A Comparison of Impact of Management on Local Government Employee Outcomes in US and Australia

Abstract

This paper compares the impact of management practices on employee’s perception of resource adequacy and in turn engagement of local government employees in Australia and the USA. A survey design was used involving 250 local government employees working in Australia and 265 working in the USA. The overall findings identify significant paths from management practice, through to resource adequacy and in turn, employee engagement. Additionally, the findings identify a significant difference in perceptions of the work environment for US local government employees compared with those in Australia. In particular, employees in the US perceive a significantly higher level of satisfaction with management (both perceived organisational support and leader-member exchange), perceive significantly lower levels of resource inadequacy and are much more engaged than their local government counterparts in Australia. The implications are that the way management is conceptualised and practised in Australian local government is negatively impacting on employee engagement and therefore must change.

Key Words:

• Supervision
• management practices
• Australia
• USA
• new public management

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yvonne Brunetto

Yvonne Brunetto is a professor of HRM/Management and Director of Research, Southern Cross Business School, Southern Cross University, Australia. Her research interests are in examining how different types of employees respond to different management practices.

Stephen Teo

Stephen Teo is a professor of HRM and Deputy Director of the New Zealand Work Research Institute, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. He teaches HRM strategy, research methods and international HRM. He is currently examining resilience, stress and productivity in the health care sector in Australia and New Zealand.

Rodney Farr-Wharton

Rodney Farr-Wharton is a senior lecturer in innovation and business at Sunshine Coast University. His research is in examining how employees and small businesses are innovative within different work contexts.

Dennis Lambries

Dennis Lambries is Assistant Director of the Survey Research Laboratory and the Affiliated Faculty Masters in Public Administration program at the University of South Carolina. His major research interests are local government and survey research.

Patrick Gillett

Patrick Gillett is a lecturer in organisational behaviour at Southern Cross University. His research is in organisational behaviour and management education.

William Tomes

William Tomes, MHR, Institute for Public Service and Policy Research, University of South Carolina, USA.