The New Public Management paradigm seems to have produced a convergence of administrative reform. However, specific implementations of NPM show range of forms and results including performance indicators, personal reforms and evaluations of reforms. This text demonstrates how NPM is crafted differently in various institutional contexts.

Based on a survey of more than 6700 top civil servants in 17 European countries, this book explores the impacts of New Public Management (NPM)-style reforms in Europe from a uniquely comparative perspective. It examines and analyses empirical findings regarding the dynamics, major trends and tools of administrative reforms, with special focus on the diversity of top executives’ perceptions about the effects of those reforms.

This book considers the ways in which public administration (PA) has been studied in Europe over the last forty years, and examines in particular the contribution of EGPA, the European Group for Public Administration, both to the growth of a truly pan-European PA, and to the future of PA in Europe. The book provides a lively reflection on the state of the art of PA both over the past forty years and over the next forty years. It reflects on the consolidation and institutionalisation of EGPA as the European community for the study of PA in Europe, and demonstrates the need for such a regional group for PA in Europe, as well as for regional groups for the study of PA in other parts of the world. The book also demonstrates the functional, cultural and institutional reasons that underpin the significance of a regional group for researching and studying PA at an ‘intermediate level of governance’ between the national and the global levels. The book provides rich insights about the state of the art of PA in Europe from the leading public administration scholars.

Many changes are taking place in the public sector across Europe as emphasis is being placed on the efficient use of resources, the way that public organisations are managed and their relationship with clients and customers. Post-bureaucratic structures are being introduced and a more managerialist culture is being established. A new type of public servant is emerging - the public manager. This book consists of three theoretical chapters and nine case studies of public managers, which examine these changes amongst member states of the European Union. The concluding chapter identifies common trends and explains similarities and differences in terms of the constitutional, political, cultural and economic contexts.

New Public Management and the Reform of Education addresses complex and dynamic changes to public services by focusing on new public management as a major shaper and influencer of educational reforms within, between and across European nation states and policy actors. The contributions to the book are diverse and illustrate the impact of NPM locally but also the interplay between local and European policy spheres. The book offers: A critical overview of NPM through an analysis of debates, projects and policy actors A detailed examination of NPM within 10 nation states in Europe A robust engagement with the national and European features of NPM as a policy strategy The book actively contributes to debates and analysis within critical policy studies about the impact and resilience of NPM, and how through a study of educational reforms in a range of political systems with different traditions and purposes a more nuanced and complex picture of NPM can be built. As such the book not only speaks to educational researchers and professionals within Europe but also to policymakers, and can inform wider education and policy communities internationally.

Ebook available in Open Access: oapen.org/search?identifier=1006705 Strategies and priorities for the public sector in Europe The public sector in our society has over the past two decades undergone substantial changes, as has the academic field studying Public Administration (PA). In the next twenty years major shifts are further expected to occur in the way futures are anticipated and different cultures are integrated. Practice will be handled in a relevant way, and more disciplines will be engaging in the field of Public Administration. The prominent scholars contributing to this book put forward research strategies and focus on priorities in the field of Public Administration. The volume will also give guidance on how to redesign teaching programmes in the field. This book will provide useful insights to compare and contrast European PA with PA in Europe, and with developments in other parts of the world. Contributors: Geert Bouckaert (KU Leuven), Werner Jann (University of Potsdam), Jana Bertels (University of Potsdam), Paul Joyce (University of Birmingham), Meelis Kitsing (Estonian Business School, Tallinn), Thurid Hustedt (Hertie School of Governance, Berlin), Tiina Randma-Liiv (Tallinn University of Technology), Martin Burgi (Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich), Philippe Bezès (Science Po Paris; CNRS), Salvador Parrado (Spanish Distance Learning University (UNED), Madrid), Mark Bovens (Utrecht University; WRR), Roel Jennissen (WRR), Godfried Engbersen (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Meike Bokhorst (WRR), Bogdana Neamtu (Babes Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca), Christopher Pollitt (KU Leuven), Edoardo Ongaro (Open University UK, Milton Keynes), Raffaella Saporito (Bocconi University, Milan), Per Laegreid (University of Bergen), Marcel Karré (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Thomas Schillemans (Utrecht University), Martijn Van de Steen (Nederlandse School voor Openbaar Bestuur), Zeger van de Wal (National University of Singapore), Michael Bauer (University of Speyer), Stefan Becker (University of Speyer), Jean-Michel Eymeri-Douzans (Université de Toulouse), Filipe Teles (University of Aveiro), Denita Cepiku (Tor Vergata University of Rome), Marco Meneguzzo (Tor Vergata University of Rome), Külli Sarapuu (Tallinn University of Technology), Leno Saarniit (Tallinn University of Technology), Gyorgy Hajnal (Corvinus University of Budapest; Centre for Social Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences).

Has there been a transformation of public service employment relations in Europe since the crisis? Public Service Management and Employment Relations in Europe examines public service employment relations after the economic crisis, including analysis of more than thirty years of public service and workforce reform, and addresses the interplay between an emerging post-crisis public service sector and the consequences for the state, employers and trade unions in core public services. Written by leading national experts, this book places the economic crisis in a longer timeframe and examines how far trends in public sector employment relations were reinforced or reversed by the crisis. It provides an up-to-date analysis of the restructuring of public service employment relations in 12 major European countries, including analysis of little studied central and Eastern European countries. This book will be vital reading for researchers, academics and PhD Students in the fields of Public Management, Public Administration, Employment Relations, and Human Resource Management.

Annotation Competency Management is increasingly being adopted as an approach to HRM in both the private and public sectors. This book will be of interest to both practitioners and academics as it seeks to inform the reader about the practice of competency management in European public services. It throws light on the origins and meanings of the concept and traces the competency movement from the 1980s in the UK and USA. It links competency management to performance management and HRM and demonstrates how a competency approach can add value to all parts of an organisation. The nine country studies provide a rich insight into the practices found across the public sectors of Europe. At one end of the spectrum is Britain with its holistic approach to competency management in the Senior Civil Service and widespread use throughout the rest of the service. Belgium, the Netherlands and Finland provide further examples of recent developments and good practice. In France and Germany, however, competency management has only just appeared on the reform agenda and the reasons for this are identified. Micro studies in Italy and Sweden provide an insight into the problems that arise when the perceptions of reformers diverge from those of managers and managed, while the study of Poland shows the problems faced by countries in transition which lack an appropriate educational sub-structure for public management and HRM.

This Handbook offers a systematic review of state-of-the-art knowledge on public administration in Europe. Covering the theoretical, epistemological and practical aspects of the field, it focuses on how public administration operates and is studied in European countries. In sixty-three chapters, written by leading scholars, this Handbook considers the uniqueness of the European situation through an interdisciplinary and comparative lens, focusing on the administrative diversity which results from the multiplicity of countries, languages, schools of thought and streams of investigation across Europe. It addresses issues such as multi-level administration and governance, intensive cross country cooperation in administrative reform policy, and public accountability under different systems. It also considers the issue of welfare service delivery, at a time of major economic and societal challenges, as well as understudied emerging issues like Islamic Public Administration and the dynamics of public sector negotiations. With contributions from key experts in Public Administration and Public Management, this cutting edge Handbook offers a significant contribution to the field of comparative public administration, policy and management.

This book provides an overview of the study of public management from some of the most authoritative experts in this area of study in Europe and the United States, establishing a dialogue between different approaches to this discipline.