SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
CMNS 487/855 - SPECIAL TOPICS

Adam Holbrook	Spring 2001
HC 104; 604-291-5192	Harbour Centre Day
Email: jholbroo@sfu.ca

CRITICAL ANALYSES OF THEORY AND PRACTICE OF INNOVATION IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

First class:

Monday, Jan 8, 2001 at 10:30, in room 1530 at Harbour Centre. Subsequent classes will be scheduled to fit participants’ timetables

Prerequisites:

Admission will be with the permission of the instructor - students must have at least two upper level CMNS courses or their equivalent. Students must have access to SFU e-mail and access to MicroSoft PowerPoint software.

It is often argued that the public sector is incapable of innovation, and that Schumpeterian innovation can only occur in private enterprise. There are, however, many outstanding examples to the contrary, which suggests that current theories of systems of innovation and their related survey techniques are flawed. As the OECD has noted, the study of innovation offers new rationales for government policies : in the past governments have focussed on market failures; studies of NSI make it possible to study systemic failures.

This course is designed to provid e both an introduction to the theory and practice of innovation policy analysis for senior undergraduate students, and a forum for the review and critical analysis of public sector innovation policies and programs for graduate students. CPROST is currently hosting a senior federal civil servant on secondment from the Policy Research Institute of the Privy Council Office of Canada, Mr. Chris Taylor. This course will make use of both Prof. Holbrook’s and Mr. Taylor’s extensive experience in the federal government.

The course will start with a review of the theory surrounding technological innovation and the literature that has reported on the links between innovation and economic growth and increased productivity. The course will then cover aspects of the policy processes within government (particularly the federal government) that bear on the introduction of new products and processes - mainly new government programs - to the nation. Students will then redesign an existing short-form questionnaire on innovation, originally intended for private enterprises, to make it relevant to government managers. Undergraduate members of the class will interview selected managers in the federal, and possibly the provincial, public service, using this revised questionnaire. Graduate students will carry out an in-depth study of the new policies and programs of the selected departments (one per student), and using the results from the undergraduates’ interviews, prepare a model for innovation in those departments. All students will make a presentation on their findings.

Students will be given an extensive reading list, together with photocopies of relevant materials from the grey literature. Students will need a broad, but not necessarily deep, understanding of economics, social theory, political science, Canadian politics and statistics.

Marks will be awarded:

30% for participation
20% for choice of topic and an abstract,
which will be due four weeks before the end of the course
50% for their final presentations.

Final presentations will be oral supported by a ten-slide PowerPoint presentation, to give students an introduction to the type of environment that government policy analysts face when making presentations to senior officials.

A list-serve specific to the class will be set up to facilitate exchanges of information

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty”, and “Academic Discipline” (see the current Calendar, General Regulations Section).