For these assignments, you will take on the role of a consultant for a government agency. Your consulting firm has been asked by the agency to conduct background research, interview agency representatives, compile a report, and provide recommendations for improvement of their personnel management system. The first role of the consultant is to become familiar with the agency, its departments, and key actors. You will develop the assignment in four parts, submitting each to your supervisor (your professor) who will review and grade your efforts.
The agency you select in this first assignment must be used for all remaining assignments. Before selecting your agency, review the directions for each of the assignments to ensure that your selected agency will address the requirements for each of the assignments.
Explore one federal, state, or local government organization, and then select a department within that agency. Usually, you can find contact information on their website. You may want to consider these government websites:
Instructions
- Select a federal or state public agency.
- Research the literature regarding issues that involve the selected agency and public administration in general.
- Interview one representative of the agency’s department for the different sections of the paper. (Interviews can be conducted in person, by phone, or by an electronic method such as email or your favorite video conferencing app.) See Guidelines for Interview Assignment at Strayer University (below).
- Write a 3–4 page paper, titled "Rationale and Analysis for Agency Selected." Complete the following:
- Provide background information about the agency’s key historical events, mission, and goals/objectives (title this section "Introduction").
- Describe at least three functions of this agency, highlighting the public it serves (title this section "Agency Functions").
- Analyze at least two current events involving the agency that might have implications for personnel management (title this section "Agency News").
- Explain your rationale for selecting this agency with at least two justifiable reasons (title this section "Rationale for Selecting Agency").
- Appropriately incorporate at least four quality sources. A quality source can be either popular, such as a news article, or scholarly, such as peer-reviewed works. In the case of public administration, government websites are appropriate quality resources. Note: Wikipedia, SparkNotes, and similar websites do not qualify as academic resources.
