Towards a new people management?

Abstract

Earlier chapters have identified and discuss significant shifts in people management policies, activities and systems in the UK public services, during the 1980s and 1990s. The changes originated in political ideology and have been driven by government policy and environmental turbulence. The aims of government have been to reduce the size and costs of the public services, make them more responsive to the needs of ‘customers’ and ‘clients’ and fashion them into lean and efficient organizations, modelled on private-sector lines. A major thrust of governmental change has been legislative, including privatization, restructuring, CCT and market testing. Another thrust has been the injection of private-sector management methods and techniques into the public services, including devolved budgetary and financial accounting systems, TQM and HRM policies and practices. Although these new management systems have been initiated by ministers, advised by businessmen and management consultants, responsibility for implementing them has rested with senior managers within each service. The net impact of these fundamental political, organizational and managerial changes has been the ‘quiet revolution’, outlined in previous chapters.