Multirational Management in public administration

Management in public administration is exposed to multiple rationalities per se: the tension alone between the rationality of politics and the rationality of the administration offers latent conflict potential but also development potential. We interview six public managers of a cantonal administration in order to understand how they perceive and deal with multiple rationalities. It appears that a) all interviewees perceive the different natures of the rationalities of politics and the administration, and b) the practices they apply when they deal with multiple rationalities are heterogeneous to a high degree and - so we assume - strongly depend on the public managers' functions and personalities.