“Representative bureaucracy as a leadership issue: the Canadian case”

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 393-410
Author(s):  
Tim A. Mau
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Representative Bureaucracy ◽  
Gender Representation ◽  
Administrative Leadership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Leadership ◽  
Federal Public Service

PurposeThe public administration literature on representative bureaucracy identifies several advantages from having a diverse public service workforce, but it has not explicitly focused on leadership. For its part, the public sector leadership literature has largely ignored the issue of gender. The purpose of this paper is to rectify these limitations by advancing the argument that having a representative bureaucracy is fundamentally a leadership issue. Moreover, it assesses the extent to which representativeness has been achieved in the Canadian federal public service.Design/methodology/approachThe paper begins with a discussion of the importance of a representative bureaucracy for democratic governance. In the next section, the case is made that representativeness is fundamentally intertwined with the concept of administrative leadership. Then, the article provides an interpretive case study analysis of the federal public service in Canada, which is the global leader in terms of women's representation in public service leadership positions.FindingsThe initial breakthrough for gender representation in the Canadian federal public service was 1995. From that point onward, the proportion of women in the core public administration exceeded workforce availability. However, women continued to be modestly under-represented among the senior leadership cadre throughout the early 2000s. The watershed moment for gender representation in the federal public service was 2011 when the number of women in the executive group exceeded workforce availability for the first time. Significant progress toward greater representativeness in the other target groups has also been made but ongoing vigilance is required.Research limitations/implicationsThe study only determines the passive representation of women in the Public Service of Canada and is not able to comment on the extent to which women are substantively represented in federal policy outcomes.Originality/valueThe paper traces the Canadian federal government's progress toward achieving gender representation over time, while commenting on the extent to which the public service reflects broader diversity. In doing so, it explicitly links representation to leadership, which the existing literature fails to do, by arguing that effective administrative leadership is contingent upon having a diverse public service. Moreover, it highlights the importance of gender for public sector leadership, which hitherto has been neglected.

Enhancing leadership capacity in the public sector: branding as an employer of choice

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim A. Mau
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Leadership Capacity ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Private Sector Organizations ◽  
Employer Of Choice ◽  
Federal Public Service

Purpose Public services around the world are grappling to enhance their leadership capacity. One approach is to provide leadership training and development to public servants, while another would be to target and hire individuals with proven leadership ability. The purpose of this paper is to focus on that latter strategy by critically examining the concept of branding the public service as an employer of choice as a means of recruiting and retaining sufficient leadership capacity. Design/methodology/approach The paper begins by outlining the challenge faced by governments to recruit the best and brightest employees into the public service. It then reviews the literature on the concept of branding as an employer of choice, including its perceived advantages and limitations, before undertaking a case study analysis of the 2007 public sector branding initiative of the Canadian federal government. Findings It is very difficult to develop a single, master brand given the diversity and complexity of the hundreds of organizations that comprise the public sector. While it may be a popular concept for private sector organizations, the concept of branding the public sector as an employer of choice has yet to demonstrate its merit. Canada, which was ostensibly the vanguard in terms of public sector branding, has been unable to position the federal public service as an employer of choice. Originality/value There is very little research on the use of branding as an employer of choice in the public sector. This paper contributes to the knowledge about the limitations of such strategies for ensuring that the public sector has the requisite leadership capacity.

ISO 9001 and the public service: an investigation of the effect of the QMS on the quality of public service organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Armando López-Lemus
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Iso 9001 ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the influence exerted by a quality management system (QMS) under ISO 9001: 2015 on the quality of public services organizations in Mexico. Design/methodology/approach The methodological design was quantitative, explanatory, observational and transversal, for which a sample of 461 public servants from the state of Guanajuato, Mexico was obtained. To test the hypotheses, a structural equation model (SEM) was developed through the statistical software Amos v.21. For the analysis of the data, software SPSS v.21 was used. Regarding the goodness and adjustment indices of the SEM (χ2 = 720.09, df = 320, CFI = 0.933, TLI = 0.926 and RMSEA = 0.05) which, therefore, proved to be acceptable. Findings According to the results obtained through the SEM model, the QMS under ISO 9001: 2015 is positively and significantly influenced tangible aspects (β1 = 0.79, p < 0.01), reliability (β2 = 0.90, p < 0.01), related to response quality (β3 = 0.93, p < 0.01), guarantees (β4 = 0.91, p < 0.01) and empathy (β5 = 0.88, p < 0.01) of the quality related to public services in Mexico. The study’s key contribution is that it discovered that implementing a QMS in accordance with the ISO 9001: 2015 standard has an impact on the quality of public services, with the most influential quality of response. Similarly, the assurance and dependability of service quality turned out to be important in providing public service quality. Research limitations/implications In this paper, the QMS was only evaluated as a variable that intervenes in the process of obtaining quality in public service under the ISO 9001 standard in its 2015 version. In this regard, the results’ trustworthiness is limited to the extent that the findings may be generalized in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico’s public service. As a result, the scientific community is left primarily focused on service quality to promote new future research. Practical implications The ISO 9001: 2015 standard’s QMS is one of the tools for success in both the commercial and government sectors. However, there are practical limitations, which focus on the time during which managers exercise their vision in the public sector: first, the dynamics that managers play in public policy; second, the length of time they have served in public office; and third, the interest of directors of public institutions to improve the quality of service provided by the government. Other practical consequences concern organizational culture and identity, public servant commitment, senior management or secretaries of government, as well as work and training. Originality/value The findings of this paper are important and valuable because they foster knowledge generation in the public sector through the ISO 9000 quality area. A model that permits the adoption and implementation of a QMS based on the ISO 9001: 2015 standard in public organizations that seek to provide quality in their services offered to the user is also presented to the literature. Similarly, the paper is important because there is currently insufficient research focusing on the variables examined in the context of public service in Mexico.

