This introduction seeks to locate the origins of the competency management in American and British management concerns with declining international competitiveness and the need for more efficient and effective managers. It examines the distinctive American and British approaches and identifies...

Competency management is an idea that was developed in the private sector and transposed to the public sector during the 1990s. First this article examines the concept of competency‐based management, its claimed advantages over traditional approaches to personnel management and the problems...

Introduces the special issue, which looks at the changes experienced by public sector organisations during the last 20 years of the twentieth century, when they were being transformed from a bureaucratic system to a market‐oriented results‐driven system. States that during the 1990s the need...

Britain's public sector has undergone a series of radical structural and managerial changes over the past 20 years. These changes are associated with public‐sector reform and innovations in public management. They have impacted significantly on the ways in which public employees are recruited,...

Purpose – This paper introduces the symposium on public management reform and its impact on public servant's identity. It provides both a descriptive and theoretical context within which the other contributions to the symposium can be located. Design/methodology/approach – It is based on a...

Purpose – To compare and contrast the changes introduced in Canada and Switzerland as a result of public management reforms and explore the ethical challenges they entail. Design/methodology/approach – This is a case study of two countries based in part on secondary sources but also on...

Purpose – This paper examines the effects of performance driven public services on managerial behaviour and the values that influence individual actions. Design/methodology/approach – The approach is historical/institutional within a constructed theoretical framework Findings – Fuelled by...

Purpose – This article reviews a set of studies depicting how public officials (agents) in French public utilities have reacted, in practical terms, to customer‐focused reforms. Design/methodology/approach – The article is based on data drawn from labour studies commissioned by French...

Purpose – To investigate the interdependence between organizational forms and the identities of managers and front line personnel in government services. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual paper based upon and adding to theories and typologies developed by Douglas and Considine and...

Purpose – To provide a case study of a Belgian ministry, within the framework of the Copernicus reform. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses both interpretative and interactionist approaches and a range of research methods including a survey, involving a questionnaire and interviews,...