and the dilution of union inXuence. In terms of HR practice, there have been
attempts to ‘deprivilege’ the employment conditions of public sector workers and
there has been a degree of convergence between employment practices in the public
and private sector.
In recent years, some of the unexpected consequences of the NPM have increas-
ingly been acknowledged. These diYculties often stemmed from a failure of the
NPM reforms to recognize that HR practice has both to facilitate the eYcient
delivery of public services and also to enshrine deeper constitutional values that
make up an irreducible political core at the heart of the public sector. Ironically,
some of the much derided features of the traditional ‘bureaucratic’ model of HR
practice are being reinvented as the limitations of a fragmented and narrowly
focused target approach are recognized. More emphasis is being placed on valuing
the workforce and, in the UK case, the modernization agenda explicitly seeks to
shift from a cost minimization approach to one modeled on the ‘high-performance
workplace.’ The extent to which this agenda can be implemented eVectively will
shape HR practice in the years to come.
References
Alvesson,A. ( 2004 ).Knowledge Work and Knowledge Intensive Firms. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
AnessiPessina,E., Cantu,E., and Jommi,C. ( 2004 ). ‘Phasing out Market Mechanisms in
the Italian National Health Service.’Public Money and Management, August:309 16.
Audit Commission ( 2002 ).Recruitment and Retention. London: Audit Commission.
Bach,S. ( 1999 ). ‘Personnel Managers: Managing to Change.’ In S. Corby and G. White
(eds.),Employee Relations in the Public Services. London: Routledge.
( 2004 ).Employment Relations in the NHS: The Management of Reforms. London:
Routledge.
and Winchester,D. ( 1994 ). ‘Opting out of Pay Devolution? The Prospects for
Local Pay Bargaining in UK Public Services.’British Journal of Industrial Relations, 32 / 2 :
264 82.
Bordogna,L., DellaRocca,G., and Winchester,D. (eds.) ( 1999 ).Public Service
Employment Relations in Europe. London: Routledge.
Beaumont,P. ( 1992 ).Public Sector Industrial Relations. London: Routledge.
Bordogna,L., and Winchester,D. ( 2001 ). ‘Collective Bargaining in Western Europe.’ In
C. Dell’Aringa, G. Della Rocca, and B. Keller (eds.),Strategic Choices in Reforming Public
Service Employment. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Boxall,P., and Purcell,J. ( 2003 ).Strategy and Human Resource Management. Basing
stoke: Palgrave.
Cabinet OYce ( 1999 ).Modernising Government. London: HMSO.
Corby,S., and White,G. (eds.) ( 1999 ).Employee Relations in the Public Services. London:
Routledge.
486 stephen bach and ian kessler