Anticipated Changes in Human Resource Management: Views from the Field

Abstract

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.

To be strategic in the new public sector, HR must remember its operational activities

“…Under NPM, the management of people, resources, and programs in order to achieve results and outcomes replaces the administration of activities, procedures, and regulations (Lonti & Verma, 2003). Subsequently, NPM has profound implications for HRM in the public sector, including demands to become more flexible and responsive to the needs of line managers (Hays & Kearney, 2001). These newly structured public-sector agencies often adopt new HR strategies (such as the development of commercial skills and competencies and downsizing) to respond to the need to become more performance-oriented and the need for accountability (Farnham & Horton, 1996).…”

“…These newly structured public-sector agencies often adopt new HR strategies (such as the development of commercial skills and competencies and downsizing) to respond to the need to become more performance-oriented and the need for accountability (Farnham & Horton, 1996). The overall effect of NPM is that HRM is experiencing a near-revolution in its operating practices (Hays & Kearney, 2001).This impact of NPM on HRM has been found in countries around the world, including New Zealand (e.g., Powell & Spicer, 1994), the United Kingdom (e.g., Colling & Ferner, 1992;Farnham & Horton, 1996), and the United States (e.g., Kearney & Hays, 1998;Osborne & Gaebler, 1992). The impact of these reforms on HRM has occurred despite the varying degrees and emphases of NPM that have been implemented.…”

The Business Vocabulary of the Field of Human Services – Current Transformations

“…Here too the vocabulary of business, as well as procedures and operations, have influenced government service delivery by incorporating a business technique and its associated language. Finally, in terms of advances in the field of human resource management, Hays and Kearney (2001) argue that "change appears to be occurring so quickly that it almost has become necessary to learn a new language as terms and acronyms are coined to reflect developments in the field" (586).…”

HR development in local government: how and why does HR strategy matter in organizational change and development?

“…The conceptual implications are twofold. First, as Hays and Kearney (2001) stated, HR systems by themselves are subjected to a fundamental transition in their operating practices, which embodies a range of opportunities as well as daunting pressures on replacing the established ones (Truss 2009a;Teo and Rodwell 2007). Additionally, it should be considered that changing HR systems is proposed as an antecedent capacity to leverage institutional pressures to the distinctive value of people, in particular to enhance the knowledge stock to cope with the challenges of public service improvements (Carmeli and Schaubroeck 2005;Brown 2004).…”

“…Within a tenet of viewing people as assets for organizational change, recent studies on changing HRM in public sector organizations primarily focus on topics of evolutionary fitness (Helfat et al 2007: 7 et seq. ): the institutional pressure to adopt HR concepts similar to the business sector, partly enforced by legal regulations (Pichault 2007;Hays and Kearney 2001), the opportunity and threats to develop strategic HRM roles and effective HR policies and practices (Harris 2002(Harris , 2005Truss 2008), both coupled with a discussion whether a strategic HR approach contributes to managing modernization (Currie and Procter 2001;Alfes et al 2010) and improving the value of public service delivery (Teo and Rodwell 2007;Ridder et al 2012b). …”