Leadership in a Paradoxical Public‐sector Environment: The Challenges of Ambiguity

Abstract

At the heart of any public‐sector reform discourse are the conflicting contentions about what constitutes good public leadership. The battles fought ‐ and to be fought ‐ over public‐sector reform are over the appropriate role of the state. These contending perspectives are the traditional hierarchical model and the neo‐liberal managerialist model of public administration. The aspiration to build a responsive and cost‐effective public sector that appropriately balances public and private interests inevitably confronts the challenge of how best to impose neo‐liberal managerialist values and practices onto a hierarchical politico‐administrative system, grounded on the premise that the state is best placed to determine, protect and promote the public interest, without inevitably creating a counter‐productive paradoxical public‐management environment. In this public‐sector reform scenario, it is necessary to foster a form of leadership ‐ both political and organisational ‐ that demands of itself that it be capable of perpetual adaption in the face of ambiguity and which change. That is a great deal to ask of both shrewd politicians and consummate bureaucrats.