Needs of Public Personnel Today - Essay Example

Needs of public personnel today Task: Needs of public personnel today Introduction Public personnel refer to any person who is employed by the government in the public positions. The public personnel have four main areas that they handle which include planning, development, acquisition and sanctions. The growth and development of the public personnel today are affected by various factors. The public personnel are majorly represented by unions, which are charged with the responsibility of linking the employees and the government. The government has also ensured the continuity of the unions by limiting the political influence on the public personnel other than educating the employees. The public personnel today are still faced by various problems among which political interference, which is still a problem despite the government’s efforts to curb it. Mismanagement of funds and poor management facilitated by bureaucracy is also a problem. The public personnel have various needs that they still need to address in the search for an ear for their plight. Trends affecting the growth of public personnel today Work force division of labor and long-term viability Sustainability is one of the factors that must not be underrated. The growth of public personnel will highly depend on the manner of labor distribution in a manner that can exist without interference for a long duration. The change in the division of labor has today been a major concern in union development in that various unions representing various personnel may be limited by various changes that maybe introduced in the undertakings and activities of the personnel as stated by Ronald (1994). Political factors Politics play a role in the performance and efficiency of public personnel. People in political and influential positions often make the choice of leaders. This reflects that the loyalty of the chosen managers is owed to the politicians rather than the union members. The equity based on social grants job preference to individuals or groups based on the initial sacrifices or discrimination that render them incompetent. The political instability reflects the union instabilities hence poor performance Administration bureaucracy. According to Lipset (2004), Pension scandals have been very rampant among other scandals, the pensions in most cases appear to be grossly excessive which may not be the case in the official statistics during compensation for the reason that they reflect give a reflection of the future cost but not the current cost. The various excessive aspects within the public sector pension include early retirements where some unions expand the generosity of public pensions. Double dipping is whereby some workers retire early and go for other jobs in the public sector. Pension spiking is whereby some public workers inflate their pension earnings artificially. Pay to pay corruption and disability claims are other means of obtaining high pay unfairly. Public personnel fund management The management system trends have been a big hindrance to the development and growth of public personnel today. The rules and regulation are the major tools for fulfilling personnel functions; these rules are set, but adherence to them is an issue that is not strictly looked into. Conflicts have been always been rampant in the management systems. Efficiency, which depends on the staffing decision that should be based on the ability and performance rather than political influence as, is the case today Strategies that the government must address to sustain union membership and representation among public employees Protection against coercion The government must ensure no political interference in the union. By so doing, the union will be free to protect the public personnel right without fear or favors. Political interference may involve bias decision based on political affiliation. This may render the union ineffective and powerless in relation to its main function. Appointment of the union officials should be free from political influence. This would ensure that the union is run efficiently as professionally advised. The government, therefore, must introduce and implement legislations that would govern non-political interference in the union. Other than the enacting of such laws, adherence to the set laws must be a factor to embrace. Fair treatment of employees The government must recruit, select and advance employees based on their knowledge, relative ability and skills as stated by Harrod (2002). This will ensure this will ensure fairness and positive urge of the employees to perform better. They, therefore, will make efforts towards improving their performance at a personal level. This will sum up to an overall effective workforce thus excellent performance. Unfairness of any manner can lead to decreased performance Provision of equitable and adequate compensation Through unions, the government can ensure that the personnel are well compensated incase of any conditions that may genuinely qualify for compensation as per the evaluation of the condition Training employees to ensure high performance This will generally improve the quality of the work force. By so doing, there will be a wide range of professional knowledge that will enrich the union. A more knowledgeable group of employees in the union will enable ease in government and union operation compared to a group limited by knowledge. Strategies needed to create a diversified work force Diversity in the workforce may include both the visible and invisible considerations. In this case, the visible features refer to features that can be seen or felt; such as color, race and gender. The invisible ones include interest, knowledge, values among others. Segmentation of employees based on marketing theories There may be a variety of marketing theories depending on the field of dealing. The employees, therefore, may be segmented as appropriate taking their areas of interest or specialization into consideration. Mapping the terrain and manifestation of diversity of the work force Diversity must be clearly defined; the number of employees falling into the various categories of diversity must be noted to enable equal and fair distribution of personnel into various departments as stated by Leopold (2007). Addressing diversity in personnel policies Diversity is an issue that must be addressed in management. The kind of personnel policies to be implemented must be well looked into. The criticism by unions is regarding personnel policies and considerations on a manager’s support from the staff within the diverse work force. Conclusion Public personnel need a voice to be a concern with their plight. This can be facilitated by the formation of unions that balances fairness between the government and the workers. This, however, has been hindered by various factors among which: political factors, which are accelerated by political influence on the formed unions and political instability, administration bureaucracy, mismanagement of funds and Manpower division of labor and long-term viability. The government, however, has made efforts in ensuring that the union membership is sustained and public employee representation through restricting political interference, training of employees, giving adequate compensation and treating the employees fairly. References Harrod, J. & O’Brien, R. (2002). Global unions? Theory and strategies of organized labor in the global political economy. London, LDN: Routledge. Leopold, L. (2007). The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor. London, LDN: Chelsea Green. Lipset, S. & Meltz, N. (2004). The paradox of American unionism. Ithaca, New York, NY: Anchor. Ronald, D. (1994). Public personnel administration Wadsworth series in public administration. New York, NY: Cornell University Press. Read More