Public Governance and Leadership - Political and Managerial Problems in Making Public Governance Changes the Driver for Re-Constituting Leadership

Public Governance and Leadership: Outline of the Subject (p. 11)

Rainer Koch

1 Introduction

The following collection of contributions deals with strategic aspects of both design and implementation of large scale modernisations of the management of state and administration. To set the stage for all the further discussions, this introduction aims to outline in terms of a research programme how strategic aspects of that kind have be/ or can be made the subject of analysis from a rather pragmatic perspective. In line with the currently most pressing challenges, this introduction is used to demonstrate how notably ongoing ‘governance changes’ are to be/ or should be made drivers or starting points to give the whole process of modernising the management of state and administration the nowdesired more strategic shape.

As is known from international developments, the relevance of dealing with such a subject clearly goes back to the negative impact an inadequate strategic guidance has had on the design and implementation of large scale modernisation activities so far. There is evidence from a variety of different countries that demonstrate quite clearly how a deficient strategic guidance (or rather a total lack of guidance) has resulted in an inescapable waste or loss of possible efficiency as well as efficacy gains (for a brief account Jann/ Reichard 2003). No doubt, the given story of designing and implementing modernisation activities of a different scale in the Federal Republic of Germany is but one outstanding relevant example.

Therefore, coming from these experiences, the attempt is made in the following to reflect requisites and consequences as to how ongoing ‘public governance’ changes (mostly moves from the inherited definition of a ‘welfare-state’ to a rather ‘enabling authority’ understanding) have to/ or should be made drivers for deliberately adapting management processes in state and administration. To control the only most important means and effect relations in this respect, the question is raised as to how ‘public governance’ changes have to be systematically made the starting point (and have to be used as guiding models) for adapting or reconstituting leadership practices across all levels downwards – from the society-wide level down to the level of single service delivery units.

The strategically most relevant question is then as to whether current approaches are proving successful to get changes in the role and function of state and administration at large more or less systematically converted into the then dominant performance criteria at the workplace level of single delivery units. Coming from a rather pragmatic perspective (which also means from a rather design-oriented perspective), the main focus in substantive terms will be to elaborate the way in which purposively set-up designs can be used as levers to give the whole process the necessary strategic shape and, in turn, the desired extra efficiency- or efficacy-enhancing effects.

To explicate such a research programme, it becomes apparent that the common epistemological criteria/ distinction of the (analytical) philosophy of science are put into operation in the following discussion. Accordingly, the following outline is 1) firstly, going to elaborate the way in which the main subject of this programme – the currently dominant modernisation activities - is posited as a problem worth analysing from a scientific point of view.