Cultural Values and Its Influence on the Enactment of Leadership in Public Sector Organisations

This research contributes to our understanding of leadership in public sector organisations by examining the influence of national culture on the enactment of public sector leadership in the context of Brunei. It followed a qualitative interpretivist research approach employing semi-structured interviews involving public sector leaders in Brunei. This research contributes to existing debates that claim that public sector leadership is context specific and contingent upon cultural backgrounds and the national cultures of specific countries and emerging nations. The findings suggest national culture appear to have a constraining influence on public sector leadership, where tension exists between abiding to Islamic work ethics and cultural tribal activities, particularly relating to the issues of fairness and justice regarding recruitment, selection, and promotion.

Investigating the Impact of Leadership Development on the Formation of Public Sector Leader Identities.

<p><b>This dissertation examines the role of leadership development in forming a leader identity in public sector leaders. It investigates the perceived impacts on public sector leaders attending a leadership development program resulting in identity work practices. The main focus of this case study was the leadership development experiences and interpretations of public sector leaders. A leadership development program called Leadership in Practice delivered by New Zealand's Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission to senior public sector leaders was used as a background and context for grounding my investigations. Research participants comprised 16 senior leaders from across the New Zealand public sector. This research was conducted using semi-structured interviews as the qualitative research method. The research data was collected, coded, analysed and thematically grouped using interpretive interactionism. By taking an interpretive approach, I give voice to the experiences and interpretations of these research participants. </b></p> <p>Leadership development and its various forms of interpretations in organisational studies continue to command attention about senior officials' leadership performance outcomes in leadership roles across both the public and private sectors. However, empirical research exploring the perceived impacts of this organizationally driven socialisation process on leaders remains sparse across mainstream leadership research, particularly within public sector leadership research. </p> <p>This study follows the tradition of organisation studies which theorise identity formation as a continuous process of becoming rather than being. It presents a view of leader identity formation as a self-regulated process undertaken by public sector leaders over an extended period. It argues that undertaking leadership development training is vital for public sector leaders; however, it becomes more relevant during specific critical periods throughout their career trajectory across the public sector. I contribute to leadership development and broader leadership research by proposing a new framework called 'leader identity formation framework' comprising four distinct phases – Inception, Initiation, Recognition and Rebellion. In conclusion, I offer a range of theoretical and practical implications for leadership development and leader identity research, which could help inform future research in public sector leadership.</p>

Investigating the Impact of Leadership Development on the Formation of Public Sector Leader Identities.

<p><b>This dissertation examines the role of leadership development in forming a leader identity in public sector leaders. It investigates the perceived impacts on public sector leaders attending a leadership development program resulting in identity work practices. The main focus of this case study was the leadership development experiences and interpretations of public sector leaders. A leadership development program called Leadership in Practice delivered by New Zealand's Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission to senior public sector leaders was used as a background and context for grounding my investigations. Research participants comprised 16 senior leaders from across the New Zealand public sector. This research was conducted using semi-structured interviews as the qualitative research method. The research data was collected, coded, analysed and thematically grouped using interpretive interactionism. By taking an interpretive approach, I give voice to the experiences and interpretations of these research participants. </b></p> <p>Leadership development and its various forms of interpretations in organisational studies continue to command attention about senior officials' leadership performance outcomes in leadership roles across both the public and private sectors. However, empirical research exploring the perceived impacts of this organizationally driven socialisation process on leaders remains sparse across mainstream leadership research, particularly within public sector leadership research. </p> <p>This study follows the tradition of organisation studies which theorise identity formation as a continuous process of becoming rather than being. It presents a view of leader identity formation as a self-regulated process undertaken by public sector leaders over an extended period. It argues that undertaking leadership development training is vital for public sector leaders; however, it becomes more relevant during specific critical periods throughout their career trajectory across the public sector. I contribute to leadership development and broader leadership research by proposing a new framework called 'leader identity formation framework' comprising four distinct phases – Inception, Initiation, Recognition and Rebellion. In conclusion, I offer a range of theoretical and practical implications for leadership development and leader identity research, which could help inform future research in public sector leadership.</p>

