Employee relations in the public services: a paradigm shift?

Abstract

Since the early 1980s there has been a reshaping of the public services through contracting out, privatisation, purchaser/provider splits and the private finance initiative, which has resulted in the injection of-market principles or proxies for them and the structural blurring of the public/private sector divide. These structural changes have impacted on employee relations but the key question is in what ways has there been change and what is the extent of change. Has there been transition towards or transformation to a market orientation?According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary a transformation is a metamorphosis, which is a change of form or a change of character. According to Bach (1999a) transformation is purposeful and sustained, while Ferlie et al (1996, p.33) argue that transformational change is multi-dimensional, multi-layered and fundamental. Transformation can be contrasted with transition, where strong elements of continuity persist and the process is incremental and teleological. According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary transition is the process of changing from one set of circumstances to another. It is an interim stage. This article, which draws mainly from the civil service and the National Health Service (NHS) falls into five sections. The first section takes an overall view of the transformation/transition debate in respect of public service employee relations. The second section takes the debate further by breaking down employee relations into specific issues and evaluating the areas where change has taken place. The third section considers whether the process of change is being reversed under the Labour government. The fourth section looks beyond this to within the public services. In the fifth section conclusions are drawn.The argument developed here is that complex and uneven trends can be seen in the changing nature of employee relations both between the different public service organisations themselves and within each public service organisation. Whereas on the whole transformation is a more appropriate term for the civil service, there are variations in the extent of change between civil service executive agencies. Similarly, whereas on the whole transition is a more appropriate term for the National Health Service, there are variations between NHS trusts.

PPPs and the Changing Public Sector Ethos: Case-Study Evidence from the Health and Local Authority Sectors

“…While discussions of the public sector ethos recognize its 'nebulous status' (Corby, 2000), there is a surprising consensus over its constitutive values. For example, Farnham and Horton (1996) argue that it encapsulates the principles of political neutrality, loyalty, probity, honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, incorruptibility and serving the public interest.…”

Accounting for change in public sector industrial relations: the erosion of national bargaining in further education in England and Wales

“…Outside of the civil service, further education and a small number of NHS trusts the resilience of national bargaining has been somewhat striking (Burchill, 2001;Corby, 2000;White, 1999), though this may have disguised important changes at workplace level (Bach, 1999). In some areas structural factors have inhibited the decentralisation of bargaining activity.…”

“…Elsewhere the development of local bargaining has been challenged by a combination of management ambivalence and union opposition, particularly in the health service (Carr, 1999;Thornley, 1998). A further factor which has militated against local bargaining is the tension that exists between the desire to devolve operational decision-making and the imperative of maintaining central control over the public sector paybill, particularly by the Treasury (Corby, 2000;White, 1996;Winchester and Bach, 1999). Kessler et al (2000) attempt to explain this relative stability with reference to a conceptual model based on the theory of strategic choice.…”

“…The main change has been the shift from a largely centralised system of industrial relations, in which national multi-employer collective bargaining over pay and conditions of service predominated, to one where the regulation of the employment relationship is increasingly concentrated at the level of individual colleges. Recent studies of public sector industrial relations refer to further education only in passing, be it in the context of the decline of national bargaining (Corby, 2000;White, 1999;Winchester and Bach, 1995) or analyses of the incidence of industrial action (Carter and Fairbrother, 1999;Mathieson and Corby, 1999).…”

Defining Asia Capabilities for Australia's Public Service

“…Changes in the public administration workforce (e.g. Corby ; Grimshaw et al. ), evolving citizen expectations of government and new forms of citizen engagement (e.g.…”