The mega department is back, and with it age-forgotten challenges. Executives must learn to manage division synergies, multiple ministers and diverging agendas

BERNARD KEANE: CODE OF CONDUCT Coordinating a coherent seamless departmental response in a mega organisation means getting people out of their silos and thinking beyond their usual remit. It can’t just happen around the table at departmental executive meetings — senior people with flexible policy brains, diplomatic skills and a capacity to walk effortlessly on eggshells are needed to make the process organic at lower levels.

Scott Morrison’s public service changes, as has been endlessly pointed out, reflect a return at least in part to the 1987 model of “mega departments”.