ABSTRACT
Leadership in the public sector shot to prominence just as the new millennium arrived. It had become a ‘hot issue’ in the public sector (OECD2001). The buzz around leadership at this time coincided with a new wave of public sector reform occurring in a number of countries. The 1980s wave had begun shifting the public sector from a culture of ‘administrators’ and ‘policy’ to that of ‘management’ and ‘efficiency’. The new 1990s wave of reform seemed spurred by a heightened concern for the effectiveness of the ‘state’. It seemed that this was a time for leaders rather thanmanagers (or administrators) because there was a need for change agents who could transform organizations and institutions. Bichard (2000: 44)made the case for leadership rather thanmanagement in these terms: ‘Yet it is leadership that we need : : : because it is leadership and not good management that transforms organizations’. TheWorld Bank’s advocacy of reform of the state, apparent in themid 1990s,
not only entailed calling for effective leadership but also for farsighted leaders, for leaders who put forward long-term visions, and for leaders who built coalitions and encouraged a wide sense of ownership of reform agendas. TheWorld Bank was talking about politicians as leaders of reform (World Bank 1997: 14):
Reform-oriented political leaders and elites can speed reform by making decisions that widen people’s options, articulate the benefits clearly, and ensure that policies are more inclusive. In recent years farsighted political
leaders have transformed the options for their people through decisive reform. They were successful because they made the benefits of change clear to all, and built coalitions that gave greater voice to often-silent beneficiaries. They also succeeded – and this is crucial – because they spelled out a longer-termvision for their society, allowing people to see beyond the immediate pain of adjustment. Effective leaders give their people a sense of owning the reforms – a sense that reform is not something imposed from without.
