TY  - JOUR
AB  - The range of pressures which has impacted on local
government in the 1980s has forced the emergence
of dynamic and sophisticated forms of industrial
relations at the workplace level. It is clear, however,
that with conceptual tools forged to analyse
developments in the private manufacturing sector,
very few attempts have been made by academics,
policy‐makers or commentators to discuss the
structures and processes which have emerged.
The character of the changes at authority level are
considered using material from a survey of
personnel officers in over a third of authorities in
England and Wales and within the context of
prevailing analytical and theoretical frameworks. It
is argued that the distinctive development of the
personnel function in local government has resulted
in a managerial process which conforms to key
features of the human resource management
(HRM) model, in particular the devolution of
personnel responsibilities to line managers and the
integration of personnel concerns at the strategic
level. However, other features of this model are
less in evidence. The search for employee
commitment and flexibility remains patchy and
often appears as a practical response to labour
market and competitive pressures. Furthermore,
collectivist features of employee relations remain
well entrenched with the continued encouragement
of both union membership and involvement. This
is not to deny change beyond the HRM model.
Thus, it is clear that established joint machinery
is becoming increasingly unable to deal with
ongoing issues while the trade unions are gradually
being forced into a consultative rather than a
bargaining role.
VL  - 13
IS  - 2
SN  - 0142-5455
DO  - 10.1108/01425459110004347
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/01425459110004347
AU  - Kessler Ian
PY  - 1991
Y1  - 1991/01/01
TI  - Workplace Industrial Relations in Local Government
T2  - Employee Relations
PB  - MCB UP Ltd
SP  - 1
EP  - 31
Y2  - 2024/09/20
ER  -