Author: Christine (Mihaescu) Demeter

Introduction. In the public administration and public management literature, a large number of studies make references to private organizations and private management in order to establish whether there are differences between public and private sector managers. There are not so many studies relatedto leadership differences between public and private organizations. In particular, the public leadership adopted by the public managers is presented in related literature as public managerial abilities and skills.

Aim of the study. The aim of this article is to make a comparing between the private and public leadership. We analyze (1) whether there are differences between public and private sector leadership based on some variables related to job complexity of a manager (including the managerial behaviour, job autonomy, and job clarity), decision-making vs policymaking process and the stakeholders vs political influence, and (2) to assess the degree of their effects on the managerial competences and performance management. Our study is conducted from the Romanian perspective on public organizations. As the methodology used, in order to identify the perception on political influence in Romanian public administration we conducted a survey among civil servants at central and local level. Our research is based on the empirical analysis of the relevant literature in public administration, leadership and organizational performance.
Keywords: leadership, managerial competences, performance management, public administration, private organizations.
JEL Classification: L3, L33