Public Sector - Human Resources and Business Transformation - Research Paper Example

Public Sector - Human Resources and Business Transformation Abstract In this paper three methods have been employed to analyze workers in the public sector, patronage, Public Sector service, and privatization. Each has affected the work environment in both positive and negative ways. However, this straight forward definition does not convey the negative connotations that this process often releases into the marketplace. The process of filling public work roles through patronage is not intrinsically detrimental to the public sector. The paper will look into the political race of appointing men and women to fill the roles, the new candidate does so to empower his administration to carry out his promises and goals while at office. Outline The management of public services in the UK has undergone a period of major change. Much was made at the time of the "good" of the private sector and the "bad" of the public sector. Specifying human resource management measures can help organisations to formulate goals and outcomes. Identifying good performance can be a learning experience. Trial and error and feedback in terms of outcomes are important in deciding future actions. To summarise, the overall aims of human resource management implications in the public sector should be to improve services, ensure accountability and perhaps more contentiously to reward success. Introduction The social, political, and economic trends that have become catalysts in the transformation of Public Sector have arisen in response to the functional weaknesses of public sector. The evolutions in the marketplace have been slow in coming to public sector organizations. Often bogged down in real or perceived bureaucracy, the public sector work force has remained focused on the immediate tasks at hand, rather than evolving the culture they serve. The candidate needs the power to do this in order to select people that share his vision. He needs to fill his cabinet with those people who are most qualified, and will assist him in the process of serving the people who elected him. Public Sector service is an approach to ward off the deleterious effects which arise from employing unqualified people. The Public Sector service entrance exams attempt to verify a person's aptitude for positions prior to employment. Public Sector service exams are designed to consider both educational and personality qualifications of candidates. In an environment free from outside political influence, this system can serve both the organization and the employee well. However, public organizations rarely operate outside the influence of political meddling. This effectiveness of the Public Sector service process can be hindered when political decisions are made by powers which govern them. The Public Sector service exam is designed to find the best applicant. But when political decisions are made to find the best candidate within a gender, or ethnic group, employees are again given the message that the quality of their work is not important. To succeed, they need to be a particular gender, ethnicity, or they need to find some other arbitrary scale by which they can curry politically correct favoritism. (McHugh, Merli & Wheeler, 56-88, Wiley) Public Sector and Human Resources A second hurdle which the Public Sector service employment system seems to be straddling arises from the practice of keeping every Public Sector service employees once they are received into the system. The civil servant's job security is virtually unassailable. In order to create stability in the government work force, and possibly as a byproduct of government bureaucracy, Public Sector service workers are set into scheduled wage and job classification. Work is performed with the knowledge that regardless of how the job is performed, or how much work is completed, the worker will receive his or her salary, 2 weeks of paid vacation, and scheduled raises. Into this admittedly broken system a third employment concept has been recently introduced. Privatization is often seen as a threat to employment in the public sector. Privatization is talked about in terms of how many jobs or dollars it will take from the public sector. The public servant, who has given his or her life to serving in a difficult government position, is looked at as someone who will be forced into the cold through the process of privatizing. However, this process is one of the best options in the workplace to improve both working conditions, and effectiveness of health and human services providers. Recently, the Bush administration included competitive sourcing as an integral tactic to better manage my human capital. Almost half of the health and human services' employees are subject to the competitive sourcing initiative and appear on the Department's FAIR Act inventory. (McHugh, Merli & Wheeler, 56-88, Wiley) This shift in public policy will not change the system to be more efficient, and effective of its own accord. Rather, the introduction of competitive forces into a bureaucratic structure will force the changes to come from within the system. The Public Sector administrator is in a key position to assist these changes, which will in the final outcome improve his or her organizations ability to deliver services. The Techniques for Defining Change At the heart of the productivity problems in the public sector, including health and human services' administration is a system which rewards workers on a basis other than performance, and a system which had become cumbersome with guidelines and regulations such that it is difficult for service providers to effectively serve their customers. Both patronage and Public Sector service are negatively affected when the normal course of competition, and merit reward is displaced by policies which arbitrarily reward workers. Introducing competition via privatization is a direct solution to this quandary. The challenge which the public sector faces by privatization is the challenge of competing, and producing the best product for the most economical price. This challenge is the means by which the public sector can find the motivation it needs to produce, and perform at a level which is equal to the products of the