The Public Manager in 2010: Learning in Public Organizations in 2010

Abstract

The theme of this article is the future of learning in public organizations. It outlines a way of thinking that might underpin learning, and argues that, by the year 2010, public organizations could develop a radical approach to organizational learning that would make the concept more meaningful in their everyday practice. This approach is based on various shifts in the ways in which management is thought about and enacted. These changes are a movement away from the idea of ‘the public manager’ to a more relational notion: ‘management in public’. The author explains what ‘management in public’ means, and discusses how it can be put into practice in order to transform learning in public organizations.