Incentives and penalties as means of influencing attendance: a study in the UK public sector

Despite being the largest single source of lost productivity in business and industry, absence from work has not featured as prominently as might have been expected in studies in human resource management. But if, as a new discipline, human resource management is to stimulate fresh insights into perennial problems this matter should be addressed. Drawing upon data from the UK public sector, this article examines various aspects of absence from work with a view to placing the research in this broader context. It is concluded that the indiscriminate application of methods to reduce absence are often ineffective and some measures may actually change employees' work attitudes and perceived equity. This may, in turn, hinder effective human resource management.     

Impact of e-procurement: Experiences from implementation in the UK public sector

The advent of the Internet as a business systems platform has been a catalyst for major changes in the operation and status of organizational procurement. Early e-procurement literature forecast significant improvements in procurement costs, an improving status of the purchasing function, and changes to the structure of supply markets. Our study seeks to evaluate the validity of these forecasts through the development of a structural model of the ‘e-procurement effect’. This model is intended to define the dynamics of the e-procurement process in an organization and provide a foundation for a research stream into the transformational effect of e-procurement deployment.

The article presents the evaluation of e-procurement implementation and operation from an 18-month study of e-procurement deployment across nine UK public sector organizations. The article explores five key themes in e-procurement, namely system specification, implementation management, changes to organizational characteristics, changes in total acquisition costs, and changes to governance structures.

Our analysis suggests that the proposed structural model of the e-procurement effect is broadly applicable and that many of the previous claimed benefits in the literature can be realized. We also contend that an important variable for the success of e-procurement adoption is to address the internal service quality attributes of e-procurement processes—a topic which offers significant scope for future research.     

Improving public trust in the voluntary sector: an empirical analysis

Public trust and confidence in the voluntary sector continues to be at the heart of the government's new policy agenda. A number of initiatives are currently under way to review how trust and confidence could be bolstered. In this study the authors review the findings of a major new study of how donors feel about voluntary organisations and the factors that drive trust therein. Managerial and public policy recommendations are offered in the light of the findings. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Comparing the impact of management on public and private sector nurses in the UK,Italy, and Australia

The research examined the impact of management upon employee outcomes (perceptions of discretionary power, well-being, engagement, and affective commitment), comparing public and private sector nurses in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Overall, 1,945 nurses participated in a self-report survey within these core- and laggard-New Public Management countries. While management influenced employee outcomes for each country, there were significant differences between the public and private sectors, with private sector nurses reporting higher perceptions of outcomes. Importantly, nurses’ engagement was affected by management practice for each country. This study raises important implications for nurse managers, especially public sector managers, described within.     

Towards a common understanding of the differences between purchasing, procurement and commissioning in the UK public sector

This paper recognises that commissioning has now become an important term in the lexicon of UK public policy but the term ‘commissioning’ is taking on a different meaning than that traditionally used within the purchasing and supply management community. The frequent inter-changeability of the terms ‘commissioning’, ‘procurement’ and ‘purchasing’ is now causing confusion and means different things to different people. Therefore the academic community needs to help practitioners understand the differences and implications. A document analysis of various UK Central Government departments’ commissioning frameworks was used to establish the key themes and compare commissioning, procurement and purchasing. This paper discusses the similarities and differences, and argues that commissioning is different from procurement, but that commissioning offers major opportunities for Procurement practitioners to make a strategic contribution.     

The interaction of human resource policies and practices with the implementation of teamworking: evidence from the UK public sector

Our study examines the interaction of human resource policies and practices with the implementation of teamworking. Put simply, do certain human resource policies and practices support the implementation of teamworking? Do certain human resource policies and practices work against the implementation of teamworking? It utilizes an illustrative case from the UK public sector – the Inland Revenue, the UK tax assessment and collection agency – to address the research question. The case of the Inland Revenue gives support to the argument that it is necessary to identify and understand the differences between a variety of forms of teamworking. With the variation in forms of teamworking that are implemented, there may be variations in the human resource management context. In short, a contingency approach to the interaction of the implementation of teamworking with human resource policies and practices may be appropriate. In the case, teamworking was implemented to facilitate the introduction of a new tax regime in the face of reduced numbers of middle managers and clerical employees, and certain human resource policies and practices had an effect upon its implementation. These were front line manager selection and development in particular, while team member selection and development and employee relations appeared less important.     

