Leadership for public value: Political astuteness as a conceptual link

Abstract

Both leadership and public value are increasingly seen as concepts highly relevant to public administration, not only because of complex societal challenges but also as ways to address pluralistic interests in society. This article explores in detail the varied conceptualizations of public value and of public leadership. Furthermore, we argue that political astuteness provides an important conceptual linkage between leadership and public value, enabling actors to read, understand and foster coalitions around diverse and sometimes competing interests. In this introduction to the symposium, we analyse the different conceptualizations of public value, of leadership, and also show how the six articles explicitly or implicitly draw on the linking concept of political astuteness. The article assesses how the six articles of the symposium contribute to each of these three concepts.

Is public administration struggling in higher education? Evidence from the united states scenario

“…Furthermore, the future of public administration calls for managers open to collaborative tools for co-management, co-production, and co-creation (e.g. Hartley et al, 2019; Nabatchi, et al, 2017; Pestoff et al, 2013) and ability to deal with wicked problems (e.g. Daviter, 2019), networks (e.g.…”

Researching COVID-19: A research agenda for public policy and administration scholars

“…Mirroring the academic trend towards collaborative governance and co-creation, in the field of public leadership parallel notions of collaborative, distributed and integrative leadership have gained traction and made strides into the mainstream over the past decades (Crosby and Bryson, 2005; Hartley et al., 2019). Specular questions are worth investigating about whether forms of collaborative leadership, as contrasted to more old-fashioned forms of centralised/heroic leadership (which, it may be noticed, are often also wanting in terms of demographics and gender-balance [McTavish and Johnston, 2009]), are more or less effective in addressing a multidimensional shock like COVID-19.…”

New development: Covid-19 and its publics—implications for strategic management and democracy

“…As Benington (2009, p. 235) wrote: publics are not given but made, and they have to be continuously created and constructed. Hartley et al (2019) pointed to the importance of using political astuteness to recognize and call into existence different publics as a key capability for public leaders.…”