Assignment: Defining the Problem

Lesson expectation:

1. Understand the policy change cycle.
2. Understand what is meant by policy entrepreneur.
3. Analyze the role of policy entrepreneurship in the cycle of public policy development.
4. Apply a process for defining a public problem.

Resource Reading:

Crosby and Bryson - Chapter 5, "Policy Entrepreneurship and the Common Good" pages 156-194.

Identify the area of public concern that you plan to focus on for your final project. One of the skills of a leader, or as Crosby and Bryson describe it in the reading for this unit, a "policy entrepreneur," is to be able to define a problem clearly so that a specific solution can be offered.

In Exercise 5.1 on page 166 of your Crosby and Bryson text, you are provided with six steps to help you think about how to approach a public problem. Complete this exercise using your project topic as the focus.

Writing Guidelines:

· Illustrates methods of applying leadership theories by critically analyzing and evaluating the causes of the problem.

· Identifies strategies for change based on leadership theories by critically evaluating potential policy remedies for the public concern in a diverse community.

· Critically evaluates how the problem might be redefined for leadership in the field to address existing policy subsystems, or create new ones, through the use of systems theory.

· Critically evaluates leadership theories and their evolution by specifying an ideal policy outcome and relating it to the policy concern.

· Demonstrates academic analysis in writing in a manner that creates clear, engaging, unique, and professionally relevant interpretation of the material.