An Emergent Taxonomy of Public Personnel Management: Exploring the Task Environment of Human Resource Managers in Spanish Local Government

Abstract

This study presents a taxonomy for public personnel management based on emergent profiles of local human resource managers in Spain. The analysis focuses on the task environments of managers defined by three salient constructs from strategic human resources management research. Specifically, this study looks at the level of participation of human resource managers in strategic-level policy-making processes, vertical and horizontal policy integration, and the flexibility of human resource managers in interpreting and implementing key functions of personnel management (i.e., recruitment, hiring, and remuneration). The results yield five distinct profiles that describe different approaches of human resource management. The five profiles include Technical Administrative (TA); Technical Functional (TF); Managerial Administrative (MA); Managerial Functional (MF); and Strategic Executive (SE). The profiles are not a linear typology of human resource management practices. However, they do fit within a larger theoretical framework that captures central constructs of strategic human resource management (SHRM).