scholarly journals Would the good employer please step forward? A discussion of the "good Employer" concept in the State Sector Act 1988

1970 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Boxall
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Personnel Management ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Current Model ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
The State ◽  
Employee Relations ◽  
Revolutionary Change ◽  
State Sector

The State Sector Act 1988 brings revolutionary change to public service personnel management and industrial relations. This paper analyzes the good employer principle contained in the Act (against a backdrop of private and public sector thought in respect of good employment behaviour. The current model of public sector personnel management is termed "accountable management" and it is argued that any notion of the good employer must be a "bounded" one. A set of assumptions in terms of good employer attitudes is established, explored in terms of particular processes and policies and a general public service pattern of employee relations is suggested. Finally, the problems of assessing chief executive performance under the Act are discussed. The argument is made that the bounded nature of the good employer principle must be recognized in chief executive appraisal as must the fact that worthwhile change in employment relations is a long term endeavo.ur. The process of becoming a good employer is never complete.

ISO 9001 and the public service: an investigation of the effect of the QMS on the quality of public service organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Armando López-Lemus
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Iso 9001 ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the influence exerted by a quality management system (QMS) under ISO 9001: 2015 on the quality of public services organizations in Mexico. Design/methodology/approach The methodological design was quantitative, explanatory, observational and transversal, for which a sample of 461 public servants from the state of Guanajuato, Mexico was obtained. To test the hypotheses, a structural equation model (SEM) was developed through the statistical software Amos v.21. For the analysis of the data, software SPSS v.21 was used. Regarding the goodness and adjustment indices of the SEM (χ2 = 720.09, df = 320, CFI = 0.933, TLI = 0.926 and RMSEA = 0.05) which, therefore, proved to be acceptable. Findings According to the results obtained through the SEM model, the QMS under ISO 9001: 2015 is positively and significantly influenced tangible aspects (β1 = 0.79, p < 0.01), reliability (β2 = 0.90, p < 0.01), related to response quality (β3 = 0.93, p < 0.01), guarantees (β4 = 0.91, p < 0.01) and empathy (β5 = 0.88, p < 0.01) of the quality related to public services in Mexico. The study’s key contribution is that it discovered that implementing a QMS in accordance with the ISO 9001: 2015 standard has an impact on the quality of public services, with the most influential quality of response. Similarly, the assurance and dependability of service quality turned out to be important in providing public service quality. Research limitations/implications In this paper, the QMS was only evaluated as a variable that intervenes in the process of obtaining quality in public service under the ISO 9001 standard in its 2015 version. In this regard, the results’ trustworthiness is limited to the extent that the findings may be generalized in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico’s public service. As a result, the scientific community is left primarily focused on service quality to promote new future research. Practical implications The ISO 9001: 2015 standard’s QMS is one of the tools for success in both the commercial and government sectors. However, there are practical limitations, which focus on the time during which managers exercise their vision in the public sector: first, the dynamics that managers play in public policy; second, the length of time they have served in public office; and third, the interest of directors of public institutions to improve the quality of service provided by the government. Other practical consequences concern organizational culture and identity, public servant commitment, senior management or secretaries of government, as well as work and training. Originality/value The findings of this paper are important and valuable because they foster knowledge generation in the public sector through the ISO 9000 quality area. A model that permits the adoption and implementation of a QMS based on the ISO 9001: 2015 standard in public organizations that seek to provide quality in their services offered to the user is also presented to the literature. Similarly, the paper is important because there is currently insufficient research focusing on the variables examined in the context of public service in Mexico.

scholarly journals Waiting for the next wave: trajectories, narratives and conveying the state of public sector reform

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evert Lindquist
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The State ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
State Sector ◽  
Democratic Reform ◽  
New Public

With the adoption of the State Sector Act in 1988, the New Zealand public sector revolution was in full motion. The Act was one of many initiatives that provided a new framework for government and managing public services (Boston et al., 1996; Scott, 2001). New Zealand rapidly became the poster child for what became known as the New Public Management, and an archetype scrutinised around the world. The audacity and intellectual coherence of the New Zealand model became a standard against which the progress of other governments was judged. These reforms were part of  a larger social and economic transformation which led to dislocation and democratic reform. In the crucible of introducing and implementing these reforms, and in the inevitable re-adjustment phases, New Zealand gained a reputation for continuous reflection on its progress by its political leaders, government officials and a small band of impressive academics.

scholarly journals Harnessing Sustainable Motivation: A Grounded Theory Exploration of Public Service Motivation in Local Governments of the State of Oregon, United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sajjad Haider ◽  
Guoxian Bao ◽  
Gary L. Larsen ◽  
Muhammad Umar Draz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
The State ◽  
Government Employees ◽  
Public Sector Employees

Employee motivation has always been a matter of concern for both public and private sector organizations. Since the industrial revolution in the late 18th century, organizations have struggled to foster workforce motivation and morale to enhance productivity. While a plethora of literature focuses on private sector motivation research, public sector organizations receive only modest scholarly attention. However, a new concept has emerged in public management literature during the late 1980s and 1990s, later known as public service motivation (PSM). The debate about PSM is premised on the notion that the motivation of public sector employees is quite different from their private sector counterparts because of their orientation to public service. Perry and Wise (1990) expressed this concept in the theory of PSM. Subsequently, a growing stream of scholarship has emerged which explores the many aspects of antecedents and outcomes related to PSM. However, questions remain about how to best keep the motivation of public sector employees sustainably high, and about what factors embolden or enervate the motivation and morale of public sector employees. This study focuses on the sustainable work motivation of local government employees. Its arguments and discussions draw from PSM theory, total quality management (TQM) principles, and inspiration from Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study examines and attempts to uncover the career trajectories of local government employees in the State of Oregon, United States, through a rigorous grounded theory method (GTM) of inquiry. The study reveals a number of factors that facilitate and/or inhibit employees’ PSM. We expect the findings to be useful for both practitioners and government human resource policymakers in understanding the subtlety and vicissitudes of public sector employee careers and motivations.

