Strategic Civil Service Training for Public Management: a Comparison of National Models in Positioning Matrix

The paper analyses main characteristics of three national models of public service training (Italy, France and Japan), starting from the assumption that a lasting change in public management implies a strong focus on competency management (Horton, Hondeghem, & Farnham, 2002) and requires a greater emphasis on the training process of public servant (Reichard, 1998). Through in-depth study of case studies, the authors aims to provide an overview of the main features of the national contexts, also considering as critical issue the significant legacy effects (Painter & Peters, 2010) referable to administrative tradition (Peters, 2008), giving rise to path dependency mechanisms (Peters & Pierre, 1998) in the reform process of public management. The findings, represented in a positioning matrix, reveal a widespread propensity to conceive the training for public management in a broader meaning, as “stimulus for change”.