This article looks at attempts made by a case study organization, Surrey County Council, to evaluate and restructure the employment relationship in the context of a range of financial, managerial and political pressures for change. The notion of the psychological contract is used to conduct this...

Systematically evaluates changes in people management in one case study, the London Borough of Brent, as the major arena for the regulation of employment relations in local government moves from the national to the authority level. Considers the impact of upstream decisions on mission, purpose...

Purpose – To introduce the papers in the special issue. Design/methodology/approach – Provides a brief review of the papers. Findings – The papers cover a broad variety of human resource topics and the range of separate public services, including the impact of performance indicators on HRM...