Why Do Change Efforts Fail? The Public Manager The Quarterly for Practitioners FALL 2008 ! Volume 37, Number 3 WWW.THEPUBLICMANAGER.ORG Novel Solutions oue37,NumberVolume 3 A New Generation of Change Solutions for Public Bureaucracies Fall 2008 Creating a “Super” Agency in San Diego County Transforming the Military Health System The National CPM Program by Howard R. Balanoff and Marilyn K. Balanoff Expansion of a model certification he Certified Public Manager (CPM) program in the United program in Texas States is a nationally recognized professional development pro- T gram. It is designed for federal,state,and local government man- and across the United agers, but the skills, knowledge, and competencies taught are also relevant for managers and supervisors in the nonprofit sector. States holds promise The CPM program’s primary goal is to improve the performance of for public-sector public-sector managers and the organizational performance of federal, state, and local government employees. It is a comprehensive course of workforces around study through which public managers can acquire and apply the best prac- tices and theory to their management behaviors and strategies using pre- the world. scribed sets of professional standards, often referred to as “competencies.” The curriculum uses theory as the foundation and applies it to prac- tical problems facing the participants,their agencies and departments,and the citizens.Those who complete the program earn a nationally trade- marked designation of CPM. The CPM program has been operating in the United States since 1979. It began in Georgia as a certification program for public managers in Georgia’s state government. Initially,it spread throughout the south- ern states (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas) and eventually to all re- gions in the country. By 1995, the CPM program had expanded throughout the United States, encompassing federal, local, and nonprofit and non-governmen- tal employees. By 1996, the Graduate School, USDA, was delivering a CPM program to federal employees, and the Texas CPM program was 76 WWW.THEPUBLICMANAGER.ORG training significant numbers of local government em- gins to offer a CPM program.The final step is full mem- ployees, in addition to serving federal,state,and nonprofit bership, which occurs after the new member successful- employees.By 2008,thirty-seven CPM programs,including ly passes a peer review evaluation and is initially accred- Washington, DC, and the federal government (through ited by the consortium. the Graduate School,USDA),were operating in the Unit- Additional information on the consortium,including ed States.Some of the newest CPM programs are in Cal- officers, standards, and accreditation proceedings, is avail- ifornia and NewYork. able on the CPM Web site at www.cpmconsortium.org. National CPM Consortium Texas CPM Program CPM programs in the United States operate under TheTexas CPM program is an example of one of the the umbrella of the National CPM Consortium. Formed programs under the umbrella of the consortium.Texas State in 1979, this consortium establishes and preserves stan- University (TSU) began offering the CPM program for dards for the CPM designation. It monitors and accred- Texas after receiving authorization in April 1995 from the its all CPM programs in the United States.Only accredited consortium. In July 1995, the Public Service Academy,a programs are authorized to award the CPM designation, division of the Continuing Education Program at TSU, which is trademarked by the consortium and its mem- began offering theTexas CPM program for state and lo- ber programs.Accredited CPM programs are reviewed and cal government and nonprofit-sector employees. reaccredited every five years for continued compliance with The program is approved for continuing education national CPM standards. credit for a number of public and nonprofit organizations, The purpose of the consortium is to promote the including the Peace Officers,Texas Commission on Law CPM programs. It provides and monitors accreditation Enforcement Standards and Education, and Texas State standards,facilitates program development,encourages in- Board of Public Accountancy.The County Commissioners’ novation, and develops linkages with programs and or- Education Committee for Commissioners’ Continuing ganizations with similar values and interests. Education Credit has approved it as mandated by theTexas The National CPM Consortium Council compris- state legislature. es seventy-four members. Each CPM program is autho- The Texas CPM program, through the William P. rized to send up to two representatives to the council.One Hobby Center for Public Service, offers seminars, work- of the representatives is the state CPM program director, shops, and a variety of field-based