The Administrative Dynamics of Developing Leadership Competencies for the South African Public Sector in a Globalized Environment

2012 BRICS Report identifies the shortage of skills as one of the key challenges facing the South African government. The skills shortage, from a public sector point of view, impacts on the effective and efficient delivery of goods and services, which has resulted in sporadic service delivery protests around the country. Furthermore, the crisis in the global world has called for a public sector administrative leadership that could manage the public sector in times of instability. It is the intention of this paper to examine the administrative leadership competencies that are central to leading South African public sector institutions in turbulent times. Many countries, especially those in the western world, have favored a move towards developing a senior management competency leadership framework for the public sector, which was linked to a performance management framework. A competency approach to understanding leadership has to move from an outmoded thinking of public sector leadership as being compliance- driven, to one that promotes a call for a vision and the ability to identify and seize opportunities, anticipate crises and cope with environmental constraints. This paper has amongst its aims to outline the various definitions linked to the term "competency framework". In addition, the paper provides an overview of the international experience surrounding competency frameworks relevant to administrative leadership. Finally, the paper outlines the competency, framework which informs leadership development in the South African public sector, with a specific focus on the senior management service.