POAD9512 Leading Public Sector Change

Reserved for participants of the ANZSOG Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA) program.

This topic is about an omnipresent, yet curiously ill-understood, phenomenon in government: Leadership, and its relation to stability and change in public policies and public organisations. Calls for better, stronger, more authentic, more ethical leadership in the public sector are often heard these days - as indeed they have been on and off through the ages in most political systems. But what does it mean when people say they want better leadership? What does 'leadership' really add to the mix of institutions and processes that make up the business of government? What place can leadership have in a democracy? How is its exercise being facilitated and constrained by the institutions of democracy and the rule of law? How do political and bureaucratic leaders at the apex of government interact, and how can they exercise collaborative leadership in driving policy change and organisational innovation? These are the core questions of this topic.

This topic aims to identify and debunk pervasive myths in contemporary management speak about 'leadership'. Instead, more empirically sound perspectives on political and bureaucratic leadership, as well as the relationship between political and bureaucratic leaders, will be presented. Participants will be encouraged to apply these perspectives in diagnosing and dealing with leadership predicaments in relation to forging stability and/or reform of public organisations and policies.

1. Discriminate between myths and realities of public leadership discourse and practice
2. Demonstrate deep understanding of the institutional, contextual and (inter)personal factors shaping the behaviour of political and public service leaders, as well as the interaction between them
3. Demonstrate strategic capability in instigating, implementing or modifying processes of policy and organisational change in the public sector
4. Discern, reflect upon and cope with ethical dimensions of exercising leadership
5. Demonstrate an enhanced ability to work in collaborative teams on strategic assignments in the context of time pressure
6. Cogently communicate strategic leadership advise to top level office-holders