Stephen Bach

Varieties of new public management or alternative models? The reform of public service employment relations in industrialized democracies

New public management (NPM) has been the dominant orthodoxy in analysing public service reform with major implications for employment relations. Drawing on comparative studies of major OECD countries, including Australia, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States, this article examines recent reforms of public service human resource management. It refutes the proposition that reforms indicate convergence towards an NPM model and argues that the ‘varieties of NPM’ thesis is also unconvincing. Several reform trajectories exist which have sought to modernize public sector pay, performance and working conditions, but these highlight the existence of alternative models rather than a shift towards NPM or even the emergence of ‘varieties of NPM’.

Going Global? The Regulation of Nurse Migration in the UK

This article examines the growth of overseas nurse recruitment to the UK and reviews a number of explanations used by migration specialists to explain these developments. It is argued that these approaches provide an incomplete explanation and that an industrial relations perspective enables an integrated understanding of nurse mobility. By highlighting the role of the state in source and destination countries and by placing labour market institutions centre stage, a more adequate account of nurse migration to the UK is developed. Trends in mobility indicate that state policy and employer behaviour have resulted in the internationalization rather than the globalization of the nursing labour market. This facilitates state action to regulate nurse migration, although the results to date using forms of soft regulation have been modest.

Changing job boundaries and workforce reform: the case of teaching assistants

A prominent feature of the restructuring of work in the public services has been the growing importance of assistant roles. This article examines the regulation of teaching assistant (TA) roles in 10 primary schools. It examines entry into TA roles, the structure of TA roles and the consequences of TA roles for teachers and assistants. The article develops a series of arguments to explain the variations in the TA workforce between authorities and schools.

Health sector reform and human resource management: Britain in comparative perspective

This article examines the impact of health service restructuring for employment practices in Europe, using Britain as the basis of comparison. It first considers trends in West European health care reform and examines the extent to which reform measures have been accompanied by changes in employment practices. It focuses on reforms of pay determination arrangements and work organization, examining in particular the experience of nurses, who form the largest occupational group. Finally, some of the implications for a future research agenda are considered. It concludes that research on health sector employment practices is under-developed and outlines a research agenda that recognizes the importance of workplace restructuring within a comparative framework.

Reframing public service employment relations: The impact of economic crisis and the new EU economic governance

This article introduces six national studies covering 11 countries of the EU-15, analysing the impact of government austerity measures on the working conditions of public employees and on public sector employment relations. It stresses how international financial markets and supranational actors have altered the dynamics of employment relations in a sector traditionally considered sheltered from external forces. Nevertheless, public sector employment relations remain distinctive compared to the private sector. There has been increased government unilateralism in the determination of pay and conditions, and public sector trade unions face obvious difficulties.

Managed Migration? Nurse Recruitment and the Consequences of State Policy

This article analyses the main trends in nurse migration to the UK and highlights the importance of state policy as a major influence shaping employer utilisation of migrant nurses. The introduction of the points-based immigration system is considered, and the consequences for migrant nurses, employers and trade unions are examined.

Shrinking the State or the Big Society? Public Service Employment Relations in an Era of Austerity

The Big Society is an integral part of the coalitions plans for public service retrenchment, but it is premature to dismiss it as exclusively concerned with expenditure cuts and privatisation. The Big Society signals the governments ambition to transform public services and it is the rubric that is being used to shrink the state and undermine long‐standing systems of public service employment relations. This article considers the origins and meaning of the Big Society and then assesses its consequences for public service provision and the workforce. The Big Society is integrally connected to deficit reduction with the voluntary sector and an increased emphasis on volunteering promoted as a more user‐centred and cost‐effective way of delivering public services in tough times. For the workforce, more competition between diverse providers in conjunction with budget cuts is placing downward pressure on terms and conditions and encouraging employers to question the continuation of national pay determination in many parts of the public sector.

The consequences of assistant roles in the public services: Degradation or empowerment?

This article considers whether and how shifts in the division of labour in the context of organizational change lead to the empowerment or degradation of workplace roles. It focuses on the emergence of assistants in the British public services and, in particular, whether this leads to the degradation or empowerment of those who fill the role and the professionals they work with. Concentrating upon assistant roles in education and social care, case study findings suggest that as these roles develop, the assistants themselves and their co-professionals are empowered to some degree both in terms of their work and employment conditions. However, it notes that these consequences are not unambiguously positive for the stakeholders and vary by sub-sector. The article lends support to those who have argued that changes in the division of labour result in blended and potentially contradictory outcomes for the workers involved. It also contributes to a literature which suggests that outcomes are contingent upon context, proposing that sub-sector conditions can be influential.

The modernisation of the public services and employee relations

The Modernisation of Public Services and Employee Relations provides an integrated and up-to-date account of changes in work and employment in the public services. The book examines a range of different sectors focusing on core public services, especially local government, the NHS and the civil service.

Employment relations and the health service : the management of reforms

1. Introduction 2. The Governance of Health Service Employment Relations 3. Reforming NHS Management Practice 4. Pay Bargaining Reform 5. Strategy and Structure at the Workplace 6. Employment Relations: Performance, Union Influence and Employee Involvement 7. The Management of Pay 8. The Management of Work 9. Conclusions