Getting Started
In the private sector, success is usually measured by what is referred to as the “bottom line,” or profits. Distinctively, the public sector does not usually operate on a profit-and-loss basis, but exists to provide services or to provide for the public’s welfare. As you will see in this assignment, this measurement of success is less clear. However, many public organizations are structured such that their outputs, or outcomes, are stated in much more measurable ways. Thus, we can develop tools that help us evaluate the organization’s performance and from this information devise ways to improve their performance.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:
• Analyze a public organization’s performance.
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Resources
• Textbook: Understanding and Managing Public Organizations
• Website: Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles: http://www.in.gov/bmv/index.htm
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Background Information
Throughout the nation, the various state Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMV) generally have the same mandate concerning services. Because its mission and goals are much clearer than many of their public-sector organizational counterparts, the work of a DMV lends itself to analysis and evaluation.
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Instructions
1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. Before you begin this assignment, read Chapter 4 in Understanding and Managing Public Organizations.
3. Review the information found at the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
4. To complete this assignment, consider the following scenario: You’ve been hired as a consultant to help upper management improve your local Department/Bureau of Motor Vehicles. As a first step, you have decided to survey the department’s citizen-customers, employees, and management at the local and regional offices. After reading much literature, you have decided that the human-relations school offers the most guidance for understanding and improving organizations.
5. Prepare a seven-fifteen (7-15) slide PowerPoint presentation that will be the basis of three practical recommendations to the DMV management team that hired you.
a. Because you won’t actually survey anyone, you will need to use creativity in terms of building on hypothetical responses you receive from the surveys. In other words, you need to make up the survey results from each group. Make sure they are realistic in terms of organizational issues faced by public agencies generally and the DMV specifically.
b. Your PowerPoint presentation should include the following elements:
i. Title slide – with your name and date
ii. Background – presenting the organizational rationale for the survey
iii. Survey results from citizen-customers
iv. Survey results from employees
v. Survey results from management
vi. Three recommendations – make sure that each recommendation is informed by at least one (1) of the course textbooks, evidenced by the in-texted citation in APA format.
vii. Conclusion – Make sure that the Rainey text is cited here.
viii. References -Incorporate a minimum of two (2) sources in this assignment (the Rainey textbook and at least one (1) additional scholarly or professional resource). Demonstrate that they inform the presentation by including in-text citations. Websites, Wikipedia, blogs, dictionaries, and similar types of sources should not be used and do not fulfill this requirement.
c. Presentation style requirements:
i. Visual interest: Slides should not consist of text only. Students should design a presentation that incorporates visual elements. Clip art is not acceptable for this presentation. Instead, use digital photos of the community to add visual interest. Images must be recent and of high quality—in other words, they should be visually sharp and crisp, not blurry.
ii. Backgrounds: Do not use white backgrounds. Design your slides with a colored background and use the same background throughout your presentation. Consistency in backgrounds facilitates comprehension.
iii. Citations: Use in-text APA citations on the slides throughout the presentation.
iv. Content: Do not overload your audience with too much information on each slide.
v. Font:
Use a sans-serif font (Arial is one example) to facilitate reading.
In general, use a consistent font size throughout the presentation.
Do not use all caps. It comes across to an audience as shouting.
Make sure that the font color contrasts with the background so that the text is legible.