The role of love in public sector leadership in Slovenia

The article discusses the importance of self-love in public sector leadership and public sector employees engagement. Given the importance of leadership in our civilisation, the almost complete absence of self-love in leaders is especially detrimental to the organisations they lead and their employees. This is especially important in the public sector–due to the importance of the goods and services it provides, and the fact that it does so with the taxpayers’ money. Leaders who love themselves and lead with love, know how to step into the employees’ shoes, understand them; know how to find the best in each one of them and encourage the development of that aspect; they are sincere and warm; know how to listen to employees and impress them; they are respectful of them; they inspire a sense of security and confidence; spread positive energy and know how to make decisions. Also, the connection between self-love and sustainable development social model is discussed. Due to the unilateral orientation of our civilisation toward material development, individuals have almost eliminated the pursuit of spiritual development from their lives. However, love and happiness can only be achieved with the balance of both. The integral principle of sustainable development, which, in addition to economic growth, encompasses spiritual growth, is a model that offers us a way out of our (bad) state–in the world and in Slovenia. Of particular importance–primarily because of the long absence–is the spiritual side. People need to reintroduce it into their lives. In doing so, the state and the law should be “utilised”, and to set as their main task the provision of conditions for (in addition to economic) spiritual growth and thus love and happiness.

Censored!

Public sector leadership often demands fast thinking and rapid response. Our decisions are more likely to be sound, however, when they are informed by ‘slow thinking’ when we are not in crisis mode. The art of ‘thinking, fast and slow’ (Kahneman, 2011) is illustrated by decisions of the Office of Film and Literature Classification (the Classification Office) in the days following the Christchurch mosque shootings on 15 March 2019. This article engages with political philosophy to support the Classification Office in applying its decision framework and encourages public sector investment in ‘slow thinking’, so that public administration can be both responsive and anticipatory, pragmatic and principled.

Performative seduction: how management consultants influence practices of leadership

PurposeThis paper tracks how a policy recommended by management consultants becomes embedded as an integral part of leadership practice. It explores the launch of the concept of “talent management” by McKinsey & Company and how it becomes adopted as part of expected leadership practices in the English National Health Service. The use of Management Consultants globally has increased exponentially, and the paper considers this phenomenon and the ways in which management consultant advice influences public sector leadership and practice at local level.Design/methodology/approachA case study approach is adopted, focussing on the introduction of the concept of talent management into the English NHS, following the wider emergence of the concept through influential reports published by McKinsey & Company in the late 1990s. An analysis of the emergence of the concept is conducted drawing on this series of reports and the adoption of talent management policies and practices by the English government's Department of Health.FindingsThese influential reports by the management consultancy firm, McKinsey & Company, constituted an urgent need for this newly identified concept of talent management and the secrecy surrounding its reception. It is this mystery surrounding the decisions about a talent management strategy in the NHS and the concealment of decisions behind closed doors, which leads us to offer a theory of management consultants' influence on leaders as one of performative seduction.Originality/valueManagement consultancy is a vast business whose influence reaches deeply into public and private sector organisations around the world. Understanding of the variegated policies and practices that constitute contemporary modes of governance therefore requires comprehension of management consultants' role within those policies and practices. This paper argues that management consultants influence public sector leadership through insertion of their products into definitions of, and performative constitution of, local level leadership.

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

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.

Ethnic (pay) disparities in public sector leadership in Aotearoa New Zealand

New Zealand Governments have longstanding policy commitments to equal employment practices. Little attention has been paid to ethnic pay disparities in recent years. Informed by a series of official information act requests, we were interested to find out what extent, ethnic pay disparities existed within the core public sector and district health boards (DHBs). We examined the population proportions of Māori, Pasifika and Other ethnicities earning over $NZ100,000 over five year intervals between 2001 to 2016, using linear regression analysis. The analyses showed a statistically significant pattern of ethnic pay disparities across the public sector. There were fewer Māori and Pasifika staff employed in DHBs than their population proportion. The failure to promote Māori and Pasifika to the upper tiers of public sector is consistent with definitions of institutional racism. The authors call for more research to understand the dynamics of ethnic pay disparity and the drivers of this disparity.

Leadership and Change in the Public Sector

The nature and evolution of the field of studies of public sector leadership can be understood by focusing on four theoretical orientations: institutional, transformational, collaborative, and contingent. The first one argues that, within a democracy, public sector executives do not exercise—or should not exercise—a strong leadership. The second one, on the contrary, stresses their “transformational” role. The third orientation favors more horizontal leading styles, while the last one argues that all the previous types of leadership could emerge depending on the specific conditions. Each of these four orientations takes a specific position toward change and has led to a considerable number of books and articles. This clearly shows that leadership is an important issue in the study of the public sector. It also shows the theoretical fragmentation present in this field and that there is not a fit-all type of leadership. Paradoxically, there is still a noticeable lack of research on some topics, such as the causes and effects of leadership. Thus, there is not a clear understanding yet of the extent to which leading within government makes a positive difference and, in case it does, of how to make it happen. Filling these voids would certainly help this field to gain greater relevance within the wider field of leadership studies as well as in the social sciences in general.