TY - JOUR
T1 - Measuring the impact of new public management and European integration on recruitment and training in the UK civil service
AU - Maor, Moshe
AU - Stevens, Handley
PY - 1997
Y1 - 1997
N2 - This article investigates the impact which the institutional development of the European Union (EU) and the new public management (NPM) have had on the process of recruitment and training of senior public officials in the United Kingdom between 1970 and 1995. Information provided by directors of personnel and training has enabled the extent of change observed in three government departments - Agriculture, Transport and Health - to be measured on a numerical scale. This is combined with a historical analysis rooted in practitioner experience. The evidence from both sources suggests that whereas NPM pressures have had a relatively similar impact on recruitment and training practices in all three departments, the response to EU pressures is much stronger in the Ministry of Agriculture than in the Departments of Transport and Health. The EU impact in Agriculture is particularly strong in respect of recruitment and career progression, the only area and the only department in which our index suggests that policy has been more heavily influenced by European pressures than by NPM. These findings reflect the strength of the political commitment to NPM and the power of the central departments in imposing it across Whitehall; and in the case of Agriculture the development of a cadre of senior officials who have almost all had experience of working in or with the EU institutions.
AB - This article investigates the impact which the institutional development of the European Union (EU) and the new public management (NPM) have had on the process of recruitment and training of senior public officials in the United Kingdom between 1970 and 1995. Information provided by directors of personnel and training has enabled the extent of change observed in three government departments - Agriculture, Transport and Health - to be measured on a numerical scale. This is combined with a historical analysis rooted in practitioner experience. The evidence from both sources suggests that whereas NPM pressures have had a relatively similar impact on recruitment and training practices in all three departments, the response to EU pressures is much stronger in the Ministry of Agriculture than in the Departments of Transport and Health. The EU impact in Agriculture is particularly strong in respect of recruitment and career progression, the only area and the only department in which our index suggests that policy has been more heavily influenced by European pressures than by NPM. These findings reflect the strength of the political commitment to NPM and the power of the central departments in imposing it across Whitehall; and in the case of Agriculture the development of a cadre of senior officials who have almost all had experience of working in or with the EU institutions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0040995840&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1467-9299.00073
DO - 10.1111/1467-9299.00073
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AN - SCOPUS:0040995840
SN - 0033-3298
VL - 75
SP - 531
EP - 551
JO - Public Administration
JF - Public Administration
IS - 3
ER -