Decentralization in the Public Sector

Abstract

Summary Decentralization has been an important international development in large organizations, including those in the public sector, in recent years. The introduction of self-governing trusts in the U.K. National Health Service in the early 1990s serves as a paradigm case of public sector decentralization, managerialism and marketization. Local managers were able to develop their own employment arrangements in order to improve the recruitment, retention and deployment of labour. This article finds that pay initiatives were subverted by environmental constraints but change proceeded in the organization of working time. The findings have implications beyond the U.K. and health service context, notably the conceptual relevance of the “firm-in-sector” framework and the policy limits and potential of decentralization.

Pay in the Public Sector: Editorial

“…This argument is consistent with other evidence that abilities of managers in the public sector to manipulate pay are particularly marked (Kessler et al, 2000). However, this has not prevented elements of a strategic approach to human resource management appearing on other issues, such as changes in working time (Arrowsmith and Sisson, 2002). It also explains why employers and trade unions have negotiated major reforms on salary structures and pay systems in the NHS Agenda for Change-a change that suggests piecemeal reforms are not the only alternative.…”