scholarly journals Accounting and the post-new public management

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 255-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ileana Steccolini
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Societal Relevance ◽  
New Public ◽  
Public Sector Accounting

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect various pathways for public sector accounting and accountability research in a post-new public management (NPM) context. Design/methodology/approach The paper first discusses the relationship between NPM and public sector accounting research. It then explores the possible stimuli that inter-disciplinary accounting scholars may derive from recent public administration studies, public policy and societal trends, highlighting possible ways to extend public sector accounting research and strengthen dialogue with other disciplines. Findings NPM may have represented a golden age, but also a “golden cage,” for the development of public sector accounting research. The paper reflects possible ways out of this golden cage, discussing future avenues for public sector accounting research. In doing so, it highlights the opportunities offered by re-considering the “public” side of accounting research and shifting the attention from the public sector, seen as a context for public sector accounting research, to publicness, as a concept central to such research. Originality/value The paper calls for stronger engagement with contemporary developments in public administration and policy. This could be achieved by looking at how public sector accounting accounts for, but also impacts on, issues of wider societal relevance, such as co-production and hybridization of public services, austerity, crises and wicked problems, the creation and maintenance of public value and democratic participation.

scholarly journals Towards a Representative Bureaucracy: Promoting Linguistic Representation and Diversity in the Swiss and Canadian Federal Public Services

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kübler ◽  
Émilienne Kobelt ◽  
Stephanie Andrey
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Representative Bureaucracy ◽  
Consociational Democracy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Adequate Representation ◽  
Administrative Units ◽  
Federal Public Service ◽  
Linguistic Communities

AbstractDrawing on the concept of representative bureaucracy, this article examines how two multilingual states – Canada and Switzerland – deal with issues related to the participation of different linguistic communities in the federal public service. Following a political mobilization of the linguistic cleavage, strategies to promote multilingualism in the public service have been adopted in both countries. The Canadian strategy focuses on equal treatment of Anglophones and Francophones in the public service. In Switzerland, adequate representation of the linguistic communities is the primary goal. These differences are explained by the characteristics of the linguistic regimes in each of the two countries as well as by the peculiarities of consociational democracy in Switzerland. In both countries, the linguistic origins of public administration staff, overall, mirrors the proportions of the linguistic communities in the wider society. Within administrative units, however, linguistic diversity is hampered by the logics of language rationalization, where minorities are under pressure to communicate in the language of the majority.

From the Politics of Bureaucracy to the politics of representative bureaucracy

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 494-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eckhard Schröter
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Representative Bureaucracy ◽  
Organisational Performance ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Treat All

The Politics of Bureaucracy provides an important impetus for the research of representative bureaucracy and at the same time serves as an analytical frame for a research agenda on representativeness in the public sector. The major impetus comes from one of the book’s core messages that public administration is tightly interwoven with politics and society. As a reform paradigm, representative bureaucracy aims for a public sector workforce that mirrors the social composition of the society it is supposed to serve. If successful, this measure is expected to improve organisational performance, relations with social groups and also overall political legitimacy. However, representativeness is no panacea to treat all problems of diverse societies and non-responsive bureaucracies. Rather, potential benefits have to be discounted against likely pitfalls and extra costs incurred through the pursuit of representativeness. What is more, the inherent tensions with competing reform paradigms have to be taken into account.

CAPAM Symposium on Networked Government: The public service as a learning organization: the Malaysian experience

2005 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malek Shah Bin Mohd. Yusoff
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
Institute Of Public Administration ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Public Sector Organizations ◽  
Common Purpose ◽  
The Government

Current environmental demands require public sector organizations to respond effectively and efficiently to the needs of the people and the nation. Given the bureaucratic nature of public sector organizations, where change and responsiveness are difficult to achieve, this paper highlights some of the issues that need attention to transform public sector organizations into learning organizations. It also examines some of the initiatives taken by Malaysia in general and INTAN (the National Institute of Public Administration) in particular to help enhance learning in the public sector so that the various components of the government machinery can work together across organizational boundaries for a common purpose, responding effectively to challenges, as well as delivering integrated and customer-centric services.

scholarly journals Emerging Issues in Public Sector Reforms in Africa: An Assessment of Ghana and Nigeria

