Master's courses (outline)

The module, "Modernization in the Public Sector," covers selected topics related to the management and steering of public organizations and their service provision. Seminars in this module focus on comprehensively analyzing reform movements and patterns, as well as management issues at the organizational interface between administration and cross-organizational topics.

The Anatomy of a Research Paper: A Journal Club (English)

Evidence-based work is particularly important for social scientists, who deal with complex social problems (in the public sector). Such work can increase the likelihood that methods and principles used in practice will have the desired effect, improving the quality of public services for people, who are often in vulnerable and precarious situations, or organizational measures such as HRM. Journal clubs are a long-established method of quality improvement that is used in particular by healthcare professionals to critically examine relevant literature and be up to date.

In this course we want to learn the anatomy of a research paper, i.e., how to read a scientific paper, and gain confidence in critiquing published studies.

Organizational Change in the Public Sector: Theories and Practice (English)

The starting point for the seminar “Organizational Change in the Public Sector: Theories and Practice” is an in-depth examination of key organizational theory approaches. The key concepts and core statements of the respective theories are then applied to aspects of public management, both to illustrate the theories and to discuss their explanatory power with regard to change in public organizations. The aim is to understand the meaning and purpose of theories in the context of research work and to become familiar with possible theories for your own master's thesis.

Public Management Research Project: Citizen Experience of Digital Administration in Brandenburg / Lehrforschungsprojekt Public Management: Akzeptanz digitaler Verwaltungsleistungen aus Sicht der Bürger*innen in Brandenburg

Please note: Due to the practical nature of the course and its collaboration with Havelland county, (at least some) knowledge of German is required.

Do you enjoy connecting data, empirical analysis, and theory in your studies? Does statistics not give you sleepless nights? Or does it give you sleepless nights and you would like to change that? Then this teaching research project is exactly the right course for you.

Even before finishing your master's degree, you will have the opportunity to independently conduct scientific analyses and thus produce high-quality thesis-level work. In addition, the seminar gives you the opportunity to develop advanced research skills that are valuable for your future career. The teaching research project builds on the idea that you learn how to read, understand, and critically evaluate journal articles through your own research.

In small groups, you will write research papers that follow the logic and structure of a journal article. In these papers you will:

• derive hypotheses theoretically
• test them empirically using survey data

To support this process, you will refresh your knowledge of quantitative research methods and become familiar with analyzing survey data.

The dataset we will use comes from a citizen survey conducted in Havelland district in 2021 by the University of Potsdam. The survey examines citizens’ use and acceptance of digital public services. For the analysis of the survey data, the statistical software R will be used. Knowledge of R is not required beforehand. However, the course builds on the statistical knowledge you acquired during your Bachelor's or Master's studies. Basic knowledge of:

• descriptive statistics
• interpretation of regression analyses

is expected. These topics will be briefly refreshed at the beginning of the seminar. More advanced analysis will focus on multivariate statistics and computer-based data analysis using R.

In the colloquium, students whose theses are or will be supervised at the chair are given the opportunity to present their projects. The aim is to discuss the topic, question, methodology and, if applicable, results of the respective project through feedback from fellow students and supervisors, to clarify open questions and thus to accompany the writing of the thesis or the corresponding research process. In addition, the knowledge of the students on topics of scientific work, such as citation and plagiarism, and on methodology, such as formulation of a research question, conception of a research design, or various survey methods will be refreshed.

Seminare im Sommersemester 2025

• Organizational Change in the Public Sector
• Strategic Management in the public sector
• New Work: Neues Arbeiten und Führen in digitalisierten Arbeitsstrukturen

Seminare im Wintersemester 24/25

• Foundations of Public Management
• Ressourcenmanagement in der öffentlichen Verwaltung
• Projektkurs Public Management: Grundlagen und Methoden des Prozessmanagements im öffentlichen Sektor 

Seminare im Sommersemester 2024

• Modernisierung im öffentlichen Sektor - Organisationstheorien
• Modernization in the public sector - Strategic Management
• New Work: Neues Arbeiten und Führen in digitalisierten Arbeitsstrukturen

Seminare im Wintersemester 23/24

• Foundations of Public Management
• Projektkurs Public Management mit der Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg
• New Work: Neues Arbeiten und Führen in digitalisierten Arbeitsstrukturen
• Research Project Public Management: Digital transformation in local government
• Ressourcenmanagement in der öffentlichen Verwaltung

Seminare im Sommersemester 2023

• Experiments in Public Administration and Management
• Modernisierung im öffentlichen Sektor - Organisationstheorien
• New Work: Neues Arbeiten und Führen in digitalisierten Arbeitsstrukturen
• Projektkurs Public Management mit der Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg

Seminare im Wintersemester 22/23

• Foundations of Public Management
• Ressourcenmanagement in der öffentlichen Verwaltung
• New Work: Neues Arbeiten und Führen
• Projekt Public Management: Zukunftsszenarien der digitalen Verwaltungseinheit
• Public Management Research Project: Looking Behind the Curtain of Big Data Buzzwording

Seminare im Sommersemester 2022

• Modernisierung im öffentlichen Sektor - Organisationstheorien
• Modernization in the public sector - Strategic Management
• Projektkurs Public Management: Prozessmanagement in der öffentlichen Verwaltung
• Public Management Project: Positive Management Challenges
• Public Management Research Project: Beyond the usual suspects

Seminare im Wintersemester 21/22

• Foundations of Public Management
• Ressourcenmanagement in der öffentlichen Verwaltung
• Verwaltungsportale
• Projektkurs Public Management: Positive Management
• Lehrforschungsprojekt Public Management: Datenerhebung

Seminare im Sommersemester 2021

• Modernization in the public sector - Strategic Management
• Projektkurs Public Management

Seminare im Wintersemester 20/21

• Foundations of Public Management
• Ressourcenmanagement in der öffentlichen Verwaltung
• Projektkurs Public Management
• Lehrforschungsprojekt Public Management

Seminare im Sommersemester 2020

• Modernisierung im öffentlichen Sektor - Organisationstheorien
• Modernization in the public sector - Strategic Management
• Projektkurs Public Management

Seminare im Wintersemester 19/20

• Foundations of Public Management
• Ressourcenmanagement in der öffentlichen Verwaltung
• Projektkurs Public Management: Wissensmanagement
• Lehrforschungsprojekt Public Management: Public Encounter

Seminare im Sommersemester 2019

• Modernisierung im öffentlichen Sektor - Management der digitalen Transformation
• Modernization in the public sector - Strategic Management
• Projektkurs Public Management
• Lehrforschungsprojekt Public Management: Innovations in Public Services Design and Delivery