Leadership in Public Sector: A Discussion from Theoretical and Practical Aspects

Abstract

Leadership is a critical component of good public governance (OECD, 2001). Effective leadership can bring greater efficiency and quality of service for the organization as well as the increase in personal satisfaction at work. Moreover, it can develop innovation and ability to adapt to the external environment for government. Therefore, there is a great need to improve the quality of leaders. Effective leadership is determined by both heredity and environment. This paper goes on to prove leadership in public sector can be learned from theoretical and practical aspects. As for the theoretical aspects, some innate traits, such as personality can only explain 30% of the leadership effectiveness, and even some personal traits, such as problem solving skill, expertise can be learned. Environment plays the most important role in the leadership of public sector. Emergence and leadership behaviors can contribute to leadership effectiveness. So a lot of leadership development programs, such as formal training, mentoring and feedback can be used to cultivate leadership.