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Today's leaders: Career trends of Canada's private‐ and public‐sector executives
Author(s) -
Varette Sharon,
Zussman David
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-7121.1998.tb01539.x
Subject(s) - public sector , private sector , promotion (chess) , public relations , business , political science , senior management , public service , new public management , management , public administration , service (business) , marketing , economics , politics , law
Today, a great deal of attention is focused on the need to change the management of the public service in order to improve customer service and increase efficiency. In many cases, unfavourable comparisons are made to the private sector. But little comparative analysis has actually been undertaken with reference to the career profiles of senior managers in Canada's public and private sectors. The Public Management Research Centre undertook a study comparing the backgrounds and management experiences of Canada's most senior executives in the public and private sectors. Information was gathered from seventy current heads of federal departments and agencies (deputy ministers ‐ dms ) and from sixty‐three chief executive officers ( ceos ) of private companies of comparable size and importance. The results of this study, published in a document entitled Today's Leaders , indicate that it is likely that the top job in public‐sector organizations will never be identical to that in the private sector. However, if improving the management of the public sector means adopting some elements of private‐sector management techniques (e.g., alternative service delivery, increased customer service, greater attention to cost recovery and bottom‐line), the thrust for these changes must come from senior management. In addition, current criteria for recruitment, development and promotion of future public‐sector leaders must be re‐evaluated. Sommaire: Le Centre de recherche en gestion dans le secteur public a effectué une étude comparant l'historique personnel et l'expérience de gestion des plus hauts cadres des secteurs public et privé au Canada. Les renseignements ont été recueillis auprès de 70 chefs titulaires de ministères et d'organismes fédéraux (sous‐ministres) et de 63 présidents‐directeurs généraux ( pdg ) de compagnies privées d'envergure comparable. Publiés dans un document intitulé Leaders d'aujourd'hui , les résultats de l'étude révèlent que le poste suprême des organismes publics ne sera probablement jamais identique à celui des organismes privés. D'autre part, s'il s'agit d'améliorer la gestion du secteur public en adoptant certains éléments de gestion du secteur privé (modes‐alternatif de prestation de servies, meilleur service à la clientèle, recouvre‐ment des coûts et rentabilité), ce sont les cadres supérieurs qui doivent en prendre l'initiative. Par ailleurs, il faut réévaluer les critères actuels de recrutement, de développement et de promotion des futurs du chefs de file secteur public.