Managed decentralism: performance related pay in the Australian public service

Public sector reform seeks to develop a performance-oriented culture in an effort to increase efficiency and effectiveness in the provision and delivery of public services. The implementation of performance related pay as part of an overall performance management system, is integral to the achievement of such public sector reform. There are however two research paradigms which inform the assessment and analysis of performance related pay. In this paper these paradigms are explored in a study of the implementation of performance related pay in the Australian Public Service through an analysis of thirty-nine enterprise bargaining agreements.