Reflection Paper In Public Administration

Throughout my time at Northern Arizona University, I have taken multiple classes in the field of public administration. I have previously taken various public administration courses such as: Introduction to Public Administration, Organizational Theory and Application, Personnel Administration in the Public Sector, Public Budgeting and Finance, Ethics and Policy Administration, Research Methods in the Social Sciences, and lastly, Managing Change in 21st Century Organizations. I gained vast amounts of knowledge regarding public administration due to these courses. As a result of studying public administration, I have specifically learned about budgeting, leadership roles, differences between the public and private sector, and the roles of public administrators in government. Not only did I

The first module focuses on external pressures on public administration. I learned about external forces on public administrators in Introduction to Public Administration, and Managing Change in the 21st Century. Though Introduction to Public Administration only gave a vague overview of external pressures, Managing Change gave greater detail on how there are forces outside of government, including citizens, interest groups and private sector companies who all will influence the decision making process. These same courses also focused on the internal pressures within organizations and government that will also impact the decision-making processes of public administrators. Budgeting is also a topic that I have experience with. Budgeting in the public sector is entirely different than budgeting in the private sector. Lastly, my previous public administration courses emphasized the importance of performance expectation and improvement. Efficiency and effectiveness is a goal that public administrators everywhere should work