Maximizing value in healthcare partnerships: A case examining an inter-organizational relationship in the public and non-profit sectors

Healthcare organizations around the world are striving to find the right balance between using their resources effectively and providing personalized care to patients. Health care is shifting from a reactive, towards a more person-centric approach to improve health outcomes. To achieve quality improvements and efficiencies, health care organizations are forming inter-organizational relationships. Despite the benefits, little is known about how organizations capture value from strategic partnership. In this context, this paper aims to examine the processes that occur as part of a public and non-profit sector relationship within health care that directly relate to how the partnering organization acts to capture value. Using a qualitative case study of an Australian public-sector health service partnership, the study employs a value mapping framework to distinguish between different types of value (captured, missed, destroyed, and opportunity), and presents an integrated model consisting of three process phases: (1) inter-organizational cooperation effort, (2) organizational effect, and (3) social value. The study highlights the potential for negative and unintended consequences and discusses implications for management.     

Innovative practices in public procurement partnerships: The case of the United States

Public procurement partnerships represent a new approach to conducting government acquisition. These partnerships are predicated on the notion that governments today simply lack the requisite knowledge, skills and financing to provide core public services and acquire sophisticated services, IT and knowledge development by themselves. Instead, governments need to enlist the collective energies of the governmental, business and non-profit (third) sectors. This research looks at the concept of public procurement partnerships in the United States and the major trends promoting their use. Two case examples of public procurement partnerships are presented; one from the perspective of a government partner, the other from the perspective of a private (third) sector partner.     

Regulatory influences on innovation in the public sector: the role of regulatory regimes

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of regulation on innovation within the public sector. This is done by integrating two separate frameworks, related to regulatory regimes and public-sector innovation. Through a case study of the Scottish water sector a matrix integrating these frameworks has been empirically developed, illustrating a continuous improvement path for innovation in the Scottish water sector. Findings indicate that customer and shareholder accountability is manifest at the transitional interface of the regulatory regimes, facilitating movement within the different systems. Interplay with the accountabilities and adjustments to the regulatory regime are paramount for progress. Through incentives to establish partnerships, the regulator provides conditions for new ideas to emerge with reduced risk of failure. Experimentation allows a new approach towards solving problems and enhancing innovation potential within the sector. The contribution of this paper is a framework demonstrating mechanisms required to move between government-centred, compliance- based regulation through to performance-oriented regulatory regimes.     

The role of the psychological contract in shaping graduate experiences: a study of public sector talent management programmes in the UK and Australia

Abstract

Although talent management is acknowledged for its role in building competitive advantage, very little research has examined the factors that influence the success of talent management programmes at an individual level. In this paper we explore participant experiences (n = 68) from two public sector ‘fast track’ graduate development programmes, one in the UK and one in Australia. Drawing on psychological contract theory we examine how talent management programmes shape individual expectations and how these expectations influence participant experiences and evaluations of the programme. Our findings highlight the role of both talent management strategy and talent management implementation as well as factors external to the organisation, (such as employer brand and the influence of family and friends), in shaping expectations. Our analysis highlights the impact of multiple agents, particularly line managers, in the ongoing development and fulfilment of the ‘graduate psychological contract’. At a practical level, we argue that organisations need to manage expectations by more explicitly communicating what will, or will not, be offered in a graduate fast-track programme. We also suggest that organisations need to consider the importance of line managers in the implementation of talent management.     

Bringing Networks In: A model of organizational socialization in the public sector

Abstract

Integrating new employees so that they perform well, fit in well and are committed to the agency is a salient concern for public managers. Organizational socialization is the process by which new employees learn the knowledge, skills and values required to become organizational members. This article develops a model of organizational socialization grounded in newcomer social networks and set within a context of public service identity. Social network theory and methods offer a means for examining and interpreting patterns of interactions between newcomers and organizational members. This article concludes with propositions for future studies of organizational socialization and social networks.     

Government and governance: The value of project management in the public sector

Governance is an emerging theme that has been associated in the public sector with a real political need to satisfy stakeholders by demonstrating accountability and transparency while effectively implementing policy. Many initiatives relating to governance are generated by a need for improvement of organizational performance and ability to implement and adapt to change. These generally take the form of projects and programs encouraging a variety of project management implementations in the public sector. This article reports on examination of the expectations and realization of value from investment in project management in four Australian public‐sector organizations with particular reference to the government context, the perspective of public value management (PVM), and the support that project management provides in meeting the demands of public‐sector governance.     

