Enabling the Cream to Rise to the Top

Abstract

The use of competencies to identify and target leaders in organizations has picked up steam in the past decade or so. Drawing from the private sector, the public sectors of several advanced countries have comprehensively employed the competency approach within their own governance and management systems. This article looks at the employment of competencies in the senior public services of five jurisdictions and concludes that cross-jurisdictional similarity is evident only on “vision and strategy,” although people-related skills also appear as core competencies for enior managers. The article also argues that further research is necessary to understand why competencies in use in the senior public services differ so markedly from those in other organizations and settings.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gambhir Bhatta

Gambhir Bhatta (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is currently a senior adviser at the State Services Commission in Wellington, New Zealand. His prior assignments have been at the National University of Singapore, the United Nations, and the Pittsburgh City Planning Department, among others. Contact: [email protected]