Yves Emery

Emergence of contradictory injunctions in Swiss NPM projects

This article examines staff participation and involvement in Swiss public organisations that are undergoing major administrative change. Officially, the new public management reforms have the following objectives: more organisational autonomy; increased organisational flexibility and adaptability; more responsiveness; and greater productive capacity. All these objectives are intended to be attained, in part, by increasing staff participation and involvement. After evaluating some of the new public management projects the paper identifies a number of obstacles which are preventing the achievement of government objectives. The paper concludes that the reforms are producing contradictory expectations that may be undermining the achievement of the government reforms.

Rewarding Civil Service Performance Through Team Bonuses: Findings, Analysis and Recommendations

Performance-related pay within public organizations is continuing to spread. Although it can help to strengthen an entrepreneurial spirit in civil servants, its implementation is marred by technical, financial, managerial and cultural problems. This article identifies an added problem, namely the contradiction that exists between a managerial discourse that emphasizes the team and collective performance, on the one hand, and the use of appraisal and reward tools that are above all individual, on the other. Based on an empirical survey carried out within Swiss public organizations, the analysis shows that the team is currently rarely taken into account and singles out the principal routes towards an integrated system for the management and rewarding of civil servants.