vlog

  • Online
    Session Date
    -
    Application Deadline
    Program Fee
    $4,800
    Faculty Chair
    Malcolm Sparrow
    Program Director
    Melissa Pagonis
    Request Brochure

    Executive Certificate: This program is a core program in the Public Leadership and Public Policy concentrations. This program can also be used as a third program for any concentration in the Executive Certificate series.
    Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs): This program aligns with one or more Executive Core Qualifications.

  • On Campus
    Session Date
    -
    Application Deadline
    Program Fee
    $10,800
    Faculty Chair
    Malcolm Sparrow
    Program Director
    Melissa Pagonis
    Request Brochure

    Program Fee: The program fee includes tuition, housing, curricular materials and most meals.
    Executive Certificate: This program is a core program in the Public Leadership and Public Policy concentrations. This program can also be used as a third program for any concentration in the Executive Certificate series.
    Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs): This program aligns with one or more Executive Core Qualifications.

Program Overview

We often think of delivering services as the primary role of governments. In fact, roughly half of the work performed by governments today involves the provision of societal protections or the control of harms—a type of work quite different than that of delivering services.

Strategic Management of Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies examines the distinctive managerial and operational challenges faced by government officials and other professionals who have regulatory, enforcement, security, compliance-management, or other risk-control responsibilities. This intensive program emphasizes the management and operations of such agencies (regulatory practice) as opposed to the reform of law (regulatory policy), and it is oriented more towards social regulation (provision of safety, health, security) rather than economic regulation (efficient functioning of specific markets). 

Program Curriculum

During Strategic Management of Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies, you and your peers will analyze and discuss cases spanning a variety of regulatory and enforcement domains, from the environment to public health to crime. Each case is chosen based on its ability to provoke, illuminate, and define ubiquitous dilemmas and emerging approaches in regulatory decision-making.

A critical component of the Strategic Management of Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies program involves each participant’s reflection upon his or her own professional experiences and sharing these examples in both small group and class sessions. You will leave the program with a better understanding of the pressures faced by regulators today and a broader appreciation of potential adaptations you might make in response, enhancing your skills in regulatory leadership.

Learning Objectives

The curriculum explores compelling regulatory topics such as:

  • The Strategic Public Management Model
  • Fundamental design dilemmas common across all regulatory domains
  • The distinctive nature of problem-centric work within regulatory agencies
  • The role of analysis in supporting effective risk-control, problem-solving, or compliance-management operations
  • Special classes of risks (such as catastrophic risks, invisible risks, risks involving adversaries, etc.) that complicate the task of controlling them

Application Information

Strategic Management of Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies is designed for a global audience of national, state, and municipal government officials who oversee, support, or run organizations that have significant regulatory or enforcement responsibilities. Participants come from a broad range of regulatory fields including, but not limited to:

  • Crime control
  • Tax-compliance
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Customs and immigration
  • Financial regulation
  • Fraud and corruption control
  • Transportation
  • Occupational safety

Other professionals who benefit greatly from this program include nonprofit leaders as well as members of professional boards who want to better understand the challenges of risk-control and harm-reduction. These include senior practitioners within professions like law and medicine who, by virtue of their election or appointment to a Board, acquire disciplinary, compliance management, and risk-control responsibilities.

illustration of schedule
Schedule for online program

Faculty Chair Malcolm Sparrow, along with digital learning experts at Harvard, adjusted the on-campus program curriculum to meet the needs of virtual learners while also accomplishing the goal of providing participants with a better understanding of the pressures faced by regulators today and a broader appreciation of potential adaptations you might make in response. Both online and on-campus cohorts will partake in case studies, lectures, small-group discussions, and workshops that focus the management and operations of agencies.

  • The intensive online program provides a more flexible format where you can apply concepts directly to your work while experiencing the rigor of Harvard remotely. Through an array of online modalities, you will be immersed in the curriculum and make progress on your individual challenges, while connecting with your peers and developing a robust network of colleagues that will last a lifetime. Access a sample online program schedule.
  • The on-campus program is an immersive and intense learning experience on Harvard’s historic Cambridge campus. During the week, you’ll experience lectures firsthand and connect with peers both in and outside of the classroom. The fee includes tuition, housing, curricular materials, and most meals. Access a sample on-campus program schedule.

What Participants are Saying

“This is the only course, event, or session that I have ever attended as a regulator that has been meaningful 100% of the time. I have been in my role for 10 years and I take part in provincial, national, and global regulatory events throughout the year.
PROGRAM ALUMNUS
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Hear From the Faculty Chair

“It’s exciting for participants to talk across their normal professional lines and still keep the focus on the distinctive challenges of their regulatory and risk control roles. They find their organizational dilemmas, and in many cases their aspirations, seem remarkably similar.”

MALCOLM K. SPARROW, FACULTY CHAIR

Faculty

Malcolm Sparrow Photo

Malcolm Sparrow

Professor of the Practice of Public Management

Mark Moore Photo

Mark Moore

Research Professor of Public Management

Robert Stavins Photo

Robert Stavins

A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development
617-495-1820

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