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PART I Enhancing the Quality of Education and Training for the Public Sector
forwarded to all sorts of political and administrative sites and there is a danger of en-
croachment, errors and confusion if speed wins over analysis. That creates additional
pressure to work together in a network and to change work methods. Everyone’s
expectations are higher. This faster process results in non-performance being seen
immediately. Technological development is changing hierarchical relationships, mentali-
ties and people’s expectations; more networking and teleconferencing take place. It is
estimated that the breakthrough is still recent and that there is catching up to do as
seen in the following comment: “Most of my deputy directors do not use computers.
And still very few senior public servants can surf the Web or the Internet!”
Senior managers are personally responsible from a legal standpoint (for ex-
ample, the “contaminated blood” affair). It is a way of balancing the power of the
public authority; however, this trend threatens to make managers more cautious
and to put a damper on their willingness to take risks. According to the leaders
interviewed, the public service seems to have lost its sense of fundamental, com-
mon values: from a moral perspective, a rise in individualism is being witnessed.
The organizational culture is a rather holistic way of thinking with a very specific
internal structuring; it is not a simple sticking together of ways of thinking and
acting. According to the respondents, the organizational culture has not changed
everywhere. The grands corps say that they agree to develop a managerial approach,
but, in reality, they believe themselves to be above that and believe that this ap-
proach is for others! This culture was based more on the law than on management
and more on tasks to accomplish than on the results to achieve.
Up until very recently, the culture of the senior public service did not place
emphasis on the obligation to undergo professional training during one’s career,
but this situation would seem to be changing. There are now several departmental
and interdepartmental training institutions, and internal competition with regard
to training has even been observed within the public service.
According to the managers met, there is no real integrated human-resource
management policy. Personnel policies are simply quantitative employment policies.
Performance- and competency-evaluation policies are simply pro forma; they are
not routinely used and the evaluation form does not refer to them. Up to now,
the human-resource management approach has not been widely accepted or put
into practice in the French administrations.
France does not have an officially endorsed competency profile. There are,
however, a number of points on which many of the interviewees agree with regard
to the competencies needed for the future. These competencies are as follows:
1. adaptability, including the ability to react quickly and efficiently, to be proactive,
to question established truths, to gather varied experience, and to demonstrate
a flexible attitude;
2. the ability to negotiate as a program manager and in relations with users;
3. the assessment of performance, including the ability to set operational objec-
tives;
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… Competencies of Senior Managers: A Look at Some OECD Countries
4. leadership including charisma, audacity, determination, pragmatism, a sense of
moral values, entrepreneurship, a critical perspective, openness to change, and
a strong sense of identity;
5. management of knowledge;
6. human-resource management, including frankness, openness, lucidity, good
judgement, interpersonal skills, and courage;
7. management of networks, that is, knowing how to run them, to work in teams,
to anticipate issues, and to share information;
8. the ability to innovate, including open-mindedness, creativity, strategic vision,
and risk-taking;
9. continuous learning;
10. the ability to manage projects, to organize, to follow up results, and to correct
the course of action when needed;
11. communication, including the ability to be frank and honest, to share diag-
nostics and to persuade.
Canada
In 1989, the Canadian government undertook a renewal of the public service known
as Public Service 2000. The main objectives of this initiative were the improvement
of services to citizens and the granting of greater room to manoeuvre to federal
managers. In 1994-95, the Canadian government undertook a reflection on the role
of the State within the framework of Program Review. Following this exercise, the
government withdrew from several activities, and 55,000 public servants were let
go. Certain activities were privatized, while others were transformed into part-
nerships with Canadian provinces or the private sector, with the goal of a better
integration of services.
The preoccupation with improvement of services led to other reviews such as
Quality Services in 1995 and Service Improvement Initiative in 2000, whose objectives
were to increase, by at least 10% in five years, the rate of satisfaction of Canadian
citizens toward the principal services offered by the government. Results-based
management was introduced, with the ministries obliged to account to Parliament
for objectives pursued, particularly with regard to service standards and results or
performance obtained. It is also to be noted that the Canadian population expects
more accountability and transparency. In 1999, the federal government also pro-
ceeded with the modernization of the comptroller’s role. Modern comptrollership
empowers and supports ministerial managers and gives them responsibilities through
a delegation mechanism combined with a posteriori control.
The changes in public management constitute a significant trend influencing
Canadian public administration whose effects will continue into the future. They
pose numerous challenges for public administrators; these include the management
of partnerships and alliances and the ability to use results-based management and
to be accountable in the context of demands for accountability and transparency,
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