The “MATE” model: a strategic knowledge management technique on the chessboard of public‐sector modernization

Abstract

During the past two decades a variety of reforms and projects under the mantle of public‐sector modernization were developed in order to achieve efficiency, effectiveness, economy and quality in service delivery. Despite the overwhelming consensus that public organizations must transform there is little evidence on how to pursue modernization successfully. This paper argues that modernization is tantamount to creating a “learning public administration”. Managing the transformation process rests on the organization's capability to continuously enhance, the collective capacity to reflect, to learn how to learn, to unlearn old ways of doing things and abandon old habits. How to best navigate the transition from a rigid and conventional mode of thinking towards a creative and strategic one remains the challenge in the current knowledge‐based economy. As a response to this challenge the present paper presents the management, training and evaluation (MATE) model – a knowledge management strategic technique – that can be utilized for modernizing government organizations. Based on the results of a pilot case study undertaken within the context of Greek public sector we argue that modernization's success depends on how knowledgable an organization is in the strategic running of three core systems: the management (MA) system, the training (T) system and the evaluation (E) system. More specifically, the case study has shown that the exercise of the range of activities included in the three MATE systems may serve as the practical field, as the ideal setting for developing inquiry skills, “double‐loop” learning capabilities at individual and organizational level.