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Reimagining the future public service workforce

The case for reform has dominated commentaries on public administration for the last decade or so. It is argued that public institutions are not evolving at a pace to meet the broader context of globalisation, digitisation, changing demographics, perma-austerity, increased citizen expectations and decreased citizen trust. Less attention has been paid to the implications that necessary reform would have on the public service workforce, and less still on how public services should develop this workforce. This is the argument set out in the introduction to Reimagining the Future Public Service Workforce, an ambitious collection of research evidence and case studies that aims to plug this gap in the literature. Part One (the introductory chapter) sets the scene and draws on recent research from the UK and Australia which lays the groundwork for the contributions that follow. Part Two (Chapters Two through Seven) cover major themes in reimagining the public service workforce. Part Three moves to how we can develop this workforce (Chapters Eight and Nine), and the editors conclude with crosscutting themes and challenges in the final chapter. Part Two begins with a discussion on the role of boundaries and boundary-spanning activities (Buick et al., Chapter Two), which will play an even more imperative role in the future public service. A boundary spanner’s primary role is to broker relationships across divides, be they organisational, national, or between disciplines or cultures. The authors highlight the necessary interpersonal, cognitive, managerial, political and entrepreneurial skills needed to conduct this challenging activity, and discuss how these skills can be fostered