability, conceptual and abstract thinking.  Selection decisions are made on the basis of a holistic assessment of all three criteria – appropriate work experience, performance in previous studies, and test performance.

Curriculum

The curriculum of the MM-PDM aims to build multiple competencies critical for performing managers.  These include strategic leadership and management; policy formulation and implementation; public financial management; change management and organisational design and transformation.

Students are required to complete 7 compulsory courses structured around three foundational knowledge areas related to policy, management and development.  Once these foundations have been covered, students progress to the specialisation phase of their masters in which they will choose a research focus and complete an elective which supports their enquiry while at the same time completing three research courses designed to provide quantitative, qualitative and proposal writing skills.

In the final 6 months of the degree, participants will focus on the completion of the research phase of their degree.

Compulsory courses

Governance, Leadership & Public Value

This course, through a study of contemporary understandings of state and society, aims to develop a deep understanding of how government institutions and agencies function, their relation to civil society and their location in local, national and regional social, economic and political contexts. it will examine the characterstics of the public service sector, the complex challenges facing it, and the meaning and implications of governance, leadership and public value for the functioning of states and public institutions. Different models of governance and leadership are explored in relation to how states and societies structure authority, distribute economic, political and social resources and create public value.

Analytical Methods

The course covers the analysis and interpretation of secondary quantitative data on a variety of topics in the public sector. Students make decisions and communicate their strategies based on statistical methodology and appropriate graphics in MS Office and statistical software.

Public Policy

This course will interrogate conceptual and theoretical frameworks of public policy, examine models of public policy making; offer a framework of public policy analysis and explore policy contexts in  South Africa, Africa and globally.  The course provides students with an understanding of the special challenges facing policy development and implementation and how to overcome them. This will include technical and skills requirements for evaluating policy,  managing vested interests, consultation and public relations, monitoring and evaluation, and the management of inter-departmental coordination and relations.

Development

The course is made of a number of sessions built around themes in the development field. It reviews current conceptual debates on development. It explores notions of development, the state and markets and their role and implications to policy and socio-economic development prospects. The role of local communities, global actors, private and non-governmental sectors and the effects of processes of marketization and deregulation to developing contexts. 

 The module highlights particular development management challenges and their impact on prospects for long term socio-economic development to emerging economies like South Africa. The focus here is mainly but not exclusively on macro-economic policy environment, social exclusion and capital, poverty, and gender relations. Overall, the course considers the complexities of the above and policy implications.

Economics for Public Managers               

This course introduces participants to fundamental economic concepts with a view to enhancing their understanding of how modern real-world economies function. Key topics include the following:

• What ‘Economics’ is about
• Micro- and Macro-Economics
• Economic Systems
• Microeconomic concepts: costs in economics; production and consumption; demand; supply; specialization and production.
• Macroeconomic concepts: employment and unemployment; the national product and economic growth; inflation; the balance of payments; income and wealth distribution; economic growth vs. development
• Fiscal and Monetary Policy
• The Role of the State in the Economy
• Economic Policy in South Africa since 1994

Public Finance

 This course introduces participants to key theoretical concepts in public finance and public sector economics broadly, as well as providing an opportunity to analyse applied public finance issues in the South African context. Key topics include:

•             The Public Sector and the Role of the State in the Economy

•             The Public Sector in South Africa

•             Public Expenditure and Growth

•             Taxation – equity; efficiency; types of taxes

•             Fiscal Policy in South Africa

•             Key social policy issues: education; health; social security; poverty and inequality

•             Intergovernmental fiscal relations: fiscal decentralization; IGFR in South Africa

Strategic Public Management

This course includes strategy, culture, scenario analysis, managing people, performance, change, systems, operations, organisational development and human resources.  The course focuses on managing the bureacracy to facilitate policy implementation across the broad mandate of the public sector, and interrogates the types of data and analysis that is required for decision making in organisations . The course will also include the development and validation of operational plans for effective and efficient delivery of services

Compulsory Research Courses

Qualitative Research Methods

The course introduces participants to various approaches to designing and conducting qualitative research and analysing qualitative data. It focuses on selected research approaches to prepare participants to undertake qualitative research. Key topics include qualitative research paradigm assumptions, qualitative research designs/methods, various qualitative data gathering techniques, approaches and techniques for qualitative data analysis, ethics in conducting qualitative research and evaluating qualitative research.

Quantitative Research Methods

This course takes as its baseline the learnings already achieved on the Analytical Methods course including sampling methodologies, and simple statistical interences including chi -square tests.  This material will be briefely revised and move into quantitative survey methods, including survey design and questionnaire construction, and simple analysis.  The course includes hypothesis testing, including power analysis and regression analysis including  regression diagnostics.  The course also covers the construction of research problem, purpose statements and research hypthesis for quantitative research proposals.  

Research Proposal Development

This course takes students that have gained a theoretical and conceptual understanding of research paradigms and processes, and moves them through a process of applying that learning to a real life research problem which will form the basis of their research report.  The course takes participants through the phases of conceptualisation of a research topic, articulating it in terms of a problem identifying knowledge gap and context, and articulating the components of a research proposal including sampling techniques, design, methodology, limitations, and logistics.   The outcome of this course is a research proposal which is ready for defence at a school proposal panel.

Elective

Directed Readings in Public Management

This course requires participants to engage in-depth with an area relevant to public or development management, and allows them to develop an in depth knowledge of the theories and literature that inform their topic.  The course is delivered as a series of seminars in which the lecturer works with participants to develop a particular focus of enquiry into the theory and literature of an academic area

Research Report

In order to obtain a Masters degree, you are required to complete a research project and submit a report.  The aim of the research project is to challenge you to apply analytical and applied research techniques to a topic chosen from your area of specialisation. You will be assigned an adviser who will supervise and guide the preparation of the research report. The learning objective of the report is to give you an opportunity to demonstrate how you can self-manage a problem solving exercised or research project on a topic of your own choice within limited time and resources.

Through the research report, you will demonstrate that you can design, execute, analyse and report on such work.  You have to show that you can do this in a coherent and logical way, and meet the standards appropriate for an applied research project in an academic environment.

Workload

In addition to class work and preparation, you will be expected to devote time to group work and assignments.  The teaching methodology requires that you participate actively in an integrated process that encourages the development of management knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Assessment

A participant’s progress through the Masters programme is monitored through the assessment of individual and group assignments, and by means of formal examinations at the end of each block.  Class tests and participation by students in interactive classroom sessions may be rated. Students also complete an in-depth public, development or policy research project.

Course delivery

P&DM has developed a variety of course delivery modes.  The MM-PDM is offered as a full-time, part-time, or block-release programme.  In most years the programme is offered through the part-time and block-release options.  Full-time registration is dependent on  participant numbers and should the School not offer a full-time registration for a programme in a year, students may be allowed to combine aspects of block release and part-time studies to complete the programme in one year.

The MM PDM is offered in part-time (two evenings a week), block-release (four two-week blocks a year), and full time modes.  The MM PDM degree is made up of two parts – coursework and an independent research process that results in a research report. In 2011 the curriculum was restructured to allow sufficient time for part time and block release participants to complete the coursework in 18  months, and complete the research report in the remaining 6 months.  This gives an overall 24 months from the date of first registration to the date that participants are expected to submit their research.  Full time students will work through a blend of full-time, block release and part time modes of delivery to complete the coursework and be well underway on their research in 12 months.  It may not be possible for participants on the full-time course to submit their research within a year of first registration, which will mean an additional year of registration to complete the research.

Download Brochure HERE