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salami Issa Afegbua ◽  
Ganiyu L. Ejalonibu
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
West African ◽  
Public Sector Reform ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Sector Reform ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Reforms ◽  
Emerging Issues

Public sector reform (PSR) has been quite popular in Africa and in recent years, several African countries have implemented far-reaching governance and public service reform measures. The aim of this article is to consider the historical development of Public Sector Reform in Africa and the philosophy behind the ubiquitous wave of reform in the continent. The article discovers that those reform measures have so far gone through three different phases to promote and/or accelerate the revitalization of the public service. It identifies some major challenges that account for the monumental failure of PSR. Finally, the paper offers suggestions on how African countries can free themselves from the doldrums of current PSR. This article will not only broaden the frontier of knowledge in the field of public administration but also address the present and on-going reality of public sector reforms in the West African sub region. This study uses a ‘Literature Survey’ in examining the issue in question.

The impact of service excellence and service innovation on organisational reputation: quantitative evidence from Jordanian public sector

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaker A. Aladwan ◽  
Sajeda I. Alshami
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Arab Region ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Service Excellence ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe aim of this paper is the identification of the impacts that innovation and service excellence have upon organisational reputation within public sector organisations in Jordan.Design/methodology/approachAn approach was adopted that was quantitative with a questionnaire designed that was to be self-administrated for the primary data collection. In total, there was distribution of 600 questionnaires from which 556 were retrieved with a high rate of response (92.7%).FindingsThrough analysis of the data, several findings were revealed by the study, including that innovation was the factor with the most influence (beta = 0.81) upon organisational reputation within the public sector in Jordan compared to the factor for service excellence (beta = 0.54).Practical implicationsThe research has several potential implications for theory and management for those making decisions and policies within public administration such as in relation to enhancement of innovation strategy application for improving the reputations of organisations within the public sector. Furthermore, the paper fills a gap within the theory of organisational reputation and within the literature generally, especially in the context of public administration.Originality/valueIn regard to value and originality of this paper, it can be considered the first of its type for the public sector in Jordan, and perhaps the Arab region as a whole, that has examined the impacts that innovation and service excellence have upon organisational reputation within the context of public administration.

The relationship between leadership style and employee performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 274-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank L.K. Ohemeng ◽  
Emelia Amoako-Asiedu ◽  
Theresa Obuobisa Darko
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Employee Performance ◽  
Leadership Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Building Relationships ◽  
The Public ◽  
Alternative Practices

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance critical theoretical insights into the idea of “relational bureaucratic leadership” and its implications for public administration in developing countries (DCs). In doing so, the paper sets out new agendas for public service governance in DCs that recognizes the changing nature and emerging complexities of both the public service and society. Design/methodology/approach This is an exploratory study which synthesises literature in management, human resources, leadership studies and public administration, to understand the limitations of mainstream approaches to bureaucratic leadership in DCs, particularly SSA, with a view of identifying alternative practices. Findings Findings from this paper suggest that public service governance in DCs are embedded in complex dynamics between power relations, complexity and social norms, and bureaucratic leaders should, therefore, focus on building relationships as a means of deepening trust and enhancing cooperation among critical actors. The case for a shift in focus to “relationality” reflects changes in the broader global political economy, including emerging wicked and multi-faceted policy problems that require heterodox and context-sensitive responses from governments and greater collaboration among key stakeholders. Originality/value The analysis of the limitations of traditional approaches to public service governance in this essay reveals the importance of a shift from a preoccupation with conventional organizational forms and functions, to place greater emphasis on social networks and relationships, as a way of improving leadership efficiency in the public services of DCs.

Wider applications for Lean

2014 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 550-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Bateman ◽  
Peter Hines ◽  
Peter Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Royal Air Force ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Lean Principles ◽  
The Public ◽  
Lean Enterprise ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Uk

Purpose – The lean enterprise model has been adopted in a wide range of industries beyond its origins in the motor industry. To achieve this there has been a considerable extension of the lean concept outside high-volume repetitive manufacture. The purpose of this paper is to present an in-depth study of the application of lean within the British Royal Air Force. It offers a number of new insights which have implications for the future development and adoption of lean in service contexts, and the public sector in particular. Design/methodology/approach – To illustrate the issues of application of lean outside automotive, this paper considers the adoption of the lean concept by the Tornado joint integrated project team within the UK Ministry of Defence. A review of methods of application of lean used within Tornado are studied. The paper considers how the fundamental principles of lean apply in this environment and how, considering these principles, methods of implementation should be modified. Findings – This paper finds that the five lean fundamental principles apply in Tornado but they need to considered specifically within the public service context particularly the pull principle. Hence the authors offer three propositions relating to the use of the lean principles of value, waste, flow and pull in the public sector, and one for perfection only relating to military organisations. Originality/value – This paper makes an important contribution by demonstrating that lean can be successfully applied, in a public service context, with only modest modifications to its core principles, principally about how customer demand (pull) is managed. The implication of this finding demonstrates that to be adopted successfully, lean must be adapted to its context and the lean principles need to be reviewed too.

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