Leadership competencies for a global public service

Abstract

The notion of a global public service has been put forth in the literature as a means of addressing a number of policy issues that can no longer be addressed by a nation-state in isolation. This article sets out to address whether it is possible to formulate and implement a leadership competency model that could be used to select, develop and reward these global public servants and, if so, what leadership competencies they would require. Evidence will be drawn from both the literature on the competencies required for global managers/leaders as well as various public sector leadership competency models. It is argued that more thought needs to be given to how a leadership competency framework might be fruitfully employed to buttress such a cadre of individuals. Points for practitionersPublic services around the world have been embracing the use of leadership competency models as part of their human resources management frameworks for the past few decades. This research examines a number of the various models that have been employed with the intent of identifying key competencies that would be more universal in nature. Additional research needs to be conducted to ensure that such models reflect the distinctiveness of the public sector.

Public Service Leadership Competency Framework [PSLCF]: Is It a Holy Grail of Service Delivery?

“…Despite the above advantages, the leadership competency frameworks are not the holy grail of service delivery, as noted by scholars elsewhere [35] [36] [37] and [5]. The above data reveal the following;…”

“…Four schools are identified in the literature in relation to the use of the term: One school views the competency as representing specific expertise or accomplishment; another school conceive it as the capacity of an organization; it is also taken to mean specific behaviors contributing to excellence; and finally, there are those who views competency as a minimal level of job proficiency [5] [6].…”

“…Plethora of public sector reforms initiatives implemented by several govern- Source: Adapted from [5]. complexity of models.…”

“…Second, most of the models are very generic, and third, of the seven models only two (the UK and Canadian) heralded the public service values and ethics. This is alarming as the values and ethics are very central to the success of leadership competency models [5].…”

“…Leadership competency models are ubiquitous in both private and public sectors [5]. They have been heralded as means for making better talent management decision, recruitment and selection, training and development, rewarding employees, and connected to number of interrelated human resource functions, such as succession planning, compensation and performance management.…”