<b>The Merit Selection Processes in the Senior Management of the Portuguese Public Administration: Myth or Reality?

Abstract

The influence on managerial model of administrative reform in Portugal and in particular with regard to the introduction of highertechnical rationality in the processes of public management is widely recognized in Portugal. There were many governments in OECD countries have taken similar initiatives. However, the literature on administrative reform presents enough evidence of the resilience of institutional bureaucracies to change. It turns out that the NPM would assert itself as a standard recipe without respect for cultural diversity and the various administrations, despite taking over as primer, got different expressions and manifestations. This article aims to contribute to this debate. Therefore, examines the influence of meritocracy, as NPM idea, administrative reform ofPortugal.