Public Sector & Healthcare Management Career Track

The Public Sector and Healthcare Management career track is designed for students pursuing a career with the municipal, provincial, or federal government, provincial health bodies, or non-profit organizations.

During the first half of the MBA program, you will build your general knowledge base and develop key business skills. In the second half of the program, your focus will shift towards the public sector where you will analyze key issues in public policy development, implementation and management, and will hone your critical thinking abilities related to public health practices.


Public Sector and Healthcare Management Career Track Courses

SEM 633: Managing Organizational Change
This course examines organization change, e.g. how organizations make transitions from one state to another. There is also a focus on understanding how management goes about changing corporate culture, organization structure and management systems.
SEM 640: Public Policy
Examines how public policy is implemented in organizations. Topic areas will include: using new knowledge to develop policy; influencing policy; and the role of managers in effectively implementing policy. There will be a strong focus on how public sector managers can effectively design and implement change strategies that take into consideration the organizational structure, systems, leadership, culture and politics. Combines classroom discussion of theoretical concepts with practical application in organizational settings.
SEM 643: Strategic Management in the Public Sector
Strategic management in the public sector comprises defining public value, building consensus and support, making decisions, deploying organizational capacity to implement, and managing performance to achieve the desired mission and goals. It addresses the unique complexities, ambiguities and messiness of strategic management in the public sector.
SEM 644: Public Sector Leadership
Nearly all research on leadership has focused on the private sector. This course will concentrate on the unique features of leadership in the public and non-profit sectors. The course will examine the senior management structures in the different orders of government, but the focus will be transformative leadership in areas of current policy interest including examples from he environment, health, education, and social services.
OM 686: Operations Management in Healthcare
This course is focused on operations management approaches towards the innovative and efficient delivery of services within the Healthcare sector and in public organizations.
Complementary Courses
BUEC 678: Managing Business-Government Relations in Canada
The role of business in the public policy process: How business organizations influence public policy and its administration, and how public policies affect business. Processes of change are of particular interest. Attention is placed on the motivation, behaviour patterns, and the dynamics of the interaction of different stakeholder groups, policymakers, and managers responsible for the implementation of public policies. Develops a framework for an analysis of the effectiveness and efficiency of different fiscal, regulatory, and promotional policies; consideration is given to the impact of technological, economic, and social change on policy choice in the long run.
SPH 550: Introduction to Health Care Finance
Financial structure of the health care system, Introduction to managerial accounting with special emphasis on the management of health care agencies. Principles of costing. Multiproduct and case mix measures. Resource use decisions, budgeting and control, and pricing analysis for health care organizations.
SPH 570: Introduction to Health Care Economics
A survey of health economic theory and empirical studies, topics and areas covered include: (1) demand, supply, and utilization; (2) production and costs; (3) resource allocation in health care labor markets; (4) selected facets of health care planning; (5) benefit cost analysis. The empirical studies examined in the course require an understanding of simple and multiple regression techniques.
SPH 580: Management and Design of Health Care Organizations
The purpose of this course is to prepare students to become effective managers and leaders in the health service organizations and health care systems. It facilitates this objective by providing a foundation for the acquisition of the knowledge of the managerial process through an analysis and understanding of the psychological, sociological and political basis of complex social systems, as well as providing a basis for acquiring conceptual and practical skills in the effective management and design of health service organizations and health care networks.
SEM 686: Managing the Board / CEO Relationship
This course focuses on the current legal framework that defines the fiduciary responsibilities of Directors and Presidents/CEOs. It does so by reviewing the current academic literature and popular business press and a variety of cases that highlight the good the bad and the truly ugly. There will be two "live" cases involving Board Chairs and Presidents/CEO that focus on actual challenges in governance that have or may face. Certain topics will include board chairs and President/CEOs who can relate their own experiences. The course will highlight the reality facing boards and Presidents/CEOs concerning risk management including reputation risk, shareholder activism, human resource issues including succession planning, and "tone at the top." While the focus is on publicly traded companies, the discussion will touch upon not-for-profits, crown agencies, boards and commissions and family-owned entities.

Career Paths

While the specific roles may vary, students pursuing this career track are well prepared for entering or continuing their career in the public sector or healthcare industries.

15%

Of our Alum are in the Healthcare Industry.

Top Organizations

  • Alberta Health Services
  • Covenant Health

15%

Of our Alum are in the Public Sector.

Top Organizations

  • City of Edmonton
  • Government of Alberta
  • Government of Canada

Experiential Learning

Courses

Business on the Front Lines

Student Clubs

Net Impact

Case Competitions

SFU Net Impact Sustainability Challenge

Warwick Business School Case Challenge