The Modernization and Improvement of Government and Public Services: The Role of Leadership in the Modernization and Improvement of Public Services

Abstract

This article examines the central role of leadership in the Government's conception of modernization and improvement, before outlining key approaches to understanding leadership and the management of influence in and by local authorities. Local authorities are increasingly concerned with distributed leadership (even though new structural arrangements may concentrate political leadership); of leadership at the cross-roads of different organizational cultures and structures; of the importance of inter organizational leadership not just leadership by individuals; and the importance of influence across organizational boundaries not just control of the internal organization. The authors call for models of leadership to be updated to reflect new challenges.