Introduction 1. The federal context for human resource management 2. The emerging reforms in human resource management 2.1. Common goals 2.2. Federal diversity 3. Distinctive reform paths and common challenges 3.1. Distinctive paths 3.2. Inter-governmental dialogue 3.3. Common challenges Chapter 1. Workforce Planning and Management 1. What is workforce planning and management? 2. Outcome goals 3. Workforce planning arrangements 4. Workforce planning and increases in staff numbers 5. Long-term workforce planning 6. Workforce planning and the move towards competency management 7. Recruiting and promoting the right skills and competencies 7.1. Recruitment processes 7.2. SELOR 8. Increases in the use of contractual staff 9. Recruiting and promoting a representative workforce 10. Investments in human resources Chapter 2. The Management of Staff Performance 1. What is the management of staff performance? 2. Outcome goals 3. The integration of staff performance management into wider organisational strategic management 3.1. Organisational structures, strategic and performance management 89 3.2. The cascade of objectives and targets 3.3. Relaxation of input control rules and managerial freedoms 4. Performance and the employment cycle 4.1. Selection and entry in the public service 4.2. Promotion and rewards 4.3. Performance and termination 4.4. Performance appraisals 5. Senior management and cabinets 6. Managing change towards more output-/outcome-oriented systems . 108 6.1. A “bottom-up” and “top-down” performance culture 6.2. The optimum pace and scale of HRM changes Chapter 3. Flexibility and coherence of HRM rules across governments 1. What is the flexibility and coherence of HRM rules across governments? 2. Outcome goals 3. Challenges raised by convergence and divergence in HRM 3.1. Challenges raised by convergence 3.2. Challenges raised by divergence 4. The positions of the Belgian governments on convergence and cooperation 5. Convergence within governments 5.1. Between departments and agencies 5.2. Between regional governments and local government levels Chapter 4 Core Values 1. What are core values? 2. Outcome goals 3. The development of new core values and staff management 4. Employment frameworks and core values 5. Responsiveness and neutrality – finding the right balance 6. Cost efficiency 7. Regulation, legibility and flexibility of the HR systems 8. Trust and core values