What sets the IMPM apart?

The IMPM approach

Management is, above all, a practice where art, science and craft meet.

Unlike the traditional case-study approach, the IMPM curriculum is designed around the actual experiences and needs of the participating managers and their organizations. Throughout the program, learning takes the form of a constant exchange of ideas and insights, as executives move back and forth between management concepts and their real-life experiences, reflecting upon them individually and together. Find out more in the video at the foot of this page,

Breaking down the conventional silos

Most management degree programs offer training in the traditional business silos of marketing, finance, strategy, HR, etc., but little in the actual practice of management. As described in the Harvard Business Review article “Five Minds of a Manager”, by J. Gosling and H. Mintzberg, the IMPM uses a unique approach structured around five managerial mindsets (reflective, analytical, worldly, collaborative, action).

Earn a Masters degree while you work

Participants continue to work while they earn a Masters Degree through five, nine day modules given over a 16-month period at leading business schools around the world. 

Use work, don’t make work.

The IMPM breaks away from the traditional lecture format, where the professor is considered the expert in the room. Instead, sessions are designed to involve everyone, with a 50-50 rule that gives the managers half the time to spend in conversation with their colleagues, learning from each other’s insights and suggestions.

This ensures that the focus remains on real-life experiences. In fact, these discussions often become much more passionate than they would in normal case studies because participants want to help their colleagues resolve the issue at hand.

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Reflections
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Henry Mintzberg and Ricardo Semler in conversation at MIT

In this video, recorded in MIT’s MBA class, Henry Mintzberg talks with Ricardo Semler, the President of Semco, about the IMPM, and about why in his opinion MBA programs are typically not designed to develop experienced managers (as distinct from business analysts, consultants or investment bankers). His premise — based on many years’ research with managers — is that management is art, craft and science, and therefore cannot be developed primarily in the classroom.