Comparative Trends in Public Management: Smart Practices Toward Blending Policy and Administration

The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Canada School of Public Service. English and French texts published separately. Contains bibliographical notes.  In June , before launching this new work, the School had the welcomed opportunity to co-sponsor an academic conference at the University of British Columbia entitled " Smart Practices Toward Innovation in Public Management. " The conference brought together internationally recognized academics in the field of public administration and political science. This publication captures and shares a selection of the papers presented at that conference, providing a useful and timely foundation for the School's new efforts to accelerate innovation across the Canadian Public Service. It explores international case studies of smart practices and " spontaneous adaptation " —what the editor describes as responsive " organizational evolution or transformation. " To this end, the publication is a valuable resource for practitioners and students of public administration alike. From this publication, readers will learn a great deal about smart practices and their adoption in various management contexts. They will gain specific insights into some of the factors influencing innovative behavior in public sector organizations and into ways of fostering vigorous dialogue between political and bureaucratic leaders, supporting interagency coordination, strengthening accountability in third-party arrangements, advancing policy within a multi-level governance system, and adapting at the agency level within a complex environment. The Canada School of Public Service is pleased to make this new publication available. The Canada School of Public Service is embarking upon a new journey. In support of the new Public Service Learning Framework, we are working to strengthen and accelerate individual learning, organizational leadership, and innovation across the Public Service. A central part of this work is capturing and communicating smart practices in public management from here and abroad. Spontaneous adaptation produces combinations of internally generated or collegial interagency adjustments of visions, plans, and budgets, allowing for effective organizational evolution or transformation in response to changing policy and administrative environments. Spontaneous adaptation tends to occur when senior career officials enjoy some degree of latitude for autonomous engagement in developing policy, deliberating over resource commitments, and devising ways in which their agency might interact more creatively with others. This type of reform has become an object of heightened interest after two decades of centre-driven, politically-directed initiatives launched under the conceptual banner of " public choice. " Public-choice approaches …