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Reforms in Human Resource Management in Australian Local Government
Author(s) -
Aulich Chris
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
asia pacific journal of human resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1744-7941
pISSN - 1038-4111
DOI - 10.1177/103841119603300308
Subject(s) - local government , public administration , state (computer science) , government (linguistics) , business , autonomy , human resource management , decentralization , intervention (counseling) , public management , economic growth , political science , economics , management , law , computer science , psychology , linguistics , philosophy , algorithm , psychiatry
Human resource management in Australian local government traditionally has been seen as the preserve of the internal management of local authorities although it has been practised within a framework drafted by state governments. Together with other prescription‐based management practices, it has become a target of the national microeconomic reform process in the latter part of the 1980s, primarily through the intervention of the Commonwealth and state ministers for local government. This paper identifies the external pressures that have encouraged the reform of local government's human resource management practices and traces local government responses to these pressures. The paper highlights the tension in promoting local autonomy while maximizing the impact of national and state strategies to increase the efficiency of public sectors in all spheres of government. It also raises the very real problem of implementing national change strategies at the local level.