Futures construction in public management
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 30 September 2013
Abstract
Purpose
This exploratory article aims to define foresight and consider its use in public management. Impediments to foresight best practices are also discussed.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on the literature, including both primary and secondary sources. Canada serves as a case study to discuss foresight practices.
Findings
Foresight has the potential to be useful from a governance perspective. Foresight practices, however, are limited by the need to overcome departmental boundaries, political impediments and, arguably, governments' abating policy capacity.
Research limitations/implications
The purpose of this article is to introduce foresight limiting to an extent the depth of the analysis. Canada is neither a foresight leader nor at the bottom of the list. Conclusions drawn from this case are, despite differing political and administrative contexts, representative of problems faced by many governments in using foresight.
Originality/value
The field of public management has paid little attention to foresight, though governments do make use of this instrument. This article is one of the first to consider foresight, not from the perspective of the futures field, but from that of the discipline of public management.
Keywords
Citation
Roberge, I. (2013), "Futures construction in public management", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 26 No. 7, pp. 534-542. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-06-2012-0074
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited