Leadership competencies for a global public service
| Author | Tim A. Mau |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852315576706 |
| Date | 01 March 2017 |
| Published date | 01 March 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
International Review of
Administrative Sciences
2017, Vol. 83(1) 3–22
!The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0020852315576706
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International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
Article
Leadership competencies
for a global public service
Tim A. Mau
University of Guelph, Canada
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 compe-
tency framework might be fruitfully employed to buttress such a cadre of individuals.
Points for practitioners
Public services around the world have been embracing the use of leadership compe-
tency 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.
Keywords
public sector, leadership competencies, global public service
Introduction
With the progression of globalization has come the realization that for many public
policy issues autonomous state action is insufficient. Whether it is dealing with
climate change, poverty, terrorism or various epidemics, a global approach to
governance may be necessary (Benner et al., 2004), one that ultimately rests on
Corresponding author:
Tim A. Mau, Department of Political Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
Email: tmau@uoguelph.ca
the adoption of a global public service with professional expertise that transcends
national borders. As Auluck and Levin (2009: 50) argued:
From the ‘global warming’ crisis to bloodshed in West Asia, in Africa and elsewhere,
the world has witnessed the failure of heady unilateralism and the inability of nation-
states ...to address and resolve these crises single-handedly. This provides the
rationale for the establishment and development of a special cadre – global public
servants – to support solutions to these challenges.
The purpose of this article is not to determine whether devising a global public
service is feasible or how it would be structured, although these are important
considerations and there is considerable ambiguity about the concept. Rather, it
will explore a much narrower series of questions. Firstly, assuming that a cadre
of global public servants is a useful concept to further advance global governance,
is it possible to formulate and implement a leadership competency model that could
be used to select, develop and reward these individuals? Secondly, what leadership
competencies would be required? In answering this latter question, evidence will be
drawn from both the global managers/leaders competency literature as well as the
public sector leadership competency models that have been adopted by various
states.
The aim of this research is to contribute to the expanding public sector leader-
ship literature, particularly the sub-set dedicated to the debate regarding whether
public leaders are born or made (Orazi et al., 2013; Van Wart, 2003, 2013). A key
component of that literature examines the implementation of individual leadership
competencies and although it has ‘‘progressed substantially’’ in the past decade
with ‘‘adequate competency frameworks ...being designed and updated by gov-
ernments around the world’’, it has been suggested nonetheless that ‘‘the academic
community can contribute more’’ (Van Wart, 2013: 533, 537). To that end, this
article will undertake a comparative analysis of several national public sector lead-
ership competency models to determine how they might be modified to guide the
hiring, training and promotion of global public servants.
While public administration scholars should be striving to illuminate the con-
cept of a global public service, this article argues that more thought needs to be
given to how a leadership competency framework might be fruitfully employed for
these individuals. Elsewhere it has been argued that governments needed to utilize
public sector leadership competency models with caution (Mau, 2009). Given the
huge diversity across the globe in terms of the values and cultures of the inter-
national organizations and nation-states involved in global governance, not to
mention the discernable differences in the political institutions and statecivil
society relations of those states, it is an admonition that takes on even greater
importance in this context. Embracing a universalistic approach to create a generic
set of leadership competencies for a global public service is clearly problematic.
Therefore, further research is required to ascertain whether such an approach
might be feasible.
4International Review of Administrative Sciences 83(1)
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