Jacques Bourgault

Managerial reforms, Public Service Bargains and top civil servant identity

In the past couple of decades, a wide range of managerial reforms have been witnessed in many OECD countries. These reforms may have significantly affected the identity of top civil servants. This change in identity may, in turn, have an impact on the performance of top officials, their roles, their views, their relations with political personnel and their expected competencies. Within a sample of countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, and the Netherlands) we explore these reforms, the changes that have occurred in top officials’ identity (personal, role and social) with document analysis and a series of interviews. We conclude that in all cases, regardless of the goals or the intensity of the reforms, there is now more individualization, more mobility, fixed-term contracts and more accountability. We did not find a full-blown managerial or any unambiguous evolution towards a pure managerial identity. Points for practitioners Managerial reforms certainly affect the relationships between politicians and top civil servants. Role perceptions of top civil servants are, depending on the context, more resistant to change than expected. Despite the omnipresent managerial discourse, the role of policy advisor remains very important. Corporate management designs tend to facilitate corporate identification, the type of employment relationship, contract and level of goals, thus affecting the social identity of top civil servants.

Canada’s Senior Public Service and the Typology of Bargains: from the Hierarchy of Senior Civil Servants to A Community of ‘‘Controlled’’ Entrepreneurs

New Public Management (NPM) developments have changed the way the Canadian public service works. Specifically, they have changed a number of aspects of the work, role and management of the senior public service and its relationship with politicians. Hood and Lodge have proposed a typology of these relationships, and if their typology is applied to Canada, we find that senior officials used to adopt a hierarchist-type position with respect to political leaders. But has their position changed since the advent of NPM? The evidence shows that senior executive profiles and practices have become managerialized. In terms of the typology, the change has been relatively small, and the push toward entrepreneurship and individualism has been offset by an increasing number of systemic controls.

Corporate management at top level of governments: the Canadian case

To coordinate action, reduce bureaucratic in-fighting and favour the efficient implementation of the governmental agenda, governments are tending to use more collaborative and holistic tools. In Canada, within the federal and provincial governments, relatively integrated corporate management tools have been established for senior civil servants and their work. On the basis of interviews and discussions, this article presents the three types of tools used (a senior personnel secretariat reporting to the head of government, an integrated organizational system and the development of a community culture), which provide: a framework for the development, orientation, integration and support for the most senior managers; strategic, coordination and learning meetings for the entire group; and individualized HRM tools. Despite obstacles to it, and its risks, all of those surveyed conclude that this model is considered, in the Canadian context, both effective and satisfactory.

Hypotheses concerning the Prevalence of Competencies among Government Executives, According to Three Organizational Variables

The purpose of this article is to test the validity of a list of 14 competencies for public managers and develop a series of hypotheses concerning their prevalence, in relation to three basic organizational variables: the executives reporting level, the location of his or her position, and the type of activity performed by the administrative unit for which he or she is responsible. Twelve executives (selected on the basis of their management experience) were given information about each of the 14 competencies identified in a previous study through a grounded inductive research process. They were then asked to rate the importance of these competencies in relation to each of the 3 variables and explain the reasons for their scores. They were also asked to take part in a 3-hour group meeting a week later in order to discuss their ratings with the other respondents. Executives consider the list of competencies to be valid although not the competencies are equally important for executives to develop to the same level. Our hypothesis, that the prevalence of the competencies is affected by certain variables and situations, was confirmed: of the three variables considered, “type of unit” is the one that has the greatest effect, and “geographic location” the least. This suggests that the desired range of competencies will vary more according to the type of unit for which the manager is responsible than the geographic location of position, as we have defined it. The variable “reporting level” falls between these two schemes. This observation is not devoid of interest, given that some executive development strategies aim to equip managers with a wide spectrum of fairly well-honed skills, not just a broad grounding. For example, some governments have adopted strategies that encourage executive career paths leading, over the course of promotions and assignments, from headquarters towards regional offices, and from policy development towards line operations.

Minority government and senior government officials: the case of the Canadian federal government

Most studies of the relationship between deputy ministers (DMs) and ministers have focused on majority governments. This paper analyses the impact of minority government on that relationship in four areas (personnel in key positions, the role of central agencies, agendas and daily relationships) on the basis of an analysis of the history of DM appointments and departures under minority governments in Canada and interviews with current DMs. It is found that, under minority governments, relationships of trust are more difficult to develop, there is a stronger tendency to develop public policy on an urgent basis and with a view to short-term issues, greater importance is attached to public opinion, and control is more centralised.

Le difficile contrôle des activités et comportements de la police: le cas de la Sûreté du Québec

Police, as agents of the state, affect its legitimacy by their acts and the way they carry them out. They enjoy considerable powers and autonomy, in comparison with most public employees. Oddly, public administration studies almost ignore them. During the 1990s, the Surete du Quebec experienced a number of problems of control and responsibility, not because of corruption but because of excess zeal, irresponsibility and sometimes incompetence. Several inquiries and studies, culminating with the massive Poitras Commission report of 1998, revealed a variety of problems, but many points in common. These studies show that while the SQ has known familiar problems rooted in police culture and the power of the police union, a whole range of measures could be pursued by the Department of Public Security and by the SQ to make it more open, more effective and more responsible. Several reforms now taking place could change the orgnizational culture of the Surete.