Public Sector Financial and Personnel Management during Cutbacks: Looking back at the Literature of the 1970s and 1980s
Public Sector Financial and Personnel Management during Cutbacks: Looking back at the Literature of the 1970s and 1980s

Summary/Abstract: Given that the current era of austerity in the public sector is likely to bring aboutchanges in the management practices of the public sector, it is worth taking a lookback at the literature of the previous era of major cutbacks. This article examineswhat kind of changes to public sector financial and personnel management wereproposed and adopted during the era of retrenchment in the 1970s and 1980s. Thereview of the literature shows that the previous cutback era triggered a search forincreased flexibility and rationality both in financial management and personnelmanagement to enable optimal cutback decisions and their implementation. It alsoindicates that the management of the finances and human resources during scarcityrequires very difficult trade-offs.

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