Intelligent Administration: Productivity, Transparency and Management of Change

Abstract

I am honored to be here today to contribute to the inauguration of the second course on intelligent administration, whose particular emphasis this year, is upon the administrative values of productivity and transparency and on the process of managing change……
When I first started to teach and consult in Spain, back in the late 1980s, I enjoyed many advantages being a foreign expert. Within Spain, few individuals had a deep understanding of results-oriented public management. Only a few did. These individuals wanted access to information and analysis about foreign practice, which was something I could provide. They also found it convenient to have an academic and a foreigner to reinforce their own themes in seminars on modernizing the public administration. I mention this because I strongly suspect that, in 2005, I no longer
possess any strong advantage in being a foreign expert. It is not because my intellectual capital is less than it was 10 or 15 years ago. It is because Spain has changed……
I aim to touch upon some of the theoretical foundations of intelligent public administration. Before presenting my substantive comments to you, I will relate a relevant anecdote.