The Management of Public Personnel - Assignment Example

? Public Personnel Public personnel broadly refer to the employees of different organizations including federal, local government, state employees and nonprofit organization employees. The management of public personnel encompasses both public personnel and public personnel administration. Both public personnel and public personnel management include: employees of public organizations, administrators, taxpayers, managers and politicians. Public personnel can also be defined as the human resources factored in the provision of public services to the citizens. These resources can either be local based, state based or internationally based. The functions of public personnel today can be extensively classified into 4 different areas namely: planning, sanctions, acquisition and development. To be effective, theses functions are implemented through different organizations such as state, federal, local government and NGOs (Disalvo, 2010). Four trends affecting Public Personnel Today The four trends that affect the performance of public personnel today are governance changes, economic changes, technological changes in the work environment and the role that is played by citizens in the process of governance. First and foremost, the changes experienced in the economy have resulted in paradigm shift from national to global, production to delivery of service and finally from public commitment to limited commitment. For instance, in the majority of the urban areas, more than half of the human resources are from private organizations and not the government agencies. Also, in most of the states, the number of employees within the private security organizations far outnumbers those of the local police departments. On the second point that affects the changes in the governance structure, the government is being redefined and this redefining includes, changing the perception of the government relationship with its citizens including focusing attention on the citizen whereby the citizen is regarded as a customer. It also involves the creation of a government that requires less to operate but does more in terms of service to its citizens and its general performance. Thirdly, we look at the effect of technology and the workplace. Technology and the workplace environment are a source of concern in the area of public personnel. The area of Public personnel has been widely impacted by the changes that have been experienced in the field of Information Technology. From the introduction of concepts such as cyberspace to the creation of the many platforms with which communication can now take place, advancements in this field have impacted greatly in public agencies. The way that employees of public agencies carry out their day to day functions has greatly changed due to the impact of information technology. It has also resulted in diversity among the employees and affected their work ethics and other previously held values. Finally, we look on the aspect of the role played by citizens in their governance; it is evident that citizens are now playing a vital role in governance. This is because citizens are do not only perform the role of being recipients of government services, but they are also actively involved in governance by making contributions to policies and other legislation that will directly affect their lives. This participation by citizens also ensures that the values of democracy are upheld by the government (Robinson & Kary-Siobhan, 2002). Four strategies needed to create a diversified workforce Diversity in the human race is a fact that cannot be understated in any form. When we come to the workplace environment, diversity can be seen in terms of age, gender, nationality, and race etc. It is imperative to understand this diverse nature in the workplace and this implies recognizing and also encouraging this fact in addition to appreciating the uniqueness of everyone in such an environment. The strategies needed for the creation of a diversified workplace include: increase in the level of creativity and the level of innovation because the diverse nature of employees implies new and unique approaches to solving problems and performing other tasks. Another strategy is the increased and effective application of the human resources within the organization. Thirdly, it is the reduction of conflicts arising among employees due to their differences in ethnicity, race and religion beliefs. This can be achieved through mutual respect of each other’s diverse nature and political or religious views and practices. Finally, diversity can be enhanced by the encouraging commitment and the sharing of goals that have been formulated by the organization having factored in the input and the needs of the employees. This commitment and commonality of goals among the employees will make them put aside their personal differences for the common good of the organization. Public agencies that have not factored in the issue of diversity and taken measures to incorporate and encourage the diverse nature of employees are likely to experience incidences of conflicts arising from racial, religious or political prejudice and discrimination. This will in the end result in reduced productivity and low morale within the employees in the agency hence impacting on its overall performance (Soneeta & Barbara, 1998). Four strategies that the government must address to sustain union membership and representation among public employees are; Union membership is a vital aspect of any employee as unions are the bargaining tools that are available to employees for the purpose of bargaining with their employers. Employees can use their unions as collective bargaining tools to negotiate on issues ranging from improved working conditions to an increase in compensation packages. There are a number of strategies that the government must address in order to sustain union membership and representation among public employees. The first strategy is for the government to introduce and encourage the implementation of participative management within the public agencies. This is a form of management whereby employees are involved in the process of: identifying and setting up the goals and objectives of their respective organizations and in decision making process that have a direct impact on their work environment and those that touch on their compensation aspects. Aside from participative management, the government can implement programs geared towards the purpose of job enrichment whereby the employees are encouraged to participate in programs meant to educate them in ways that they can use to improve their working conditions. Thirdly, the government can introduce programs that educate public servants and other already unionized employees on ways of making their unions more organized. Finally, the government can encourage employees to increase their productivity and to be more cost effective within their organizations (Riccucci, 2007). Reference Soneeta, G & Barbara, E. (1998). Staffing Strategies for a More Diverse Workforce: Case Examples in Cornell Cooperative Extension, journal of extension. 1998. Vol. 36 no 1. Daniel Disalvo. (2010). the Trouble with Public Sector Unions, national affairs. No 5. Robinson, Kary-Siobhan. (2002). U.S. must focus on diversity or face decline in competitiveness. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Riccucci, N. (2007). Public Personnel Administration and Labor relations (1-24). New York. Pearson Education. Read More