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How well does public personnel management work in the United States and how can it improve organizational performance.
Public agencies continue to face flat budgets. Limited resources force public administrators to find new ways to accomplish their missions. Reduced budgets require efficient spending and better utilization of human capital. The question of whether public personnel administration works needs to be recast to read how can public agencies not afford to have a effective personnel management program. This is especially true with the emphasis today on new management approaches that focus on the empowerment of employees. The phrase Public Personnel Administration involves two different factors. These are public personnel and personnel administration. Public personnel are the employees of federal, state, local and nonprofit agencies. Changes to public management philosophy are often changes to public personnel management practices. Public personnel management impacts public employees, and also involves supervisors, administrators, taxpayers, politicians, and the public. Administration of public human resources is has four different functions. They are planning, acquisition, development, and sanctions. Planning involves budget preparation, human resource planning, utilization of personnel, and rates of pay. Acquisition covers how an agency recruits and selects new employees. Human resource development includes training, evaluating and improving employee abilities. Sanctions describe employer and employee relationships, grievance procedures, and safety concerns of employment. Values in public personnel administration are an interrelated web consisting of responsiveness, efficiency, individual rights and social equity. Public employees and their relationship to the public are a reflection of our political system. Politicians often appoint employees and shape personnel management practices. Politicians must be responsive to the will of the public and this eventually influences the role of public employees. Flat or reduced budgets demand efficiency of public employees. Personnel management tries to identify the best candidates, determine their pay and acts to retain the best employees. Personnel processes are concerned with allocation of public jobs. Public sector positions can be seen as a scarce resource, with keen competition occurring in the selection of candidates. Differing systems and values present within public personnel management and influence the processes used to select, pay and retain public employees. Political, civil service, collective bargaining, and affirmative action programs are all considered being systems of public personnel management. Civil service systems are in place to protect the rights of employees and ensure administrative efficiency. Collective bargaining systems can be part of the civil service system setting the conditions of employment, grievance procedures, benefits and compensation negotiated under collective bargaining agreements. Two key tasks performed by a public personnel departments are managing grievance procedure programs and retention of qualified employees. Managing Grievance Programs - A formal grievance procedure ensures due process and preservation of employee rights. It is normally a systematic process and it defined by ordnance or collective agreement. There are normally four steps within the process, informal counseling, the formal grievance, consultation between the line supervisor and Personnel Director, and final resolution of the complaint. Final resolution depends on investigation, adjudication and arbitration procedures. Measurement and evaluation of grievance procedures is not directly comparable to many private sector industries. Grievance procedures are much more common in the public arena. Intuitively there should be saving afforded in granting due process to employees. Retention of Qualified Employees - Fiscal conservatism and downsizing increases the importance of retaining good public employees. This problem arises from low unemployment rates and increased competition for qualified employees. Public organizations need to re-evaluate the relationship that that they enjoy with employees. Loyalty in the public service no longer translates with job security. Organizations will find that retaining good employees will be more important than finding new ones. The solution involves establishing a strategic retention program. Agencies need to develop better employees from within their own ranks. Tuition assistance and training promote loyalty and make employees more flexible in facing new situations. Reduction in turnover rates, increased productivity and promotion from within the agency are signs of a effective retention strategy. In today’s world of decreasing public budgets, public personnel management is important and must work to ensure the success of each agency’s mission. A philosophical shift needs to occur that shifts the Personnel Department from an isolated group responsible for mundane paperwork or compliance to a vital part of the overall management strategy of the organization. Human capital is the most important component of a successful public agency that contributes to the welfare of the community.
The copyright of the article Public Personnel Administration in Human Resources Management is owned by Alan Sorum. Permission to republish Public Personnel Administration in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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