Peter Young | February 2007

Are there differences between risk management in the public and private sectors? As a professor who has spent time in both public administration and business administration programs, I have had several opportunities to think about both sides of the debate. 

On one side, we have those who argue that management is management and that differences in the public and private sectors are modest (“if only government were run like a business”). Opponents of the “management is management” point of view argue that the public sector is so different from the private sector that it is a distinctly separate thing and, thus, requires different knowledge and management skills.