The article enquires whether privatization leads to an influx of managers with different characteristics, attitudes, and perspectives from incumbent state enterprise managers, as has been widely suggested in studies of privatization in both economics and sociology. These questions are addressed with reference to an empirical study of managers in several companies in the UK privatized railway industry. The characteristics and views of new entrants are compared with those of incumbents. Clear differences in demographic and career characteristics are observed between the two groups, but there is little difference between them in attitudes and perspectives on management. The main exception is in the area of labour-management relationships. These findings suggest that accounts by scholars and practitioners overstate the differences between the two groups of managers.
Bagwell, P.The railwaymen, vol. 2. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1982.
2.
Barberis, N. , Shleifer, A. & Vishny, R.How does privatisation work? Evidence from the Russian shops. Journal of Political Economy, 1996, 104, 764-790.
3.
Bate, P.Strategies for cultural change. London: Butterworth-Heineman, 1994.
4.
Beesley, M.Privatisation: Reflections on UK experience. In M. Beesley (Ed.), Privatisation, regulation and competition. London: Routledge, 1992.
5.
Boycko, M. , Shleifer, A. & Vishny, R.A theory of privatisation. Economic Journal, 1996, 106,309-320.
6.
Buchanan, B.Building organisational commitment: The socialisation of managers in work organisations . Administrative Science Quarterly, 1974, 22, 533-546.
7.
Colling, T.Privatisation and the management of IR in electricity distribution . Industrial Relations Journal, 1991, 22, 117-129.
8.
Colling, T. & Ferner, A.The limits of autonomy: Devolution, line managers, and industrial relations in privatised companies. Journal of Management Studies, 1992, 29(2), 209-227.
9.
Cook, J. & Wall, T.New work attitude measures of trust, organizational commitment and personal need non-fulfillment. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 1980, 53, 39-52.
10.
Cragg, M. & Dyck, A.Management control and privatisation in the United Kingdom. RAND Journal of Economics, 1999, 30, 475-497.
11.
De Alessi, L.Managerial tenure under private and government ownership in the electric power industry . Journal of Political Economy, 1974, 82, 645-653.
12.
Dearden, S.British Rail’s internal labour market . International Journal of Manpower, 1991, 12, 19-29.
13.
Dent, J.Reality in the making: A study of organisational transformation . International Studies of Management and Organization, 1991a, 21, 23-37.
14.
Dent, J.Accounting and organisational cultures: A field study of the emergence of a new organisational reality . Accounting, Organizations and Society, 1991b, 16(8), 705-732.
15.
Ferner, A.Governments, managers and industrial relations: Public enterprises and their political environments. Oxford: Blackwell, 1988.
16.
Ferner, A.The changing influence of the personnel function: Privatisation and organisational politics in electricity generation . Human Resource Management Journal, 1990, 1, 12-30.
17.
Ferner, A. & Colling, T.Electricity supply. In A. Pendleton & J. Winterton (Eds), Public enterprise in transition. London: Routledge, 1993.
18.
Foster, C.Privatisation, public ownership and the regulation of natural monopolies. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.
19.
Foster, C.Public ownership, its failure, and privatisation . Public Administration, 1994, 72, 489-503.
20.
Freeman, R. & Shaw, J. (Eds) All change: British railway privatisation. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill, 2000.
21.
Gourvish, T.British railways 1948-1973: A business history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
22.
Harris, N. & Godward, E.The privatisation of British Rail. London: Railway Consultancy Press, 1997.
23.
Hibbs, J.Privatisation and competition in road transport. In C. Veljanovski (Ed.), Privatisation and competition: A market prospectus. London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1989.
24.
Hood, C.A public management for all seasons?Public Administration, 1991, 69(1), 3-20.
25.
Martin, S. & Parker, D.The impact of privatisation. Ownership and corporate performance in the UK. London: Routledge, 1997.
26.
Megginson, W. , Nash, R. & van Randenborgh, M.The financial and operating performance of newly privatised firms: An international empirical analysis. Journal of Finance, 1994, 49, 403-452.
27.
Moon, M.J.Organisational commitment revisited in new public management . Public Performance and Management Review, 2000, 24(2), 177-194.
28.
Mulholland, K.‘Survivors’ versus ‘movers and shakers’: The reconstitution of management and careers in the privatised utilities. In P. Thompson & C. Warhurst (Eds), Workplaces of the future. London: Macmillan, 1998.
29.
Nichols, T. & O’Connell Davidson, J.Privatisation and economism: An investigation among ‘producers’ in two privatised public utilities. The Sociological Review, 1993, 41, 707-731.
30.
Ogden, S.The reconstruction of industrial relations in the privatised water industry . British Journal of Industrial Relations, 1994, 32, 67-84.
31.
Ogden, S.Transforming frameworks of accountability: The case of water privatisation . Accounting, Organizations and Society, 1995a, 20, 193-218.
32.
Ogden, S.Profit sharing and organisational change . Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 1995b, 4, 23-47.
33.
Peccei, R. & Guest, D.The dimensionality and stability of organizational commitment: A longitudinal examination of Cook and Wall’s (1980) organizational commitment scale (BOCS). CEP Discussion Paper 149. London: London School of Economics, 1993.
34.
Pendleton, A.Structural reorganization and labour management in public enterprise: A study of British Rail . Journal of Management Studies, 1994, 31, 33-54.
35.
Pendleton, A.Ownership or competition? An evaluation of the effects of privatisation on industrial relations institutions, processes and outcomes . Public Administration, 1999, 77(4), 769-792.
36.
Poole, M. , Mansfield, R., Martinez-Lucio, M. & Turner, B.Change and continuities within the public sector: Contrasts between public and private sector managers in Britain and the effects of the ‘Thatcher years’. Public Administration, 1995, 73, 271-286.
37.
Robbins, D.Wanted: Railman. Report of an investigation into equal opportunities for women in British Rail. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1986.
38.
Saunders, P. & Harris, C.Privatisation and popular capitalism. Brighton: Wheatsheaf, 1994.
39.
Strangleman, T.The nostalgia of organisations and the organisation of nostalgia: Past and present in the contemporary railway industry . Sociology, 1999, 33, 725-746.
40.
Van der Hoeven, R. & Sziraczki, G.Lessons from privatisation: Labour issues in developing and transitional countries. Geneva: International Labour Office, 1997.
41.
Vaughan, A.Signalman’s morning. London, John Murray, 1981.
42.
White PaperNew opportunities for the railways. London: HMSO, 1992.
