ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY APPROACH TO STUDY ENTREPRENEURIAL WORK IN SRI LANKA ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE

Abstract

The role of entrepreneurship in public management remains in debate. Despite the debatable arguments to the public entrepreneurship, this paper argues that the concept still has validity in utilizing as a tool for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the public service. By using Hunter’s reputational snowballing technique to identify public entrepreneurs in the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, this study presents the preliminary findings based on a recent empirical study and examines their administrative and decision making roles towards desired changes in the public service in Sri Lanka. During the period of October 2002 and March 2003, the study gathered the data through in-depth interviews of 25 officers in the Sri Lanka Administrative Service. The results of the study indicate that public managers’ motivation to achieve and their leadership skills, goal clarity, managerial autonomy, performance based reward system, citizen participation and public support which represent major conducive factors of entrepreneurship in public management. By presenting several innovative works of the officials the study finds that there are entrepreneurs in the Sri Lanka public service. Therefore it is argued in this paper that there are opportunities and potentials in the service so as to work as entrepreneurs who are innovative, proactive and willing to take some risks and responsibility in their work. Further, it is argued that there are significant benefits when the entrepreneurship is applied to public management. Therefore the necessary reforms are needed to sustain such initiatives in public entrepreneurs towards a more effective and efficient public service.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Managerialism, Proactive, Risk Taking

For full Paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac.lk