2 The COBRA network developed a joint survey instrument to study the autonomy and control of semi-autonomous agencies. COBRA members of the following countries were involved in the collection of survey data which was used for this article: Belgium (Flanders) (Koen Verhoest, Bram Verschuere and Geert Bouckaert

the public sector, specifi cally, competency management, strategic human resource management, and the role of line managers in personnel matters. She is currently working on a doctoral project studying the distribution of human resource management responsibilities in the public sector and the role of line managers in effective human resource management implementation.

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