Changing strategic direction for executive development in the public sector: Opportunities for top business schools?

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this research is to examine the largely ignored executive developmentrnneeds of the reformed twenty-first century public sector by executive education providers in businessrnschools.rnDesign/methodology/approach - The paper is predominantly conceptual exploring the currentrndebates on the effectiveness of public sector management and the requirements for more relevantrnmanagement and executive education through a literature review. The antecedents of the currentrnposition are explored Hypotheses are developed about the provision of executive education for thernpublic sector within business schools. In the absence of previous investigations in this field, arnpreliminary survey is conducted employing the Financial Times top 60 ranked executive education,rn2006, to test the hypothesis and underpin more in-depth research.rnFindings - The findings demonstrate that almost two-thirds of the sample did not provide anyrnexecutive education to the public sector, and most of the provision on offer was for specialised silosrnwithin the sector, or borrowed from existing private sector programmes. There was no support foundrnfrom the sample for public sector new network governance or leadership challenges discussed in thernpaper. Findings also supported the view that there is a shortage of evidence-based research for manyrnof the executive programmes that are being offered.rnResearch limitations/implications - This paper is the first to explore the status of the field underrninvestigation and provide a conceptual framework; whilst the preliminary empirical research has beenrnan initial surface fact-finding study to establish the level and size of the problem, this has beenrnachieved. This paper will now underpin a rigorous empirical research programme to explore thernsubject matter in greater detail.rnPractical implications - The findings support the hypothesis that executive education providersrnwithin business schools are failing to address the management development needs of senior executivesrnin the public sector. The paper concludes that there are huge opportunities being missed by businessrnschools both by their management faculty, to investigate and understand the problems of the sector,rnand by their executive education centres to co-design and deliver programmes to assist the sector torntransform and develop effectively to meet the challenges posed by a more globalized, complex,rnnetworked world. The paper invites them to engage.rnOriginality/value - This paper investigates a subject that has been identified by the Academy ofrnManagement as important. It requires further research but has hitherto not received much attentionrnfrom the research community.