Drawing on institutional theory, this paper advances understanding of how restructuring practices are shaped by the organisational and institutional context and the concerns for legitimacy. Longitudinal case study findings from UK local government suggest a pattern of incremental deviance where repeated cutbacks are legitimised through a narrative of continuous improvement. This results in increased labour flexibility, work intensity and managerialism within services. We argue that the lack of resistance to change can be explained by the steady desensitisation of workers to repeated cutbacks as opposed to the inherent fairness of management actions. Through context-specific research the theoretical and empirical distinctions between responsible and pure restructuring, and soft and hard Human Resource Management policies, are challenged.

中文翻译：

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做正确的事？英国地方政府负责任重组的制度视角

本文借鉴制度理论，促进了对重组实践如何受到组织和制度背景以及对合法性的关注的影响的理解。英国地方政府的纵向案例研究结果表明，通过不断改进的叙述，反复削减是合法的增量偏差模式。这会提高服务部门的劳动力灵活性、工作强度和管理水平。我们认为，缺乏对变革的阻力可以解释为工人对反复裁员的持续脱敏，而不是管理行动固有的公平性。通过针对具体情况的研究，对负责任的重组和纯粹的重组，以及人力资源管理软政策和硬政策之间的理论和实证区别提出了挑战。