private sector. Facing the health and human services sector of public administration is a rising tide of regulations and compliance initiatives. For decades, the American system of health care has relied primarily on employer-sponsored insurance programs as a gateway through which individual's access health care services. Gaps have been filled in through public insurance programs - such as Medicare, Medicaid - to cover elderly, disabled and certain low income populations who cannot access the employer-based market. In addition, the government (federal, state and local) provides certain limited subsidies (e.g., tax deductions for the self-employed) for individuals to purchase insurance policies in the private market on their own. (Hammer, 411-436, HarperCollins) While this system has worked effectively for many Americans, it has left behind a significant number who lack any form of health insurance coverage. For these individuals, the country has developed an institutional health care safety net to ensure that they nevertheless receive access to needed care. The interface of the private sector which is driven by profitability, and the public sector which is driven by meeting perceived needs through the use of public funds, has never been smooth. Like trying to talk on a cell phone while driving in traffic, the health practitioners are trying to meet the needs of the population they serve, while listening to government guide lines. This interface affects the services that can be provided, and the financial compensation which the provider can expect to receive. The phrase made popular by the Clinton Administration acknowledged these same problems in the public sector. A public awareness campaign was launched early in the Clinton years called "Reinventing Government." The stated purpose was to make the process of doing business with the federal government simpler, and make the government more responsive to the day to day needs of its citizenry. The Bush Administration continued this policy, and took a monumental step toward reinvention of the public sector's operations by opening over one third of all government supply contracts to the private sector competitive bidding. Public Sector service unions complained, and the public sector in general cried "Foul." But the results of this step will introduce fresh competition into the public sector marketplace, and introduce market forces to encourage change from within the monolithic bureaucracies. The Issues in the Public Sector In suggesting responses to some of the most troublesome or pervasive issues in modern personnel management, J. Edward Kellough speaks to a topic which currently is reaching back into the Supreme Courts. In 1971, the Public Sector service Commission made a decision authorizing numerical goals and timetables in agency EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) efforts. Gradually, the government began to issue rather enforce standards for fair hiring practices. The debate over today's policy of Affirmative Action is in chorus with the outcry of discrimination. This cry ascends from every sector of the modern American Population. There are two sides to this picture; at one end, there is support for the government enforcing the hiring of blacks and other minorities while the other side calls for the country to return to a level playing field, and hire based on meritocracy, where someone was hired because of their qualifications, regardless of race. The importance of this issue is that either way, Affirmative Action is a part of equal employment opportunity and this may be affecting the way people perceive the current status of employment levels today. In managing human resources, the public sector HR professional must keep abreast of his or her organization's policies, as well as legal changes in the marketplace. These competing views will shape the way businesses can hire workers for years, and effective management allows for differing opinions, while operating within legal policies. A second issue is the undercurrents of conflict between unions, management, the work force, and the marketplace. Venkatramam (73-87, Sloan Management Review) point out that as HR management evolved, it was necessary to have a professional intermediary between the growing power of labor unions, and the desires of company management. However, this role has shifted slightly over the past decades as both unions and management strive to work together to hold onto power, while the market place, and changes in workers attitudes are demanding the changes. Work environments which strive to maintain the status quo, and hold onto perceived areas of power often become stagnant, and the work quality suffers. This is a problem faced by both unions, and company management, especially in the public sector which is already slow to embrace change. (Hammer, 411-436, HarperCollins) Holding on to the status quo can be seen universally as a reef the HR professional must navigate his or her organization around. The public sector must embrace change in the area of accepting diversity in it workforce. The essays in Public Sector Administration sought to identify the differences between accepting diversity in the worker, and maintaining consistent quality production in the work place. Diversity in the workers' cultural understanding cannot be used as a reason to allow substandard performance, nor can it be allowed to create cultural barriers between workers. This is a delicate dance for the HR professional to teach, while determining the rules for measuring adherence to US regulations. (Chan & Land, 311-324, Business Process Management Journal) Globalization Influences / culture McKeown (3-24, International Journal of Information Management) thinks Globalization doesn’t affect every country in the same way because not everyone is prone to change. Countries who are loyal to their culture, religion and beliefs try to avoid globalization as they see it as a threat to these 3 factors, but none the less there are certain improvements in technology and influences that these countries cannot avoid. Globalization tends to favor the American culture because they have a great influence on the world, but none the less this can change as time passes by. The world is becoming smaller as new