Political / Administrative Alignment in the Public Sector

– the prevailing effectiveness / efficiency paradox for public services is explored through government reform movement. This module is a building block for examining both the political / administrative interface and the essence of many contemporary public service challenges. 

• Understand contemporary organizational effectiveness theories
• Apply organizational models to the study of government institutions
• Reconcile effectiveness and efficiency aspects of public services
• Understand emerging government paradigms
• Articulate the impact of reform efforts on government leadership
• Appreciate different leadership styles and approaches
• Identify contemporary issues and opportunities facing government
• Facilitate group solution thinking to government challenges

– the traditional notion of very ‘separate roles’ is replaced by a ‘overlapping role’ model reflecting ‘real time’ nature of political / administrative relations in the core government functions. A Framework is proposed as a diagnostic tool to identify activities and criteria to assess governance and administrative success.

• Understand the historical aspects of role separation
• Articulate conditions leading to the need for collaborative roles   
• Compare key elements of the dichotomy and duality models
• Utilize a framework to examine the political / administrative interface
• Communicate key sustainable government activities
• Develop clear expectations for good government
• Assess governance/administrative effectiveness
• Employ strategies to enhance organizational success

– the roles & responsibilities of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and elected officials are identified and examined in terms of key government functions. The Core Functions Framework is used to identify roles and expectations of elected officials.

• Understand the key roles within the political realm
• Identify the internal responsibilities of elected (or appointed) officials
• Explore the external role of individual elected (or appointed) officials
• Examine the role of chief executive officials (elected or appointed)
• Define key skills and knowledge for successful elected officials
• Determine key abilities and behaviours of successful elected officials
• Conduct an administrative review for efficiency and effectiveness
• Develop preventive and remedial strategies for governance excellence

- the roles & responsibilities of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and staff are identified and examined. Participants use the Core Functions Framework to identify roles and expectations of management.

• Understand the key roles within the administrative realm
• Identify the internal responsibilities of managers
• Explore the external role of managers
• Examine the role of chief administrative officer (CAO)
• Define key skills and knowledge for the CAO and managers
• Determine key abilities and behaviours of successful managers and CAO’s
• Conduct an administrative review for efficiency and effectiveness
• Develop preventive and remedial strategies for administrative excellence

– the ‘Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) situational fit’ and ‘Chief Executive official (CEO) source of influence’ are explored to understand the leadership imperatives of these two roles beyond positional authority. Participants will interview a CAO or CEO to get at the key qualities and competencies of effective civic executives.

• Review contemporary power models
• Analyze the ‘source of influence’ for CEO’s
• Explore contemporary leadership theories
• Articulate the ‘situational fit’ conditions for a CAO
• Understand the CAO/CEO relationship dynamics

– preventive and remedial strategies are shared to deal with and/or prevent relationship dilemmas between elected officials and staff. Participants will focus on personally observed ‘real time’ challenges. 

• Examine problem solving approaches and dilemmas
• Analyze the root cause of PAI relationship challenges
• Facilitate solution seeking approaches
• Propose appropriate preventive and remedial PAI strategies

– take away ideas, tools and strategies to make a leadership difference. Participants will prepare a personal re-entry action plan. 

• Review leadership learning tactics
• Develop personal leaning aims
• Identify ideas to share with colleagues
• Determine strategies to implement in personal workplace