Program Overview
The Executive Diploma in Municipal Management (EDMM) is a comprehensive career development diploma program designed for municipal managers. The program helps you acquire the core knowledge, skills, and competencies required to be a successful manager in the Ontario municipal context.
The program comprises 16 modules delivered across two terms and two graded assessments: an oral presentation and a research report. The presentation and research report help you develop an evaluative and analytical frame of mind to integrate and apply knowledge gained from the modules.
Learning Outcomes
The EDMM curriculum is designed to align with AMCTO's Competency Framework for Municipal Management. By the end of the program, you will be able to:
- Understand the core principles, techniques, and practices related to the management of organizations, people, and finances within the local government context.
- Use key management concepts and frameworks to address organizational, resource, and policy challenges in the municipal context.
- Evaluate solutions and processes that are being applied to complex problems in municipal management.
- Analyze political and institutional contexts in Ontario as they relate to the needs and challenges of managing municipalities.
- Demonstrate creative, analytical, interpretive, and critical thinking skills on administrative issues, opportunities, and challenges related to local government.
- Prepare a professional research report that addresses current problems and emerging opportunities in local government.
Module Descriptions
Public Sector Trends
This module introduces a selection of current institutional, structural, and organizational issues and trends related to managing performance, people, and resources in local government. You will learn about the governance framework for Ontario's municipalities and the public service structures, processes, and values underlying the management of local government. This module also highlights themes that you will find throughout the EDMM program and helps you reflect on the role of managers in contemporary local government.
Intergovernmental Relations for Municipal Managers
This module helps you understand municipal-provincial-federal relations in Ontario and the provincial government's policy and legislative processes. It provides context for your work as a municipal manager and the benefits of fostering positive relationships with other municipalities, other tiers of government, local boards, agencies, and associations.
The module encourages you to identify issues that affect your municipality and ways to engage in those issues through collaboration, effective messaging, and relationship-building.
Staff-Council Relations
This module provides you with a set of critical skills to proactively engage with or respond to council. It covers principles and techniques in the use of language and style of communication that is professional and appropriate to the council context and the political environment. You will gain an understanding of the broader nuances of staff-council relations to help you better manage potential crises and conflicts.
Strategic Planning for Municipalities
This module provides a framework to support the development of a strategic plan for municipal government. Key questions to shape your strategic planning process, as well as planning tools, will be shared and demonstrated to help you develop a strategic plan or strategy document in your workplace. You will reflect on the importance of engaging and including residents and partner organizations to help focus the organization on the most relevant and pressing priorities.
Organizational Behaviour and Leadership
This module focuses on equipping municipal managers with the critical skill sets needed to meet future challenges inherent in delivering outstanding services in increasingly complex and fast-changing environments. You will examine the theory and practice behind organizational behaviour and management leadership. The intent is to provide a broad conceptual understanding and help you take the first steps in applying those concepts to your workplace.
Corporate Performance Measurement and Service Delivery Improvement
An effective way to achieve continuous organizational and service delivery improvement is through performance management and the use of performance measures and benchmarks. This module discusses the different types of performance measures and the methodological challenges that can arise in the municipal context. The focus is on outcome-based approaches, which de-emphasize inputs and outputs as measures of success.
Organizational Financial Management, Integrity, and Governance
All managers have control over the use of resources and are therefore financial managers in their own right. This module addresses the principles and tools of financial management, integrity, and governance within the municipal government environment. You will learn the fundamentals of accounting, financial reporting, budget preparation, and budget management with consideration of both long-term and short-term needs. You will also learn about implementing and monitoring financial policies and procedures and examine ethical behaviours related to financial management.
Human Resource Law and Labour Relations
This module provides an overview of the legal framework of human resource management and labour relations. It equips you with knowledge of the policies and procedures for hiring, promotion, and performance appraisal. You will also understand the equity and legal considerations involved in handling employee discipline. Upon completion of this module, you will improve your ability to integrate human resource policies and programs with provincial legislation to manage municipal staff.
Authentic and Effective Community Engagement
This module is designed to provide the skills and knowledge needed for successful and authentic public consultation and citizen engagement. It addresses current challenges such as low trust in government institutions and low participation in municipal consultations. You will analyze case studies and learn about engagement objectives, sample toolkits, and user personas. The session emphasizes fostering social trust and building community capacity and connectedness.
Policy Formulation, Implementation, and Evaluation
This module examines policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation in a municipal government setting. It reviews the process of policy formulation to equip managers to help elected officials and other community actors identify, work toward, and achieve common goals and objectives. Topics include:
- Group dynamics and political behaviours
- Facilitation and consensus-building techniques
- Engaging others in identifying issues and outcomes.
Sample policies are discussed and analyzed.
Succession Planning and Personnel Change Management
Municipalities across the province are facing potential workforce shortages for years to come. This module covers key principles and action plans to help you initiate succession planning within the broader context of personnel change management in your department or municipality. It provides a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities of succession planning and personnel change management for the current workforce during a time of rapidly shifting generational demographics.
Staff Performance Management
This module will help you understand the basic concepts and tools of results-oriented staff performance management. The discussion focuses on promoting the development and performance of staff and employees throughout the organization, as well as your own professional development. This requires knowledge of interpersonal relations, skills in motivation techniques, and the ability to identify other people's strengths and weaknesses. You will also establish the link between staff performance management and key principles of human resource management, including policies and procedures for hiring, promotion, performance appraisal, and discipline.
Building Business Cases
This module helps you prepare effective business cases so that proposed initiatives are favourably received. The formal structure for a well-documented business case is described, with special attention given to:
- Proposed plans
- Feasibility analysis
- Milestones and deliverables
- Immediate financial impacts
- Long-term financial impacts
The module provides practical examples of business cases that include mechanisms for implementing and monitoring financial policies and procedures related to advancing services and assets associated with the business initiative.
Project and Portfolio Management
While both project and portfolio management deal with organizing and managing resources to reach identifiable goals, there can be—and at times should be—a significant divergence in approach. This module focuses on the key principles and elements for successful project and portfolio management, beginning with the differences between the two. Careful attention is given to core principles such as effective planning, clarity, and establishing desired outcomes at the outset.
Public Communications and Media Relations
This module provides strategies, tips, and techniques to help you better manage the demands of conventional and social media. It equips you to communicate information to the media in ways that increase public understanding of local government issues and activities. The module also helps you use social media and other communication tools to support an overarching communication strategy and ensure stakeholders are engaged and informed. You will learn what you can do individually and organizationally to leverage the power of the media, promote success stories, and address issues in a responsible and professional manner.
Communication and Listening Skills for Municipal Managers
In this module, you will learn to facilitate the flow of ideas, information, and understanding between individuals. It helps you understand interpersonal communication principles and develop practical skills in listening, speaking, writing, and persuading without diminishing the views of others. You will learn how to advocate effectively in the community interest and convey relevant information with confidence, clarity, and precision. You will also examine both personal and organizational elements of effective communication.