Study Group with Eric Hargan: Leadership and Management

Leadership and Management: How the Government Machine Works and (Sometimes) Advances Towards Goals

The United States Department of Health and Human Services is, by budget, the largest department in the U.S. government, nearly twice the size of the next-largest department, the Department of Defense. It has approximately 330 programs, spanning everything from Medicare and Medicaid, to the FDA, to Head Start. Simply managing an entity of such size is an enormous task. Yet both laws and policies call out goals to achieve that go beyond day-to-day management of programs. And every four years, the American people elect a President who may bring fresh goals to the Department. 

This session will examine how the government works (or doesn’t work) towards goals. What is the role of the different sources of goals, directives, and policies? How do people decide what to do? How well can anything advance with over 300 programs already in place to manage? What do people there do all day?

AUDIENCE: These conversations are open to members of the Harvard community. Please RSVP with a valid Harvard email address. 

OFF-THE-RECORD: In keeping with our long tradition at the IOP to ensure honest and candid discussions of politics, all IOP study groups are off-the-record.