The New South Wales Public Service Industrial Relations System

1975 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 272-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan K. Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
New South ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Wage Adjustment

Despite the growing overseas interest in public sector industrial relations this field has received very little attention in Australia. Using Dunlop's "systems" approach this paper analyses industrial relations in the N.S.W. Public Service with the intention of comparing industrial relations in this public sector with the situation prevailing in most private sectors. Firstly, the legal and economic frameworks within which the system operates are examined and this is followed by an investigation of the relevant unions and the employer group. Then, attention is focused on the wage adjustment procedures: negotiation and arbitration. The analysis reveals that this public sector industrial relations system pos sesses a number of features of considerable analytical interest: features which clearly differentiate it from the systems common to the private sector.

Towards a New Public Unitarism: Employment and Industrial Relations in the Australian Public Service

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
John O'Brien ◽  
Michael O'Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
The State ◽  
State Model ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Administrative State ◽  
New Public ◽  
Federal Public Service ◽  
Service Employment

This article traces the transformation of the Australian federal public service from an administrative towards a more managerial model of the state. The paper will argue that the process has been uneven and, at times, contested. A particular feature of the paper will be a discussion of the role of organised labour in the process. The paper outlines the central features of the administrative state model and the emerging features of the managerial model of the state. The focus of the paper is on the employment and industrial relations characteristics of public service employment. Comparison will be made between the different paths taken by the Labor government from 1983 and the Coalition government since 1996.

scholarly journals Moments of Rupture. Changing the State Project for Teachers: a Regulation Approach Study in Education Industrial Relations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Patricia Gay Simpkin
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Early Response ◽  
The State ◽  
National State ◽  
State Sector ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Government ◽  
Professional Project

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to examine the response of secondary school teachers to the Tomorrow's Schools education reforms. Their early response was made largely through their union, the Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA), in an industrial relations setting as the reform proposals were in development and taking their final shape. The interaction between the professional project of these teachers with the proposed reforms produced an outcome for secondary school education shaped by the interaction, rather than just by the reforms themselves. A case study situated at the intersection of industrial relations, state sector and education restructurings during the period 1984-1989 is the focus of the thesis. The argument is located within French regulationalist theory. The concept of the Keynesian Welfare National State provides a means for connecting education as part of the mode of regulation with the role of the state in New Zealand. The Fourth Labour Government entered into a political project that shifted the role of the state in the economy and society. The roots of the project lay in the discourse of economic rationalism. Policy resulting from this discourse was put into operation through legislation affecting all parts of the state. In education, the discourse of economic rationalism introduced a new approach, the values of which were at odds with those of the previous education settlement of the Keynesian Welfare National State. The object of the thesis is to trace the process of change within the secondary schools sector of education through the years 1984-1989 as the two different sets of values interacted. The assumption is made that institutional change results from a dynamic interaction between new ideas and continuities and discontinuities with the past. This allows for the possibility of the effects of agency on public policy. Analysis focuses on a series of industrial negotiations between the PPTA and the State Services Commission, the negotiating body for government. They took place as various government policy documents and resulting legislation altered the positioning of teachers within the state. The negotiations were of such a character that the educational discourses of economic rationalism and the education settlement of the Keynesian Welfare National State came into conflict and were debated at length. The thesis concludes that, by the end of the negotiations and despite the introduction of legislation on education, the values of secondary teachers remained substantially unchanged and in opposition to the intent of the government reforms.</p>

scholarly journals The State as Employer and the Civil Service

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 318-333
Author(s):  
S.J. Frankel
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
The State ◽  
Employee Relations ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Difference

Summary In this paper, the author deals with the civil service rather than the public service. The two terms are not mutually exclusive, nor is the difference between them always clear. But a distinction can and should be made from the standpoint of employer-employee relations.

scholarly journals Better Public Services: a window of opportunity

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill Ryan
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The State ◽  
Advisory Group ◽  
Window Of Opportunity ◽  
High Quality ◽  
State Sector

Led by an advisory group, Better Public Services is the government’s programme to reform the state sector to provide high-quality, flexible and cost-effective public services. The advisory group was established May 2011 and reported December 2011, with the report released March 2012 (Better Public Services Advisory Group (BPSAG), 2011). It comprised eight members: (then) Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet chief executive, Maarten Wevers (chair); Watercare Services Ltd (Auckland) chief executive Mark Ford; Air New Zealand group general manager, people and technical operations, Vanessa Stoddart; Wise Group chief executive Jacqui Graham; the state services commissioner, Iain Rennie; State Services Commission deputy commissioner Sandi Beatie; secretary to the Treasury Gabriel Makhlouf; Victoria University School of Government professor Peter Hughes 

scholarly journals Reforming the public sector and Parliament - Chris Hipkins' goals

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin James
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
The State ◽  
Specific Time ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Chief Executives ◽  
State Sector ◽  
The Public

Back in the late 1990s senior public servants worried at Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) roundtables that ‘siloisation’ of the state sector was hampering effectiveness. Also at that time an IPS roundtable of chief and deputy chief executives backed posting advice on agency websites when decisions were made or at some specific time after delivery.

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