Public Sector Downsizing and Employee Trust

Abstract

Downsizing in the public sector is examined in this article using the cutback management movement of the 1970s and the reinventing government reform of the 1990s. In these movements, reduction-in-force techniques, cutback management, privatization, and contracting out have reduced the public sector workforce and the level of commitment to the ethic of public service. The betrayal of employee trust in the system by breaking the psychological contract severs the employee's sense of duty to the public interest. Ethical and managerial implications of downsizing for public administration are then explored focusing on maintaining the psychological contract, employee trust, and the public service ethic.

Keywords:

• downsizing
• employee trust
• public service ethic
• psychological contract

Notes

4. Cayer, 1986.

6. Holzer, 1986.

13. Cameron, 1994.

14. Cameron, 1995.

16. Cameron, 1994.

22. Hays and Whitney, 1997.

23. Rich, 1986.

24. Klingner and Nalbandian, 1998.

25. Hays and Whitney, 1997.

33. Hays and Whitney, 1997.

37. Cayer, 1986.

38. Holzer, 1986.

41. Grant, Shani, and Krishnan, 1994.

44. Hays and Whitney, 1997.

50. Perry, 1996.

52. Perry, 1996.

54. Holzer, 1986.

56. Wallulis, 1998.

64. Ruscio, 1997.

65. Rich, 1986.

66. Rousseau, Sitkin, Burt, and Camerer, 1998.

68. Ruscio, 1997.

71. Klingner and Nalbandian, 1998.

72. Ruscio, 1997.

73. Rousseau, Sitkin, Burt, and Camerer, 1998.

74. Rousseau and Parks, 1993.

77. Crewson, 1997.

78. Crewson, 1997.

79. Rousseau, 1989.

86. Parks, 1995.

88. Morrison and Robinson, 1997.

89. Cameron, 1995.

90. Emory, 1996.

91. Morrison and Robinson, 1997.

92. Shaw, 1997.

93. Morrison and Robinson, 1997.

94. Shaw, 1997.

96. Shaw, 1997.

101. Crewson, 1997.