The public administration community needs to focus more attention on how values can be integrated into the structures, processes, and systems of public organizations. In particular, greater emphasis should be placed on the values statement as the central component of a values regime. This article examines the content and format of values statements in four Westminster-style governments, initiatives to make values a pervasive influence in public-service operations, and learning points for other countries. Each government's values statement should capture the essence of public service. Leaders must serve as both exemplary models of values-based behavior and skillful practitioners of the art of values management. A values statement expressing values that are shared at all organizational levels-combined with the dispersal of leadership roles throughout the organization-provides an especially strong foundation for integrating values into public service.

Recent public sector reforms, especially those associated with the new public management (npm) movement, have increased concern about the state of public service values. This concern has arisen in large part because some advocates of public sector reform pay little or no attention to values and others focus narrowly on the application of private sector values to the public sector. However, a growing number of reform advocates are seeking to reconcile traditional public service values with 'new' values arising from new approaches to organizing and managing public organizations, including approaches based on private sector experience. This paper, in its examination of the implications of these new approaches for public service values, makes three major arguments. The first is that reformers should take careful and systematic account of the value implications of reforms.The second is that account should be taken not only of ethical values but of other types of values as well. The third argument is that a statement of key values (often described as a code of conduct), both for the public service as a whole and for individual public organizations, facilitates an assessment of the value consequences of reforms.The first section of this paper provides a framework for analysing public sector reforms and for comparing the extent of these reforms over time and across jurisdictional boundaries. The second section explains the growing importance of public service values and classifies them into three major categories. The third section analyses the values implications of public sector reforms, and the final section draws learning points from this analysis, with particular reference to issues of public service ethics. This paper is in part a response to the recent call by Montgomery Van Wart (1998: xix) for contributions to the creation of a field of public administration values.

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of partnerships involving public organizations. The use of partnerships has evolved from an ad hoc response to particular problems to a general approach to problem‐solving and to improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness of public organizations. Partnerships are also used to empower individuals, groups, and organizations outside government by enabling them to make a genuine contribution to government decisions affecting them. It is important, therefore, to explain the meaning and types of partnership, to examine their purposes, benefits, and participants, and to assess their political implications. In‐depth evaluative studies of partnerships are scarce, but there are enough data on partnerships and enough sufficient and theoretical materials on inter‐organizational relations in general to formulate hypotheses about the requirements for successful partnerships. Sommaire: Au cours des dernieres annees, on a assiste a une proliferation des partenariats impliquant des organismes publics. Leur utilisation a evolue, passant de la simple reponse concue pour un probleme particulier a une approche generate visant a resoudre les problemes et a ameliorer l'efficacite et la receptivite des organismes publics. Cette forme d'association sert aussi a deleguer davantage de pouvoirs aux particuliers, aux groupes et aux organismes non‐gouvernementaux en leur permettant de contribuer vraiment aux decisions gouvernementales qui les touchent. II importe done d'expliquer la signification et les differents types de partenariats, d'examiner leurs objectifs, leurs avantages et leurs participants, et d'evaluer aussi leurs repercussions politiques. Les etudes sur ce sujet sont rares, mais il existe a cet egard suffisamment de donnees et de materiel conceptuel et theorique sur les relations interorganisationnelles en general, pour pouvoir formuler des hypotheses sur les elements qui garantissent la reussite d'une association en partenariat.

Academic scholars, both as researchers and teachers, need the ideas and insights of reflective practitioners on the real world of the public service. Public servants can “speak truth to academics” in the broad sense of providing information, analysis and counsel concerning the public service and candid commentary on scholarly writings. Conceptualizing the public servant as a theorist involved in research through reflection‐on‐action highlights the importance of the scholarly practitioner as a source of learning. This article profiles several public servants whose contributions to the scholarly literature on public administration have had substantial influence in the academic community. Among the factors limiting such contributions are time constraints, the scarcity of publication outlets and lack of senior‐level support. Incentives to write for publication include personal interest and motivation and invitations to contribute to a conference, book or article or to collaborate with someone else. Practitioner contributions to scholarly writing can be fostered by such means as co‐authorship with academics, communities of practice and senior‐level encouragement. Academic scholars can help foster the systematic accumulation of knowledge in the public service and its transfer beyond government. Sommaire : Les universitaires, qu'ils soient chercheurs ou enseignants, ont besoin des idées et des perspectives de praticiens qui réfléchissent sur le monde concret de la fonction publique. Les fonctionnaires peuvent « révéler la vérité aux universitaires » au sens large du terme en fournissant des informations, des analyses et des conseils sur la fonction publique et des commentaires francs sur les publications savantes. Le fait de concevoir le fonctionnaire comme un théoricien engagé dans la recherche grâce à la réflexion sur l'action souligne l'importance du praticien universitaire comme source d'apprentissage. Cet article dresse le profil de plusieurs fonctionnaires dont les contributions aux publications érudites sur l'administration publique ont eu une influence considérable dans le milieu universitaire. Parmi les facteurs qui restreignent de telles contributions, on note les contraintes de temps, la rareté des débouchés pour les publications, et le manque de soutien de la part de la haute direction. Les motivations qui encouragent la rédaction d'articles en vue de publication comprennent l'intérêt personnel, les invitations à contribuer à une conférence, à un livre ou à un article, ou bien la collaboration avec quelqu'un d'autre. Les praticiens peuvent être incités à contribuer à la recherche si on leur donne la possibilité d'être coauteurs avec des universitaires, de participer à des communautés de praticiens et de recevoir les encouragements de la haute direction. Les universitaires peuvent contribuer à l'accumulation systématique de connaissances dans la fonction publique en les faisant passer au‐delà du gouvernement.

The concepts of merit and motivation are central to recruiting and retaining high‐quality public servants. The meaning of merit has evolved to the more flexible interpretation contained in the 2003 federal Public Service Employment Act (PSEA), and the concept of motivation has become much more central to public management. The PSEA enshrines merit and non‐partisanship as the main values to be protected in public‐service appointments. It also provides a new definition of merit. Employees with a high level of public‐service motivation (PSM) are predisposed to having greater job satisfaction and organizational commitment and, therefore, to performing at a higher level. The challenge is to recruit and retain employees with a high PSM level and to maintain this level while fostering high performance by other employees. This challenge is being pursued in part by fostering employee engagement in the sense of job/organization satisfaction and organizational commitment. Among the major drivers of employee engagement is fair staffing practices, including merit‐based hiring. The successful pursuit of a high level of employee engagement can improve public‐sector management in general and human resource management in particular.