technologies make it easier to communicate and interact. Well-being, freedom, democracy and development are all qualities of western cultures and it is only when you scrutinize the effects of globalization that you realize this. You can look at all the developing and developed countries and you can see the results that globalization has on the culture (Burke & Peppard, 212-266, Kogan Page). A very primitive example of this would be, looking at the countries introduction of franchises such as Mc Donalds. America has one of the most advanced democracies and is also one of the leading economies in the world; it is obvious that it will have an influence on other countries. Many countries see these influences as threats and it is only through time that the influences will be adopted, it all depends on how flexible the country is to the process of globalization (Bogan, 332-358, McGraw-Hill). Through globalization barriers are over come and because of this the world is said to be getting smaller and moving at a fast pace. Globalization is inevitable but people are trying to pass on a message that they are not ready to for it and this is shown by means of anti-globalization protests, different opinions, terrorism, violence etc (Attaran, 794-801, Journal of Management Development). In order for foreign influences to change the lifestyles of people who look at their values and beliefs, as being very sacred is considered as a difficult task and many people do not understand this. Many people argue that is why I have terrorism because it is the only way these people’s voices can be heard. (Bogan, 332-358, McGraw-Hill) Restructuring Restructuring seeks to create an organizational structure that will operate effectively in the short term and the long term. Such a structure should be able to adapt to changing organizational needs. Mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, bankruptcy, technological change, relocation of the business, changes in product demand, production costs, economic conditions and structural changes associated with tariffs and exchange rates are examples of restructuring. Many organizations in the past were very bureaucratic and this is because they used to operate in a sellers market (Benjamin & Levinson, 45-70, Sloan Management Review). In a sellers market demand exceeded supply, so basically they sell anything they produce. Today the market shifted and I are living in a buyers market (Attaran, 794-801, Journal of Management Development). Organizations had to find new ways and means in order to become more competitive and take a share of the market they were operating in. Many organizations adapted new management concepts such as Marketing, Operations management, Human Resource Management etc. that also involve restructuring in order to become more competitive. (Burke & Peppard, 212-266, Kogan Page) Conclusion & Recommendation Subtopic 1: Discussion Analysis The final section of Public Sector Administration assesses the probable trends in the field's future, and analyzes the efficacy of recent reform efforts. "There is a great body of literature on the effect of large external rewards on individuals' intrinsic motivation. The literature argues that extrinsic rewards diminish intrinsic motivation and, moreover, that large extrinsic rewards can actually decrease performance in tasks that require creativity and innovation. Subtopic 2: Future Implications of the study The Human Resources Management (HRM) should be regarded and understood in this context as one of the most important strategically instruments for achieving the desiderates of the reform in the local public administration. A modern approach of the HRM has to sustain the reform directions, which for the local public administration mean: The creation of a functional, efficient relationship between the political decision and the specialty administrative decision; The decentralization of the decision-making process, first of all of the administrative one, up to the optimal level of operatives and efficiency; The Improvement of the organizational and functional framework of all public local authorities. Works Cited Attaran, Mohsen. Why does reengineering fail? A practical guide for successful implementation. Journal of Management Development; Volume 19 No. 9; 2008; p 794-801. Attaran, Mohsen., Wood, Glenn. How to succeed at reengineering. Management Decision; Volume 37 No. 10; 2009; p 752-757. Benjamin, Robert I., Levinson, Eliot. A framework for managing IT-enabled change. Sloan Management Review. 2007. Biazzo, Stefano. A critical examination of the business process re-engineering phenomenon. International Journal of Operations & Production Management; Volume 18 No. 9/10; 2008, p 1000-1016. Bogan, Christopher E., English, Michael J. 2007. Benchmarking for best practices: winning through innovative adaptation. New York. McGraw-Hill. Burke, Gerard., Peppard, Joe. Examining business process re-engineering. 2007. London. Kogan Page. Chan, Peng., Land, Carl. Implementing reengineering using information technology. Business Process Management Journal; Volume 5 No. 4; 2009; p 311-324. Griffiths, Pat M., Ward, John. 2009. Strategic planning for information systems. Chichester. Wiley. Hammer, M., Champy, J. 2007. Reengineering the Corporation, HarperCollins, New York. Harrington, H. James. Performance improvement: the rise and fall of reengineering. The TQM Magazine; Volume 10 Number 2; 2008; p 69-71. Johansson, et al. 2007 Business process reengineering: breakpoint strategies for market dominance. Chichester. Wiley. Johnson, Gerry., Scholes, Kevan. eds. 2008. Exploring public sector strategy. Harlow. Pearson Education Ltd. McHugh, Patrick., Merli, Giorgio., Wheeler III, William. 2007. Beyond business process reengineering towards the holonic enterprise. Chichester. Wiley. McKeown, Ian., Philip, George. Business transformation, information technology and competitive strategies: learning to fly. International Journal of Information Management; Volume 23; 2007; p 3-24. Peppard, Joe., Rowland, Philip. The essence of business process re-engineering. Hemel Hempstead. Prentice Hall. 2007 Venkatramam, N. IT enabled business transformation: from automation to business scope redefinition. Sloan Management Review; Volume 35(2); 2007; p 73-87. Read More