projects.The program who designates the state’s second member.The consor- is designed to enhance the skills and abilities that partic- tium is a“loose”confederation of various CPM programs, ipants need to deal with “real-world” problems and sit- which allows for variation and creativity in the develop- uations. One of the major features of theTexas CPM pro- ment of individual programs.The one thing that all pro- gram is the completion of several applied projects, grams have in common is that they all conform to the gen- which deal with practical situations. eral standards and competencies set by the National CPM The seven courses that make up the CPM program Consortium. in Texas are as follows: The consortium authorizes one organization per state 1. Personnel and Human Resources Administration to deliver the accredited CPM program. CPM applicants 2. Managing for Quality go through a series of steps to reach full membership in 3. Organizational Communication the consortium.The first step for a new member is associate 4. Public Finance and Budgeting membership, which indicates that the applicant is will- 5. Productivity and Program Evaluation ing to develop a new CPM program.Active membership 6. Information Systems for Managers is the next step, which occurs when a new member be- 7. Applied Project Practicum. Prior to graduation,all CPM participants are required Howard R. Balanoff is a professor and chair,TSU’sWilliam P.Hobby Cen- to complete a major applied project inTrack 7, which is ter for Public Service. He also chairs the ASPA Section on CPM. Marilyn the capstone of the program. In Track 7, the student K. Balanoff is a member of the program faculty,Continuing Education,TSU. demonstrates the management skills,knowledge,and abil- For additional information on CPM, go to www.cpmconsortium.org or con- tact the authors at [email protected] or [email protected], respectively. ities learned in the previous six tracks. THE PUBLIC MANAGER ! FALL 2008 77 Course Cycles tact with program participants and faculty.The coordi- CPM courses operate in a cycle, normally beginning nator also designs and grades the take-home exams. withTrack 1 and ending withTrack 7.AfterTrack 7 is com- pleted, the rotation begins again withTrack 1.CPM cours- CPM Faculty es in Texas can be taken in any order. In addition to re- Each of the CPM courses is“team taught”by a com- ceiving certification credit, academic course credit at no bination of academic and practitioner faculty operating additional cost may be granted to students eligible to re- under the direction of the CPM cycle coordinator.Many ceive it.After successfully completing the seven-course se- of the academic instructors are regular or adjunct facul- quence, participants receive the designation of Certified ty of TSU, the University of Texas,and other Texas uni- Public Manager. For new graduates around the State of versities. Practitioners include city or county managers, Texas,CPM graduation ceremonies are held June and De- state agency department heads, and school district ad- cember at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. ministrators from a variety of school districts and city,coun- Some of the CPM “course cycles” are “open enroll- ty, state, and federal agencies. In addition, private profes- ment cycles,”in that enrollment is open to all participants sional development and training consultants are part of from the public and nonprofit sectors. Some cycles are the faculty mix. “closed enrollment cycles,”which means thatTSU has a direct contract with a city or public-sector organization TSU Coordination with Other to deliver the CPM program to that organization’s Texas Universities managers.A CPM class consists of between twenty and The Texas CPM program is run under the auspices thirty managers. ofTSU.Tofacilitate the delivery of the program through- To meet the needs of working participants, as well as out Texas,TSU has entered into a series of interuniver- those commuting from long distances, CPM courses in sity contracts with institutions across the state.Current uni- Texas are offered in two formats: one and one-half days versity partners offering the CPM program inTexas include a month and one day a month. Completion of the pro- the following: gram takes a minimum of fourteen months for the for- ! The University of Texas at Arlington mer and twenty-one months for the latter. In addition to ! TexasTech University,Lubbock the regular classroom sessions,CPM participants are assigned ! Sam Houston State University,operating programs take-home exams for each day of work in the program. in Houston At least thirty hours of outside work per course (graded ! Stephen F.Austin State University,Nacogdoches by the CPM cycle coordinator) is assigned. The total ! TexasA&M University–Corpus Christi.