In this age of management consultants, change and uncertainty – it is often the employee who feels left out. In the past few years, organizational restructuring has been widespread in UK local government. At the same time, staff are being increasingly consulted on their views and options...

Bexley Council, one of the top three London boroughs in the UK government’s most recent local‐government performance‐indicator results, has introduced a new 360‐degree appraisal program for senior management.

An award‐winning equality scheme has helped almost to treble the proportion of senior‐management jobs held by women at Wakefield Council over the last six years. When the Stepping Up scheme was launched, in 1996, 69 percent of the council’s employees were women, but only 13 percent of...

During the 1980s, a new word came into common usage in the UK to describe a phenomenon that was typical of that aggressively enterprise‐driven decade. “Presenteeism” was a witty reference to workers who were reluctant to leave the workplace, always staying longer than their peers to...

Purpose – Examines how the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, West Yorkshire, UK, has employed freelance life coaches to help local government staff in their careers and general well being. Design/methodology/approach – Provides a description of the nature and benefits of life...

Purpose – Examines teleworking schemes at Rotherham and Doncaster councils, in South Yorkshire, England. Takes account not only of employees actually undertaking teleworking, but also of their office‐bound colleagues. Design/methodology/approach – Presents some of the conclusions of a...

Purpose – This paper aims to advance the view that, as organizations realize the limitations of working in isolation and accept the need to develop partnerships and coalitions, they seek a new type of leadership model in which the charismatic individual who, by sheer force of personality,...