Career Paths & Training

In many countries a group of senior public servants is identified as a "senior executive service" (SES). This is a mobile cadre of senior executives that have broad management expertise and an overview of public sector values and responsibilities. The purpose of the SES is to prevent the management of individual departments from becoming "in-grown" and to promote policy coordination between departments. In the UK and Hungary it is known as the Senior Civil Service.

Some examples of Senior Executive or Senior Civil Service include:

• UK Senior Civil Service
• Senior Executive Service in Australia 
• Senior Executive Service in the USA
• Action Plan for the Development of a Senior Public Service in the Netherlands
• Managing the Senior Public Service: a Survey Of OECD Countries

Recommended websites:

• European Group of Public Administration - Study group on Public Personnel Policies

Recommended readings:

• Baker, John R. 1989. "From Management to Leadership: A Comparative Perspective on Leadership in the Australian Public Service." Australian  Journal of Public Administration 48 (September): 249-264.
• Ban, Carolyn. 1991. "The Navy Demonstration Project: An Experiment in Experimentation." In Carolyn Ban and Norma M. Riccucci, eds., Public Personnel Management: Current Concerns, Future Challenges. New York: Longman.
• Black, Joseph E., James S. Coleman, and Laurence D. Stifel, eds. 1977. Education and Training for Public Sector Management in Developing Countries. A special report from the Rockefeller Foundation. New York:  Rockefeller Foundation.
• Campbell, Colin. 1984. "The Higher Civil Service of Canada." In Bruce L.R. Smith, ed., The Higher Civil Service in Europe and Canada: Lessons for the United States. (Papers from a conference at the Brookings Institution, June 23-24, 1983.) Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.
• Newland, Chester A. "The American Senior Executive Service: Old Ideals and New Realities." International Review of Administrative Sciences 54  (December): 625-660.
• OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)/PUMA. 1999. "The State of the Higher Civil Service After Reform: Britain, Canada and the United States." Public Management Service, OECD, Paris.
• Paul, Samuel, John C. Ickis, and Jacob Levitsky. 1989. "Educating Managers  for Business and Government: A Review of International Experience." World Bank Discussion Papers No. 54. World Bank, Washington, D.C.
• Paul, Samuel. 1983. "Training for Public Administration and Management in  Developing Countries." Staff Working Papers No. 584; Management  and Development Series No. 11. World Bank, Washington, D.C.
• Roberts, Deborah D.  "A Personnel Chameleon Blending the Political Appointee and Careerist Traditions: Exempt Managers in State Government" -- in Carolyn Ban and Norma M. Riccucci eds. Public Personnel Management: Current Concerns - Future Challenges. New York, Longman
• "Work Habits, Working Conditions and the Health Status of the Executive  Cadre in the Public Service of Canada."