Life at the apex: The functions of permanent secretaries in nine Southern African countries

The political role of senior civil servants in Africa cannot be differentiated from their administrative roles. An analysis of specially commissioned ‘diaries’ kept by 40 permanent secretaries or their deputies reveals that their roles include all the organizational functions described by Mintzberg. Their functions in order of priority as measured by time spent are ‘resource handling’, liaison, analysis/planning, monitoring, acting as spokesmen, entrepreneurship and dissemination. The political neutrality of permanent secretaries appears to survive in the sense of escaping party discipline. However, politicians and bureaucrats in. the countries surveyed both act as conservators and innovators. Environmental circumstances other than politics have the greatest influences on the activities of top civil servants. The similarities in functions performed are striking, given the different ideologies, colonial heritages and traditions of the countries studied.     

Managing economic reform: An alternative perspective on structural adjustment policies

The structural adjustment policies of international development organizations have been undermined in many developing countries by weaknesses in administrative capacity to manage economic reforms. If economic reform policies are to be implemented more effectively in the future, international organizations must take a broader view of the development process and assess more carefully the administrative and political capacity of the state to guide the decisions of public and private organizations toward development goals in four policy arenas. The experience of developing countries that were more successful at economic and social development during the 1970s and early 1980s, indicates the characteristics of development administration that policy analysts must assess in order to determine governments' capacity to implement economic reform policies effectively.     

Parent–child contact problems and family intensive interventions: The crisis of adolescent suicidality and the role of social media

Although clinicians, educators and parents have been alarmed by the decline in the mental health of children and adolescents commensurate with the Covid-19 pandemic, statistics indicate there has been a downward spiral over the last decade. This has been evident in the overall increase in suicide rates for young people. For legal and mental health professionals working in the Family Court system, this has provided unique challenges. Most vulnerable has been those children and adolescents embroiled in high conflict divorces, especially those exhibiting parent child contact problems. This article focuses upon that population exhibiting parent child contact problems, and their treatment, specifically Family Intensive Intervention. Building Family Resilience is an Intensive family treatment program that has had to address this deterioration in child and adolescent mental health and increase in suicidality. The role of social media in both exacerbating and/or ameliorating mental health issues is explored.     

Managerial Perspectives on Implicit Bias,Affirmative Action,and Merit

Public sector organizations concerned about gender inequality have increasingly sought to address the effect of implicit biases on merit‐based employment practices through bias training and affirmative action programs. Applying qualitative content analysis to interviews with 104 managers in three government agencies in which bias training and affirmative action were being implemented, the authors find that many managers acknowledge the existence of implicit biases and their potential to create unequal employment outcomes. However, this recognition of bias does not translate into support for affirmative action, which is seen by many managers to be an unacceptable violation of merit. The authors argue that implicit bias training and affirmative action are unlikely to create a cultural “tipping point” to progress gender equality without a critical reassessment of merit.     

Defining E‐leadership as Competence in ICT‐Mediated Communications: An Exploratory Assessment

While many aspects of the dramatic shifts caused by digital government have made enormous progress, the leadership of those who serve the public via electronic means has yet to take a significant step forward. This article addresses three questions: How significant has e‐leadership become? What are the challenges in trying to create a more comprehensive model of defining and measuring e‐leadership? And, based on current knowledge, what skill and behavioral elements are candidates for a concrete e‐leadership model? The authors develop and test an original model that focuses on e‐leadership as a competence in virtual communications (i.e., the use of ICT‐mediated communications) and the digital opportunities and challenges that are created. The results provide strong support for the proposed model. The article concludes with a discussion of a future agenda for e‐leadership research that can be developed in a manner that is fruitful for theory and practitioners.     

Managing the Budgetary Process in a Hung Council

This paper examines the impact of a change in 1994 from majority control to no overall control on the operation of a strategic medium-term budget and policy plan-ning process in Kirklees MBC. Six hypotheses are set out regarding the changes that might have been anticipated in the budget process, in the light of recent trends in the approach to budgeting in British local government, and the particular political context and recent political history of the authority. Use is made of a diary kept by a participant observer (who is also one of the authors) to document and analyse key events in the budget process. The six hypotheses are examined against the evi-dence, and with some exceptions are confirmed. It is concluded that Kirklees's well-structured budget process did survive the transition to no overall control, but not without considerable difficulty. Careful management from the Executive Board, especially in brokering discussion, was a critical factor and highly advantageous to the success of the process.