The Journal of Commerce, Vol. 3, No. 4, ISSN: 2218-8118, 2220-6043 Hailey College of Commerce, University of the Punjab, PAKISTAN 45 QUALITY LEADERSHIP IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: STRATEGIES AND CHALLENGES Suresh Sirisetti* Abstract To fill the need for leaders and change agents throughout all levels of federal agencies, public sector human resource managers are now called on to develop innovative leadership development programs. Developing leaders for the 21 st century requires attention to workforce trends as well as flexibility and creativity. Federal government leadership concerns of public agency managers, including creative thinking, collaboration, and cross- organizational team building and leading for results. Keywords: Leadership, Leadership in public sector, Strategies and Challenges. INTRODUCTION Effective leadership is integral to organizational effectiveness. Effective leaders create positive organizational cultures, strengthen motivation, clarify mission and organizational objectives, and steer organizations to more productive and high performing outcomes. The demands placed on the economies of developing countries make it necessary that public service attain the economic self-sufficiency it needs for autonomy in its operations. However, the economic gains are realized at a cost. There is always a social cost when human beings are reduced to the level of commodities. Thus there will be resistance to modernizing the public service by emphasizing efficiency and effectiveness and the people will have to be reoriented. In most cases the cumbersome nature of public service institutions makes reform of any kind difficult to effect. * Research Scholar, Department of Commerce and Management Studies, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh – 530 003, India. E-mail: sureshphdhrm@gmail.com Emphasis on efficiency and effectiveness has dominated the reform efforts of most developing countries. Various initiatives, ranging from reducing the size of the public service to introducing performance management systems, have been considered. Leadership plays a crucial role in the two factors believed to employee satisfaction – utilizing employee skills and teamwork – developing and sustaining effective leaders for the government of the 21 st century is clearly fundamental. This article contributes to the discussion of leadership excellence in contemporary public sector management in developing countries and in a globalized environment. It is built on the premise that developing countries, in their effort to modernize the public service, share the challenges of competing goals and inadequate resources. The discussion will examine the demands made on public service leaders in the new millennium and the strategies they apply to address these challenges. The article also proposes new strategies and practices to promote the development and maintenance of a high caliber of leadership in the public sector. Kotter argues that many change efforts have failed because organizations are busy trying to manage change instead of leading it. He proposes a comprehensive eight-step action plan that emphasizes the need for a vision, the creation and communication of short- term wins and the empowerment of employees for leaders caught up in rapid change situations. Kotter also explains the difference between management and leadership. The mandate of management is to minimize risk and maintain the status quo through procedures, rules and regulations. Stacey refers to the concept of ordinary management where the situation in an organization is characterized by relative predictability and certainty. Furthermore,