On June 15, Professor Anders R. Villadsen delivered a keynote speech entitled “The Importance of Top Management Teams in Public Organizations: Evidence and Future Research Directions”, which focused on top managers in public organizations.

Professor Villadsen pointed out that his research found that although public management research has discussed a large number of leadership related activities for a long time, the top managers in public organizations, including mayors, senior administrative officials and university presidents, have not been paid enough attention by researchers. Therefore, he focuses on two important issues: how are top managers studied in the literature? What are the cutting-edge research directions in this topic?

The top managers defined by Professor Villadsen in his research are not similar to the heads of state, but rather relatively independent and occupy senior positions in public organizations. These personnel are mainly administrative personnel in charge of organization operation and policy implementation, not politicians. At the same time, he stressed that the success of top management activities is not the result of individual efforts, but depends on a top management team. So why is top management important? First of all, this group is becoming increasingly important to improve the governance performance of public organizations in the reform promoted by the new public management movement. Secondly, the research on private enterprises is focusing on similar fields, which provides the possibility of new theoretical innovation. However, in the study of public organizations, there has not been any concern about top managers.

In a statistical result of the literature cited by relevant research, Professor Villadsen pointed out that in the existing literature on top managers, the vast majority of achievements come from the discipline of business management, while the research on this issue in the discipline of public administration is far from enough. However, according to upper echelon theory the views and values of top managers are of great importance and guide the entire organization. Only by understanding them can we understand how the organization operates and produces results.

Therefore, it is very necessary to conduct in-depth research in this field. Professor Villadsen and his co-author Dr. Huang Ting searched and analyzed the literature in this field, and the results showed that the number of relevant studies was increasing. This is consistent with his expectation that top managers are playing an increasingly important role. At the same time, based on the system theory, he analyzed and integrated the literature in this field. He found that environmental factors are the background of top management activities, and top management research can be divided into 5 categories, including individual top managers, top management teams, decision-making, interpersonal relationships, and task-related and informational management, and 12 sub-categories. These studies finally focus on two different results, which are the individual outcomes and the organizational outcomes. Further, from the dynamic perspective of system theory, these results will form the next round of “input” and affect the subsequent top management activities. Next, Professor Villadsen compared the differences between the top managers in public organizations and those in private enterprises in terms of inputs, attributes, processes and outcomes. Finally, Professor Villadsen proposed that this topic is an important bridge between public administration and other related disciplines, and hoped that this topic could inspire other related research. He also called for more international comparative studies to help better understand the topic.

Introduction to Keynote Speakers

Dr. Anders R. Villadsen is a Professor in Public Management in the Department of Management at Aarhus University. For more than 10 years he has also been part of the Sino-Danish Center (SDC) located in Beijing. Until January 2024, Prof. Villadsen served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART). His research focuses on public financial management, organizational behavior, and public sector leadership. His work has been published in leading journals, including Public Administration, Public Administration Review, Management and Organization Review, and Public Management Review, among others.