Challenging Scandinavian employment relations: the effects of new public management reforms

Article by Christian Lyhne Ibsen, Trine P. Larsen, Jørgen Steen Madsen & Jesper Due

Building on the convergence/divergence approach, this paper examines whether recent new public managent (NPM) inspired reforms entailing inter alia cutbacks in the public sector, marketisation and management by performance measures have had significant implications for service provision and employment relations in the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish public sector. In this paper, we argue that although differences exist across the Scandinavian countries, it is evident that they have managed to adobt and implement NPM-inspired reforms without dismantling their universal welfare services and strong traditions of collective bargaining in the public sector. However, this restructuring is taking its toll on the work environment.

Article in The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 22, issue 11, June 2011.