Kessler, Ian creator text xu| 1993 continuing ng p.323-40 This article traces the development of pay determination in the British civil service over the last decade. It argues that after a period of instability, the pay system established at the end of the 1980s embraced rather than reconciled two competing traditions of pay determination; one based upon the importance of traditional compatibility criteria and the other stressing flexibility to meet managerial needs. As a consequence of the difficulties which emerged under these new arrangements, neither the unions nor the government have fully achieved their pay objectives Bureaucracy - U.K Civil service - Salaries, etc. - U.K Public Administration (U.K.) 180718