Governance reforms, individualization of human resource management (HRM), and impact on workplace behavior — a black box?

The purpose of this article is to discuss the relationship between destandardization and delegation trends; ethical leadership; perceptions of organizational fairness; and justice and workplace behavior. It is argued that current destandardization, delegation, and individualization trends in the field of HRM place additional burdens on managers. In times of de-bureaucratization, more job autonomy and flatter hierarchies, managers change; shape; direct; and alter employeés lives. On the other hand, research has found that justice perceptions of the leader are strongly related to employee outcomes. Still, there is very little evidence on all these trends. In which HR fields can we observe destandardization and delegation trends? What is individualization of HR and how does this relate to ethics? How much discretionary powers have managers in making HR decisions? What forms of leadership behavior impact on what type of organizational justice perceptions? How professional are managers in carrying out these tasks? Are managers aware about the importance of ethical leadership on different forms of justice perceptions? The article concludes that academic discussions about all of these issues are still very rudimentary. Thus, the purpose of this article is to suggest a new important reform agenda in this field.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Institutional change and increasing ambivalence of reform effects and reform outcomes

©2020 Routledge. This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Public Administration in Central Europe : Ideas as Causes of Reforms on 2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429286452fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Civil service reform and ethics

Evaluation of how morality and ethics are represented in the discourse about the reform of human resource management and in the context of new governance reformsfi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

The end of the world as we know it : public ethics in times of de-standardization and individualization

Current governance and managerial trends emphasize context-oriented and best-fit approaches, de-standardization and the role of individual discretion in decision-making. We discuss the results of a European-wide study on the effectiveness of Conflict of Interest (CoI) policies for Ministers in a de-standardized context. Our results show trends towards individualized and sophisticated policies and approaches in the field of CoI. Policies are also becoming more bureaucratic and complex. The implementation of these policies tends to suffer from shortcomings. These shortcomings generate doubts as to whether ethics policies have become more effective.© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and repro-duction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

The Effectiveness of Conflict of Interest Policies in the EU-Member States

This comparative study - commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs - analyses the effectiveness of relevant rules, policies and practices within Member States regarding conflict of interest for top political appointment (Head of Government, Ministers and other high ranking officials). The research highlights the theoretical and practical aspects of the notion of conflict of interest, giving some policy recommendations.© European Union, 2020fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Explaining the Popularity of Integrity Policies in Times of Critical Governance : The Case of Conflicts of Interest Policies for Ministers in the EU-Member States

Current critical governance trends raise important questions for scholars in the field of integrity policies. Currently, scholars agree that governance trends show declining trends in the fields of democracy, human rights, justice, rule of law, corruption, conflicts of interest, politicization, protection of privacy, equality, and freedom of the press. These trends exist in many countries, albeit to a different degree. On the other hand, one can also observe an expansion of integrity policies. In the field of conflicts of interest (CoI), for more than a decade, CoI-policies have become ever more comprehensive and sophisticated. Countries implement ever more policies, introduce stricter standards and invest more in the implementation of CoI policies. CoI policies become more complex and the institutionalization and management of CoI policies more professional. In view of these seemingly paradoxical trends, the purpose of this article is to discuss the relationship between these critical Governance trends and integrity policies. We discuss the case of conflict of interest policies for Ministers/Secretaries. We conclude that trends toward critical governance fit with the expansion of integrity policies for various reasons, but mostly because they are (increasingly) used as useful political instruments for various political interests.©2021 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

The implementation of conflict of interest policies for Ministers in the EU Member States : More, stricter and institutionalized – but less effective?

All countries agree that Holders of Public Office are role models, should exercise ethical leadership and accept highest ethical requirements. If countries want these standards and requirements to be effective, they must invest in the institutionalisation, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of ethics policies. In the field of Conflicts of Interests (CoI), countries continue to introduce ever more and ever stricter standards and requirements. They also invest ever more resources in the institutionalization of CoI policies. Because of the sophisticated nature of these policies, the effective implementation remains a challenge. This article explains the lack of effectiveness, drawing on longitudinal insights derived from two studies conducted by the authors in 2007 and 2020. We rely on data generated in an expert survey with public officials from 18 EU Member States. Our results show that countries regulate ever more CoI issues, broaden CoI concepts and introduce tougher behavioural standards, shifting the focus towards an individualised “bad person” logic instead of systemic or institutional approaches. If CoI scandals emerge, the focus is almost always on individual misbehaviour. Although Member States invest more in the implementation of CoI policies, they shy away from enforcing policies and rules against ministers. As such, policies become more complex, the institutionalisation of CoI policies more professional (yet also more fragmented) and the management of CoI ever more resource intensive. Overall, formalism, administrative burdens and the politicization of CoI policies are increasing. As such, we conclude that CoI policies have not become more effective.fi=vertaisarvioimaton|en=nonPeerReviewed

The impact of demographic change and its challenges for the workforce in the European public sectors. Three priority areas to invest in future HRM. EIPA Working Paper 2012/W/01

European public sectors are particularly affected by the demographic challenge and an ageing and shrinking workforce. According to OECD statistics, over 30% of public employees of central government in 13 countries will leave during the next 15 years. Moreover, the public sector has as compared to the private sector to rely on a much older workforce, who will have to work longer in future. Against this background, European governments need to react and re-think major elements of current HR and organisational management in the public sector. Particularly the skills in age management should be improved in order to also maintain in future a highly productive, competent and efficient public sector and to ensure that public employees stay longer ‘employable’, ‘healthy’, ‘fit for the job’ and ‘up to the task’. The survey suggests some solutions by investing more in three priority areas in the field of HRM

The case for investing in family planning in the Pacific: costs and benefits of reducing unmet need for contraception in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands

Background: Unmet need for family planning in the Pacific is among the highest in the world. Better understanding of required investments and associated benefits of increased access to family planning in the Pacific may assist prioritisation and funding. Methods: We modelled the costs and associated health, demographic and economic impacts of reducing unmet need for family planning between 2010-2025 in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. Baseline data were obtained from census reports, Demographic and Health Surveys, and UN agency reports. Using a demographic modelling program we compared a scenario of no change in unmet need with two distinct scenarios: 1) all family planning needs met by 2020; and, 2) all needs met by 2050. Results: Meeting family planning needs by 2020 would increase prevalence of modern contraception in 2025 from 36.8 to 65.5% in Vanuatu and 28.5 to 37.6% in the Solomon Islands. Between 2010-2025 the average annual number of unintended pregnancies would decline by 68% in Vanuatu and 50% in the Solomon Islands, and high-risk births would fall by more than 20%, averting 2,573 maternal and infant deaths. Total fertility rates would fall from 4.1 to 2.2 in Vanuatu and 3.5 in the Solomon Islands, contributing to slowed population growth and lower dependency ratios. The direct cost of reducing unmet need by 2020 was estimated to be $5.19 million for Vanuatu and$3.36 million for the Solomon Islands between 2010-2025. Preventing unintended pregnancies would save $112 million in health and education expenditure. Conclusions: In small island developing states such as Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, increasing investment in family planning would contribute to improved maternal and infant outcomes and substantial public sector savings