Competition in the public school sector: Evidence on strategic interaction among US school districts

This paper provides evidence on strategic interaction among local school districts. The analysis makes use of a significant change in the institutional environment for school districts in Michigan in 1996, when the state established a voluntary inter-district choice program. The school districts' participation decisions are modelled as discrete choice decisions using a spatial latent variable model. Strong effects are found saying that lagged adoptions of neighbors positively affect the current probability of participation. A simple test exploiting limitations of student mobility in inter-district transfers suggests that the driving force for interdependencies among adoption decisions was competition for students.     

The effect of the public sector on private jobs: Evidence from the West Bank

This paper estimates the short run effect of creating more public jobs on private employment in the occupied West Bank. Unlike most cited research, the results provide evidence that favors crowd-in effect both at the aggregate employment level and across sectors. A main contribution of the paper is to empirically explore the underlying mechanisms that drive the results. They include positive public employment effect on local demand, lack of public wage premium, as well as no effect on private wages. It turns out that an increase in the local labor force participation is a driving factor for the latter channel. Interestingly, the increase in labor force participation exceeds that of public and private employment, leading to an increase in the number of job seekers.     

Entrepreneurship in the public sector: a framework of analysis in European local governments

In this paper we explore the potential role of entrepreneurship in public sector organizations. At first, we present a review of the entrepreneurship theme in the political science and public management research streams, comparing these ideas with the mainstream business literature on entrepreneurship. Thereafter, we illustrate empirically how Stevenson's classical framework of entrepreneurship can be applied in a European local government context to explain the recent initiatives to compete for and utilize European Union structural funds. The empirical basis of the study is comprised of ten in-depth case studies of local government organizations, five in the UK and five in Italy. Finally, we propose five distinct types of entrepreneurial agents in the public sector: professional politician; spin-off creator; business entrepreneur in politics; career-driven public officer; and politically ambitious public officer.     

New value partnerships: the lessons of Denny's/Save the Children partnership for building high‐yielding cross‐sector alliances

While business and nonprofit organisations have long used alliances within their own sectors to address specific needs, increasingly they are turning to cross‐sector partnerships that benefit both parties while they serve the common good. In the last decade, marketing alliances between businesses and social sector organisations have become increasingly common as ways for companies to achieve business objectives and for social sector organisations to raise their visibility and attract new resources. The alliance between Denny's and Save the Children provides an example of a noteworthy marketing partnership that shows how a cross‐sector alliance can assist a company with a damaged public image to build a new public identity while enabling an international nonprofit organisation to create an ambitious programme for US children. As a new value partnership, a long‐term, high yielding alliance between businesses and social sector organisations, this relationship is characterised by several elements: communication, opportunity, mutuality, multiple levels, open‐endedness, and new value, forming the acronym COMMON. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

Mind the context gap: a critical review of engagement within the public sector and an agenda for future research

Abstract

In this review paper, we critically examine the evidence base relating to engagement within the public sector given a wide range of public services have faced acute human resource challenges over recent years. Our review of 188 empirical studies reveals that much of the evidence focuses attention on individual and job level factors, such that specific public sector contextual contingencies have rarely been considered. Through identifying significant ‘context gaps’, we present a future research agenda addressing the following key areas: i) clarifying the relationship between engagement and public service motivation, ii) further contextualizing general engagement models, iii) exploring cultural, socio-political, and institutional factors in more depth, iv) encouraging a more critical perspective on engagement, v) understanding the variation in the experience of engagement across different public services/delivery models, and vi) connecting more strongly with practical concerns and initiatives within public organizations. In presenting this agenda, we highlight how engagement and HRM scholars can more strongly embed their research within a sectoral context.     

Prospects for union growth in the UK voluntary sector: the impact of the Employment Relations Act 1999

The article argues that despite the imminent introduction of the Employment Relations Act 1999, unions face a difficult environment in which to achieve recognition deals in the voluntary sector. However, it also highlights how some large charities are re‐evaluating their position on employee representation in response to government legislation and that unions can use these developments to encourage further growth.