Habermas, Relational Leadership, and Public Sector Workplace Bullying

Abstract

Drawing upon Habermasian theory, this article endeavors to enhance understanding of how public sector changes resulting from the ascendancy of neoliberalism and New Public Management (NPM) have impacted negatively on public servants. It examines the growing corpus of research that has associated NPM with workplace bullying in the public sector, and focuses on the detrimental implications for organizational leadership. An alternative conception of what it means to lead people in the public sector is offered, supported by relational leadership literature. This article claims that extant leadership models in the public sector should be interpreted as being part of a wider ideological agenda. Specifically, conceptions of leadership have altered as a result of neoliberalism and NPM, and have become premised on managerialism instead of ethics, and the pursuit of market efficiency over public service principles. This article contends that relational leadership offers a preferable standpoint to the neoliberal conceptualization of public sector leadership, and recommends that further empirical research is undertaken to operationalize the benefits of relational leadership in the public sector, particularly in relation to ameliorating issues such as workplace bullying.