LESSONS FROM PICASSO: Public Management Reshaped

Pablo Picasso’s legacy was to revolutionize the art word by overthrowing classic principles of representation. He called this ‘cubism’, which dispensed with the idea of a single fixed viewpoint that had dominated the art... [ view full abstract ]

Pablo Picasso’s legacy was to revolutionize the art word by overthrowing classic principles of representation. He called this ‘cubism’, which dispensed with the idea of a single fixed viewpoint that had dominated the art world for centuries. Art is our metaphor for moving the public management debate forward. The idea of one single (best) way to resolve a public management problem has proven to be ambitious at best; although this thinking has dominated public management rhetoric, research, and practice. This paper outlines Cubism, along with its constitutive elements as a means for reframing the progress of the discourse in public management. Managers and artists are often presumed to be ‘polar-opposites’. However in the wake of increasing and ever-more complex public management problems, Picasso’s cubism provides the means to build interdisciplinary bridges between these opposites.
One of the most distinguishing features of Cubism is the use of multiple perspectives of the same subject captured together on the same canvas. For instance, a face may be irregular and painted with some features (eye, ear, nose) appearing bigger than other features. These features show the same subject from different points of view in space and time. This is the first of Picasso’s five cubists principles – the simultaneity of multiple views – which invites greater scrutiny in interpretation, assumptions and sight. It assists in re-evaluating the aspects of public management. Simultaneity is the ability to visualize and sustain multiple perspectives, assumptions, and approaches at the same time, and invites superior skills in public management leadership.
We outline all five principles of cubism and apply them to public management. As the Cubist movement challenged new collaborations in art by redefining innovation, form and content, it can also provide an inter-disciplinary means for progressing public management thinking and practice.