This report makes available both to those who participated and to a much wider audience the ideas and proposals on improving public administration and operations generated at the July 1981 Round Table Conference in Canberra, Australia. It reflects the collective wisdom of nearly 200 participants from 46 countries and several international and regional organizations. Study of this report is recommended to all practitioners, scholars, consultants, advisers, and instructors concerned with the subjects dealt with at the Round Table.

Like all conferences of the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration, this was an action-oriented one. It was a follow-up and expansion on subjects initiated at the International Conference on Improving Public Management and Performance in October 1979, held in Washington, D.C., and subsequent meetings of IASIA's working groups in Spain in July 1980. Like the reports of those conferences, this document provides a reference guide in dealing with a wide range of policy and administrative problems facing all governments, and new approaches to strengthening public service education, training, and research.

If the report is systematically used and disseminated, it will prove of benefit to an audience many times greater than those who were able to take part in the Round Table. I recommend that each recipient identify parts which would be of particular interest to specific officials, educators, trainers, and others concerned with improving public management and performance. Further copies can be secured from the Canberra College of Advanced Education for Australian $12 or U.S. $14, inclusive of surface mail charges.