Equality Oriented Personnel Policy In The Public Sector

This text is the result of the co-operation between academics and civil servants active in this policy field. It aims to contribute to a more effective equality oriented personnel policy which takes into account policy insights and developments regarding gender, equality and personnel policy.

This edited collection assembles cutting-edge comparative policy research on contemporary policy research on contemporary policies relevant to gender and workplace issues. Contributors analyze gender-related employment policies, including parental leave, maternity programs, sexual harassment, work/life balance, and gender mainstreaming. Equity in the Workplace thoroughly illustrates how the juxtaposition of a variety of research methodologies focused on a common theme can lead to a richer, multilayered understanding of a complex issue.

This book addresses issues to do with public accountability, audit and performance measurement that are both highly topical and of crucial importance to the theory and practice of public administration in an era of contractualized public management. The literature on public sector contracting - covering both 'hard' agreements (ones that are legally enforceable) and 'soft' agreements (enforced by negotiation and mutual trust) - has been growing for some time and the present book adds a primarily European perspective on contracting, performance-based management and accountability. One important aspect of this study is its recognition that those responsible for monitoring public services, and holding them to account, have had - to an increasing extent - to reconcile tensions between, on the one hand, the need for strong oversight and, on the other, the encouragement of innovation and risk in an increasingly competitive and entrepreneurial public service culture. Following an introductory overview by the three editors the book is in three parts.The first part deals with the theory and practice of performance measurement and evaluation; the second part provides a series of specific case studies of audit and accountability in a variety of countries and contexts; the third part offers some wider, cross-cutting perspectives. Based on the work of the EGPA permanent study group on the history of contractualization, Contracts, Performance Measurement and Accountability in the Public Sector draws upon the wide expertise and research interests of academics and practitioners from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden and the USA.

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.

Building on the experience of hundreds of projects and programmes over more than a decade, this is a comprehensive study of East-West co-operation in public-sector reform since the collapse of communism.

Research on the relationship between technology dynamics and Public Administration (PA) began some years ago and was inspired by the realization that technological development has produced a far-reaching interaction with PA. It is emphasized how technological development and PA influence each other, as investments are managed by public agencies. There are some branches of PA that heavily rely on technology for their activities; such as the defense sector, the space agencies, the agencies for environmental protection, and those that are responsible for food control and safety and so on. Some technological advancements have found fertile ground in PA. The impact of technologies such as ICT or space technologies on PA is from a political and social point of view the most important. The adoption of such technologies can make it possible to offer more services to citizens. The adoption of new technologies can also enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the bureaucratic apparatus and can even influence positively the mechanisms of political representation. The most interesting applications of technology are those relating to earth observations because these are able to strengthen en

Consisting of six essays, this book gives an account of the history of the Institute. It describes the evolution of the governance, the membership, and the activities of the IIAS and reconstructs the international dimension of the Institute's life from its earlier stage to WWII. It focuses on the special relationship between the IIAS and Brussels.

Those who wish to read other papers and follow the debate between the participants, can visit the DPEPA website.