CHAPTER 5: Change in Government Organizations: Assessing the Impact of Public Service Reform on the Employment Relationship

A tide of change in government organizations has taken place over the last 3 decades. Public sector human resource management (HRM) reform has become an important piece of the change agenda in recent years. Once deemed necessary for essential government practices (Kellough & Nigro, 2006b; Selden, 2006), civil service systems have become the target of “radical” reformers seeking to contest such traditional norms. Politicians and management reformers alike have sought to introduce private sector management practices into the public service under the auspices of the new public management (NPM) and public choice theory. The goal in many instances of reform is to decentralize and deregulate public personnel decision making in order to improve efficiency. Additionally, reforms in this ilk have sought efficiency gains through market-like approaches such as performance-based pay and privatization (Condrey & Battaglio, 2007; Condrey & Maranto, 2001; Kellough & Nigro, 2006a; Selden, Ingraham, & Jacobson, 2001). This chapter will provide a synopsis of the PHRM reform agenda. Additionally, evidence from the state of Georgia’s recent personnel reforms will be utilized as an assessment of change in public organizations.