Randy Paul Battaglio - Public Human Resource Management: Strategies and Practices in the 21st Century

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Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Battaglio, R. Paul Jr.
Public human resource management : strategies and practices in the 21st century / R. Paul Battaglio Jr., University of Texas, Dallas.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-4522-1823-6 (hardcover)

1. Civil servicePersonnel management. I. Title.

JF1601.B38 2015
352.6dc23 2014019197

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

14 15 16 17 18 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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T he desire to write Public Human Resource Management: Strategies and Practices in the 21st Century was a result of continued requests from students to review material that was relevant to the personnel challenges they were experiencing in their day-to-day work activities. The students frequently questioned why textbooks rarely addressed the practical impact of personnel reforms on practices such as recruitment, pay, and performance appraisal. Students were also eager to learn more about emerging issues such as nonprofit human resources, motivation, privatization, and human resource information systems. When I asked colleagues if they knew of any texts that addressed contemporary public sector personnel issues, they invariably replied no. Tired of having to incorporate a potpourri of material into the classroom to address student concerns for practical guidance, I decided to take on the endeavor of writing a text that brought attention to the changing landscape of public human resource management. My goal was simple: to put together a text that covered the traditional personnel material; include subjects that were rarely or never addressed in public personnel; and most importantly, apply a personnel reform framework for examining each chapter.

The reform framework for the bookdecentralization, performance-based pay, declassification, deregulation, and privatizationis meant to prepare the next generation of human resource managers for careers in the public and nonprofit sectors. The framework addresses one of the most important issues raised by students and managers over the last few decadeshow do we operate in an environment that is increasingly hostile to traditional personnel practices? As is often the case in MPA programs, my students came to class from their day jobs in government and nonprofit organizations. Keen to put in place best practices, my students want more from the traditional texts in personnel administration. They wanted material that addressed implementing contemporary reform practices such as performance-based pay, employment at-will, diversity plans, motivational tools, contracting out, human resource information systems, and strategic plans. Moreover, many of my students were increasingly exploring employment options in the nonprofit sector. Students who secured employment in nonprofit organizations quickly realized the difference in personnel practices in their sector in contrast to the public and private sector. The text also explores these differences in each chapter, taking up trending issues in nonprofit human resource management. The result is a labor of love that I believe finally takes up the current challenges public and nonprofit managers are increasingly facing in their everyday work environments.

Organization of the Book

I have organized the book into three sections: Foundations, Functions, and The Future. The Foundations chapters bring the reader through the history of public human resource management in the United States. Most importantly, establishes the reform framework that will be used throughout the text: decentralization, performance-based pay, declassification, deregulation, and privatization. While civil service systems have afforded employees job protections, merit-based employment, political neutrality, open and competitive examination processes, and equal pay, these ideals have rapidly changed (and in some cases radically so) over the turn of the last century as a result of public human resource management reforms. The reform framework provides an updated assessment of what reforms mean for successfully operating in the contemporary workplace. With the promise of efficiency, personnel reforms also bring about the potential for significant costs in terms of legal and fiscal uncertainties. Providing practical human resource solutions for coping with an increasingly complex environment is a key aim of the text.

The second sectionFunctionsputs the framework to work in earnest, taking up the impact reforms have had on routine human resource activities. These chapters highlight the difficulties of