The Future State Project: meeting the challenges of the 21st century

Abstract

Powerful global forces will reshape the context for New Zealand over the next few decades. They include increasing international connectedness, geopolitical power shifts, rapid technological developments, demographic changes, climate change, growing resource scarcity and changing values. Some of these changes have been in train for several decades; others have come to the fore more recently. Together they are creating a world that is fast-paced, heterogeneous, complex and unpredictable. Within this context, New Zealand also faces some policy choices that are both unique and significant – for example, concerning the recently extended exclusive economic zone, and the completion of the Treaty of Waitangi claims settlement process.

The failed implementation of performance management in Irish central government

“…In this context it has been argued that policy making in the public sector can be complex as “[t]here are many limitations, conflicting interests, uncertainties, paradoxes and ambivalences” (Brusca & Montesinos, , p. 355). Issues such as obesity, educational underachievement, or climate change cut across a number of government agencies and do not lend themselves to easy solutions (Gill, Pride, Gilbert, Norman, & Mladenovic, , p. 33). This complexity is compounded by political factors which can necessitate the balancing of management discretion and political influence, as well as considerations of issues of social justice, equity, accountability, and social change (Arnaboldi et al., ; Lapsley & Skærbæk, ).…”

Discursive strategies of the Maori tribal elite

“…Tribal wealth that comes from Treaty settlements intended to improve the circumstances of marginalized Maori has not been distributed in ways that suggest that ‘communal’ means ‘equal’. According to Gill et al (2010: 19), the ‘17% [of Maori who] report no tribal affiliation’, includes ‘some of those most disadvantaged in society’. The elite fought an aggressive legal campaign during the 1990s for kin-based tribes as opposed to non-kin urban Maori collectives, to be recognized as the legitimate inheritors of the traditional tribes and therefore eligible to receive Treaty settlements, one culminating in ‘the 1998 High Court decision that “iwi” means “tribes” and tribes existing and recognized in 1840’ (Round, 2000: 668).…”

“…This would increase the numbers of Maori, but the actual situation is complex. Given that those who do identify as sole Maori tend to be among the disadvantaged and the ‘most disadvantaged are less likely to identify with a tribe’ (Gill et al, 2010: 19), it is likely that there is a proportion of the 56 percent sole Maori who are Maori but not tribal Maori. In reality, the situation is as Chapple (2000: 104) describes:…”

“…The 2001 census shows the proportion of Maori descendants who do not have tribal affiliation at 25–30 percent (Statistics NZ, 2011). According to Gill et al (2010: 19), by the 2006 census the percentage of Maori without tribal affiliation had decreased from 26 percent, ‘with 17% reporting no tribal affiliation’. Those more likely to put their names on the new tribal registers are the educated middle class, not the impoverished Maori in whose name the politics of wealth redistribution to Maori was initially justified.…”

The competing values framework

“…This paper will focus on Quinn's CVF because it arguably has the most variegated approach, encompassing leadership, organizational culture, and strategy. Interestingly, the CVF has surfaced in the public management literature, but almost exclusively for characterizing and parsing out public sector reform (Norman, 2008;Talbot, 2008;Lindquist, 2010;Gill et al, 2011). Our goal here, however, is to explore how it can be applied to analyzing public sector strategic leadership challenges in the service of individual leadership development.…”