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Public Management Program

 

25th Anniversary

Plenary Session: 25 Years of the PMP

Moderator
David W. Brady, Associate Dean, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Panelists
Chuck Holloway, Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Arjay Miller, Dean Emeritus, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Harry Rowen, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Julie Juergens, Director, Public Management Program, Stanford Graduate School of Business

David Brady
Associate Dean, Stanford Graduate School of Business
The PMP was Arjay's idea after the Detroit riots. Gene Webb, Chuck Holloway, and Tom were the faculty associated with the program in the beginning. Since then, the people associated with the PMP have included: Bob Flanagan, Jim March, Paul Romer, Jim Patell, Bob Jaedicke, Jim Thompson, Greg Dees, and myself. In the beginning, Jim wanted to shut down the PMP, but they decided to hold a series of meetings with the students. By the second meeting, Jim Patell was very excited about the potential of the students and the program.

Chuck Holloway
Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Social Entrepreneurship is now under the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. Course, research, executive education, new social entrepreneurship program. The reason the public sector is less productive isn't because it is less rigorous. The problems and products are much more complicated than in the private sector. There aren't incentives.

Arjay Miller
Dean Emeritus, Stanford Graduate School of Business
In 1965, I was working at Ford. There was no competition or regulation; the big car makers were having fun. Then Ralph Nader came along with the National Safety Act. Then came the Detroit riots. I became the Chair of Economic Development Committee and failed miserably. This showed that business people didn't understand social concerns. Lee Bach asked me to come and be dean here. I said "yes" on the condition that we started a program for public management, to get business people to learn how to contribute to working in public service and to expose other business people to social issues and raise awareness. Much has been accomplished, but much is still to be done. But who should do what?

Harry Rowen
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
I was the first PMP Director. At the time of Arjay, there were business schools and public sector schools. Alain Enthoven got interested in the healthcare sector. He helped to develop the system of managed care. Lee Bach had a core course in "business and the public environment."

Cases:
Example: should BART extend down to the Peninsula?
Example: how should society determine good policies? Public sector economics

Julie Juergens
Director, Public Management Program, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Thank you to the architects of the program. Longevity is one sign of success, and that the PMP has lasted for 25 years is testament to the wisdom of those who designed it. No other business school makes the commitment to public management that the GSB has. Other schools are trying, but most just got in the game during the past few years and are behind the curve.

For better or for worse, business is the most influential societal institution, and like it or not, we, are an elite business school, are educating societal leaders. As an institution of higher learning, we have a responsibility to see that we teach them well, and the PMP is an answer to that.

What does the program look like now? While the program's focus has shifted over the years, the values and philosophy remained the same. Twenty-five percent of the student body are in the PMP and that doesn't count the students who may take some of our courses, but don't self-affiliate with the program. We offer 20-30 courses every year. A good 25% of the faculty consistently participate and contribute to PMP events and projects.

The program is a comprehensive approach to public management education with a focus on 3 areas: academic, co-curricular, and extra-curricular.

Academic:
This year, we re-structured the Certificate in Public Management to offer 4 academic tracks:

General Public Management
Nonprofit Management
Social Entrepreneurship
Public Policy: Education, Environment, and Healthcare

Co-Curricular:
What are the nuts and bolts skills you need to be an effective leader in the public sector? We offer skill-building workshops, taught by community leaders, (ex: meeting facilitation and nonprofit performance measurements).

Extra-Curricular:
The PMP oversees 12 clubs (ex: Board Fellows).

Where are we going? Last night Dean Spence said he didn't think any of us lacked the humility to admit that we didn't understand where this is all going, and I'm with him. We have ideas about where we're headed in the short term. The program began with a focus on government, shifted to more traditional nonprofit management in the eighties and early 90's, and now the GSB is leading the pack in social entrepreneurship and venture philanthropy. It's a natural transition, and our environment forces us to pay attention.

Next year, the students' Public Management Initiative is Venture Philanthropy and the students are thinking very creatively about how to best approach this topic. Professor Greg Dees will be launching Executive Education Programs on Social Entrepreneurship and Venture Philanthropy. Other business schools are just looking into these programs, so we are definitely ahead of the curve here. While don't want to speculate what we'll be doing in the next decade, I'm fairly certain we'll be on the cutting edge and leading the way. The program is intentionally structured to sustain flexibility and responsiveness.

Questions

Q. What is the responsibility or role of developed countries in helping developing countries grow in terms of public service?

A. from Henry Rowen:
Obviously, there should be a role. It depends on if there are students from countries coming from developed countries. This is a big question. I can't answer it in such a short time.

Q. What is the articulated vision for the next 25 years? What about raising $25 million for the PMP?

A. from David Brady:
We're working on several fund-raising initiatives right now.

Q. How are we responding to education issues on a policy level?

A. from Greg Dees:
New Schools Venture Fund and other innovative initiatives.

A. from Mike Spence:
Two courses, the PMP programs.

Q. What is the greatest value you can provide to students to prepare them for life later on?

A. from Arjay Miller:
We plant a seed of interest and excitement in your head. Problems can't be solved by private or public sector together. We don't need to predict what the content will be, because you can't. Cycles change so quickly. Who would have predicted social entrepreneurship? It's the mentality and the approach that we want to impact.