Public Sector Human Resource Research Articles

From Crisis to Opportunity: Human Resource Challenges for the Public Sector in the Twenty‐First Century

AbstractA great deal of attention has been focused on the human capital crisis in the public sector since the mid‐1990s. Experts and practitioners give many reasons why the current crisis emerged. This article examines the important factors that led to the crisis, what is being done about them through presidential agendas, legislators, oversight agencies, professional societies, and public policy think tanks. Concerns are many in terms of a large number of upcoming retirements, early retirements, unplanned downsizing, difficulty in attracting new generations to public service, and the changing nature of public service. However, the human resource crisis also presents an opportunity to fundamentally change those features of public sector human resource management practices that have become outdated for contemporary organizations and position government agencies for the twenty‐first century by meaningfully reforming the civil service. This transformation would require public sector organizations to take a more strategic view of human resource management and to give greater policy attention to human capital issues.

Job and Work Evaluation: A Literature Review

Classification and job evaluation systems have come under attack in the public sector. A literature review was conducted to help public sector human resource professionals make informed decisions about whether or not to change or even abandon traditional classification and job evaluation systems for compensation purposes. It is concluded that traditional classification and job evaluation procedures continue to have relevance in public sector settings. However, current classification and job evaluation systems need to be broadened to adapt to the changing nature of work in public sector organizations. Recommendations to shift the focus from “job” to “work” evaluation are offered.

Anticipated Changes in Human Resource Management: Views from the Field

This article reports the results of a major survey that was distributed to the members of the International Personnel Management Association and the Section on Personnel and Labor Relations of the American Society for Public Administration. The intent of the survey was twofold: to gauge the respondents' perspectives on the relative importance of various personnel techniques, activities, and values, and to assess their projections concerning the changes that will occur during the next decade. In addition to providing an interesting snapshot of the perceived state of modernization within public‐sector human resource management, the results reflect a considerable degree of agreement concerning the expected direction of further changes. Themes arising from the reinvention movement, as well as the technological revolution, dominate the response patterns. The implications of these perceived alterations in the field of human resource management are discussed, and potential problem areas are identified.

The Facilitative State and Human Resources Management

Public sector human resources management (HRM) today functions more-or-less globally in a Facilitative State era in which state regime theories and practices differ significantly from those of the nine decades of the Administrative State during which the field developed. This comparative analysis of contemporary HRM in seven nation states and in the state of California probes one fundamental question: Facilitation of what? In particular, what are the standards of facilitative-state HRM? How do shared and varied regime values impact the field, and vice versa? In answers, politics and its definitions and absent or present qualities of merit, including ethics, are inescapable factors.

Employment Law and Workers with Disabilities: Implications for Public Sector Managers and Human Resource Practices

The Americans With Disabilities Act extends protection against discrimination in employment to virtually all workers with disabilities in the United States. Previous federal laws protecting these individuals were limited in scope, not covering the vast majority of public sector employers. The ADA has consequently aroused a great deal of concern among employers. This paper examines the specific effects that the Act will have on organizations and explores some of the implications the Act has for these organizations and human resource management practices.

Substance Abuse Policy Adaptation in Florida Municipal Government

Drug abuse is one of America's major public policy concerns. Problems associated with drug and alcohol abuse have not escaped America's workforce. Public sector human resource managers, like their counterpart in private industry, are faced with the challenge of developing policies that protect the interests of their organization while preserving the rights of those they employ or seek to consider for employment. This article examines emerging substance abuse policy in Florida municipal governments. A model of substance abuse policy development is presented and then assessed based on data collected in 1988 and 1990. The research indicates that Florida cities are progressing beyond the application of drug testing towards rehabilitative intervention and educational awareness initiatives.

State Civil Service and Collective Bargaining: Systems in Conflict

Whuat has been the impact of the emergence ofpublicsector labor relation on the legal structure and design of state civil service merit systems? Joel Douglas offers a systematic exploration of that issue through a content analysis of state laws related to both systems. His detailed analysis suggests the development of personnel systems (DPS) in many jurisdictions, and the lack of efforts to integrate the two contradictory systems. In most cases, labor relation have become the primary force in public-sector human resource management policies; but Douglas notes that civil service remain a factor often times generating problems. He concludes by noting that the two do not 'fit together. Living with dual personnel systems, he argues, is an option widelyfollowed yet not recommended. The Nature of the Conflict

Beyond 2000: Public sector human resources and human resources management; report on a Delphi exercise

Canadian Public AdministrationVolume 33, Issue 3 p. 366-382 Beyond 2000: Public sector human resources and human resources management; report on a Delphi exercise C. Lloyd Brown-John, C. Lloyd Brown-JohnSearch for more papers by this author C. Lloyd Brown-John, C. Lloyd Brown-JohnSearch for more papers by this author First published: October 1990 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-7121.1990.tb01406.xCitations: 2Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume33, Issue3October 1990Pages 366-382 RelatedInformation

The Strategic Implications Of Automation In Public Sector Human Resource Management

The proliferation of microcomputer based software now permits the partial automation of personnel operations. Future applications of information systems technology to public sector human resource management depend on a knowledge of public management information requirements and of the organizational effects of automating personnel operations. There is some possibility, however, that careful planning regarding the application of a rich store of personnel management software to work force information system development will pay divi dends in terms of effective human resource management.

The Public Sector Human Resource Puzzle: Strategic Management of a Strategic Resource

Something has happened to public sector human resource management (HRM). The role of human resources in modem production systems has changed the significance of the HRM field and the criteria by which successful practice is to be judged. A few prescient analysts (Drucker, 1968; Schultz, 1971; Boulding, 1966; Chorafas, 1968; Machlup, 1962; Simon, 1964; Denison, 1967) grasped early the significance of human resources in information-based societies and economies. Awareness of the strategic role of human resources in post-industrial societies and organizations has penetrated management literature and practice (Meyer, 1978; Business Week, 1979; Messner, 1986; U. S. Department of Labor; Douglas et al., 1985; Fombrun et al., 1984; Odiorne, 1984). In essence, both the resource itself and the practices which manage that resource have become pivotal to the success of many public sector enterprises.

Administrative Values and Cutback Politics in American Local Government

Fiscal constraints facing local governments and citizen resistance to tax increases have given impetus to cutback management. Some analysts have focused attention on the causes or consequences of reduced expenditures for programs and personnel while others have focused on strategies designed to buffer the impact of fiscal stress on public employees and the delivery of governmental services. A recent study by Klingner and Nalbandian indicates that cutback management can be viewed as an institutional response to conflict among the four basic values underlying public sector human resource management—political responsiveness, social equity, individual rights, and administrative efficiency. The authors test this model using data from a national survey of urban personnel managers. They conclude that the administrative values framework has limited applicability to the analysis of local cutback management and suggest that theory testing is inhibited by structural aspects of urban fiscal problems.