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We’re Not all Happy Yet: Attitudes to Work, Leadership, and High Performance Work Practices among Managers in the Public Sector
Author(s) -
Lindorff Margaret
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
australian journal of public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-8500
pISSN - 0313-6647
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8500.2009.00649.x
Subject(s) - public sector , disadvantage , private sector , transactional leadership , work (physics) , public relations , business , psychological contract , new public management , human resource management , political science , management , economics , economic growth , mechanical engineering , engineering , law
This article explores the attitudes of male and female managers in the public sector toward high performance Human Resource Management (HRM) policies and practices, work, and organisational leadership, and compares these attitudes to those of managers in the private sector. It finds that female public sector managers are most positive about high performance HRM policies and practices. Male public sector managers are less positive than female managers in the public sector and male and female managers in the private sector across all the measures. Psychological contract theory suggests either the changes associated with high performance HRM policies and practices, or attempts to decrease the disadvantage felt by women in the public sector may have resulted in a sense of disadvantage among some men in the sector, and created a changed, more transactional psychological contract between these men and their organisation. Strategies are needed to reengage public sector men.