The devolution of HR responsibilities ± perspectives from the UK's public sector Lynette Harris Department of Human Resource Management, Nottingham Business School, The Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK Dave Doughty Department of Human Resource Management, Nottingham Business School, The Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK Susan Kirk Department of Human Resource Management, Nottingham Business School, The Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK Introduction Since the early 1980s the trend in the UK has been to return as much responsibility as possible to the line manager, supported by the promotion of human resource management as a distinctive, more strategic approach to employment issues than traditional personnel management. From the outset one of the defining characteristics of HRM has been the devolution of HR responsibilities to line managers Guest, 1987; Schuler, 1992). This organising principle was described by Krulis-Randa 1990, p. 27) as: Wherever possible, devolving responsibility for people management to line managers, the role of personnel professionals being to support and facilitate line management in this task, not control it. Yet 20 years on there is still little empirical evidence about the extent to which core human-resourcing activities have been devolved, the shape they have taken and their appropriateness from the perspective of the different stakeholders. The rationale for this reallocation of responsibilities was that personnel departments had become over-controlling bureaucracies, which had played too central a role as ``industrial relations experts'' in the 1970s Legge, 1988). This had led to a removal of ownership for the conduct of the employment relationship from line management. A reaction to this perceived dominance by the personnel function was for it to relinquish some of its responsibilities by moving towards an increased sharing of responsibilities between the specialist function and line management for people issues. The espoused collaboration with general management was supported by a view that HR activities needed to become more aligned with wider business objectives and more internally proactive Torrington and Hall, 1996). This resulted in increased interest in a ``business model of HRM'', where line managers are seen as the key decision-makers in HR issues. At the same time, the systematic erosion of collective rights and a reduction in workplace bargaining in the UK during the 1980s shifted the balance of power and provided scope for the exercise of managerial prerogative Dickens et al., 1995). By the mid-1980s the third Workplace and Industrial Relations survey reported that line managers were spending more of their time on personnel issues Millward and Stevens, 1992). HR devolution to line management It will be argued in this paper that there continues to be considerable ambiguity about the form the reallocation of HR activities to line managers should take in practice McGovern et al., 1998). Despite the danger of losing core responsibilities justifying its existence, Hope-Hailey et al. 1997) observe that the exhortation to move away from the bureaucracy of personnel management to the apparent flexibility and responsiveness of HRM is not without attractions for the HR specialist. It offers an escape route from the dominance of the rule book and from the vicious circle identified in personnel work of a heavy involvement in crisis management but little, if any, in the strategic planning process Legge, 1995). At the same time it draws attention to the tensions which have long been recognised as existing at the heart of much personnel work Legge, 1978; Watson, 1977; Tyson and Fell, 1986). The HR specialist may welcome the prospect of The research register for this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisters The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0309-0590.htm [ 218 ] Journal of European Industrial Training 26/5 [2002] 218±229 # MCB UP Limited [ISSN 0309-0590] [DOI 10.1108/03090590210424894] Keywords Human resource management, Public sector Abstract This article examines the reallocation of human resource management responsibilities from HR specialists to line managers in UK public sector organisations in an increasingly regulated working environment. It uses evidence about the extent and scope of HR devolution in a large unitary city council, the British Library and a county probationary service. Based on the perceptions of senior managers, middle managers, HR specialists and the trade union representatives, it specifically explores: the issues devolution raises about the HR responsibilities of line managers; the experience of HR devolution in the public sector; and the impact of a more externally regulated and litigious workplace on continuing devolution.