Top public managers are at the heart of government effectiveness. They work at the interface between politics and public administration, fulfilling a key role between political decision-makers and professional public servants. They are expected to translate political directions into reality, execute political decisions, implement public policies and deliver public services in a neutral, effective and efficient way.
Top Public Management Toolkit
Building merit-based, open and effective top public management systems in transitional countries
Top public managers
Top public managers have hybrid positions. They are not politicians but should be able to work productively with politicians. They do not have permanent public service positions as top managers, but lead teams of public servants to deliver policies, programmes and services.
The vertical scope of the top public management (TPM) is not homogeneous across countries, usually it only includes one or two levels under the minister/deputy minister or political authority. The number of TPM positions is low, in most countries, usually less than 1% of the total number of ministerial staff.
Which positions are TPM positions?
TPM positions are exclusively:
✅ top managerial positions
✅ holding high responsibilities
✅ with managerial functions.
TPM positions are not:
❌ Positions holding political powers, even if not being members of the Council of Ministers (i.e. deputy ministers and similar positions).
❌ Positions providing political advice, such as the positions at ministers’ cabinets.
❌ Positions, even very senior, with non-managerial roles (research, technical, advisory, audit, etc).
TPM positions may be identified across the public sector
TPM positions can exist at all government levels and in all policy areas. The bulk of TPM positions is usually at the ministries and central agencies at national level. However, the TPM can potentially include top managerial functions in regulatory agencies, independent bodies, the judiciary, regional and local governments, public enterprises, health centres, educational institutions, etc.
However, the SIGMA TPM Toolkit focuses on the top positions of the national public administration (in ministries and public bodies directly accountable to the national government).
Professionalisation of top management is crucial for effective and efficient public administration. Research on public management has repeatedly identified the correlation between merit-based recruitment and organisational performance. Overcoming the temptation to appoint top managers based on political affiliation, personal and partisan connection and moving to merit-based appointments greatly benefits countries by bringing better quality of public services, better policies, more efficiency, less corruption and impartial administration.
It is of critical importance to attract excellent candidates by offering them a competitive package (an attractive salary, career stability, development opportunities and professional autonomy), and to organise impartial and professional selection procedures using modern methods to assess the competencies of the candidates.
Top managers work closely with political leaders. It is therefore equally important to ensure – for example through a certain level of ministerial discretion in appointment and termination - mutual respect, trust and effective collaboration.
Guidance for reform
The Toolkit provides guidance for regulating and managing the complexities of top public management positions, based on SIGMA experience in transitional countries and on practices from EU and OECD countries. The guidance is not prescriptive, showing options that could open a way forward in the professionalisation of the top managerial positions. The policy options presented are mainly inspired by real regulations and practices from several benchmark countries. Some policy options have been developed by the authors and do not have direct precedent in any of the consulted countries.
Contents
The Toolkit is currently structured in eight booklets that can be used individually. However, SIGMA advice is to analyse the overall situation of the top managerial positions and to ensure that the reforms chosen include all of the elements necessary to guarantee merit-based top management and deliver adequate results.
SIGMA encourages countries to work towards systems that are fully compliant with the Principles of Public Administration. The range of options presented in the Toolkit may include some solutions that are not fully compliant with the Principles. These options could be reasonable intermediary stages, delivering positive developments for the professionalisation of top management positions.
Each country should build its own TPM policy options, considering the local context and traditions, constitutional arrangements, territorial structure, political system, legislation, civil service model and organisation of the public sector.
Defining a framework
With this Toolkit, SIGMA aims to support the definition of an employment framework for top public managers that is separate from the frameworks for political officials and ordinary public servants, as is the case in most EU and OECD countries. This employment framework should allow for balanced solutions, looking after managerial competence and political responsiveness.
SIGMA support
SIGMA is available to provide support to its partners to improve their top public management. Countries are encouraged to contact SIGMA, directly or through their EU Delegation, to obtain specific advice for this key reform.
Creation of TPM systems in selected EU and OECD countries
The Toolkit is partially based on practices used in the countries indicated in bold.