Introduction: The Symposium and Its Authors

Abstract

This symposium addresses the question “Has public administration grown up?” as a provocative vehicle for free-ranging inquiry into the state of the field. Its articles originated from a panel of the same name held at the 2003 national conference of the American Society for Public Administration. The authors, each of whom make a quite different response, consist of the panel's original five members plus four participants from the audience who later contributed their ideas in written form.     

Symposium Introduction: Competency and Higher Civil Servants

‘Competency’ is a word that seems to have crept into the language of public administration and policy relatively recently, although largely under the radar of academic scholarship in Europe. This article introduces a symposium of papers that address key questions about competency management: how and why has it become popular and what are the implications of the spread of ‘competency’ approaches? As the introductory paper, it outlines the intellectual background to competency approaches and outlines three interpretations of their development. One interpretation sees them as a passing fad; a ‘difference’ interpretation sees them as a common label for widely varying patterns and practices; and a ‘sameness’ interpretation treats competency management as a symptom of broader politico‐administrative developments.     

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Introduction

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Introduction

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