Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: An agenda for research -- Building a foundation for workplace health and well-being in the public sector -- New public management environment -- Theoretical debates in HRM, social exchange and high performing organisations -- Well-being at work : a review of the literature -- A methodological approach to workplace well-being research -- Exploring employees quality of working life through observations and documentary analysis in the public sector -- Tough times : well-being in a period of restricted resources in the public sector -- Leadership and well-being at work : implications for job satisfaction, service delivery and performance -- Workplace well-being or fun initiatives : perspectives from senior managers in the public sector -- Work, quality of working life and job meaning : a well-being experience in the public sector -- Employees' reactions to HRM practices and well-being in the public sector -- The workers' voice : concepts and improvements in well-being for individuals, groups and organisational effectiveness information classification : general -- Employees' perspectives of working life realities, line management leadership and well-being in the public sector -- Evaluation of well-being at work research in local government.

"In Workers' Voice, HRM Practice, and Leadership in the Public Sector: Multidimensional Well-Being at Work, Nicole Cvenkel avers that whilst it is known that public sector employees are even less satisfied than those in the private sector, there has been very little research into the effects of working life experiences on employee well-being in public sector organisations. There is even some doubt about whether a well-being philosophy that can be applied in the private sector can readily be extended to the public sector. The push towards New Public Management (NPM) means organisations continue to undergo significant reform processes around efficiency, costs and public service delivery. All these changes place additional demands on public sector employees who are at times also subject to intensive scrutiny by stakeholder groups, who may regard the recourse to well-being initiatives as a poor use of public funds. The author has researched in the UK local government sector and that is the setting for the debate in this book, about whether and how an employee well-being ideology can be successfully promoted and maintained in an NPM environment, given continuous reform and expenditure reduction.... The author's conclusions contribute to a clearer understanding than hitherto of workers' voice in relation to work, leader-member exchanges, and well-being in the public sector and she offers a model depicting employees' understanding of what their quality of working life, line manager's leadership and well-being should be, that might be used by organisational leaders, researchers, policy makers, Human Resources managers and other practitioners and consultants, to move towards a more holistic, multidimensional, well-being at work paradigm"-- Provided by publisher.

IN ENGLISH