Human resources management in public administration

1. HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Vilma Tubutiene,
Lecturer of Public Administration
Department
Siauliai University

2. Aim of the course
• To provide main understanding about Human
Resource Management processes in public
organizations
• To share experience among partners in the
main HR managers

3. Introduction I
• Human resources management (HRM) is one of the most
complex and challenging fields of management. It deals
with the people dimension in management.
• The human resource approach has redefined the way
people are treated and managed in the organizational
context.
• This approach requires that employees be treated as
resources and not just as factors of production (as in the
scientific approach) or emotional beings with psychological
needs (as in the human relations approach)
• The new role has emerged for HR function, as a value
provider, as a key player in organizational working and as a
contributor to organization's strategy.

4. Introduction II
• The human resources are multidimensional in nature. Human
resources may be defined as the knowledge, skills, creative abilities,
talents and aptitudes obtained by the individual; they represent the
total of the inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills as
exemplified in the talents and aptitudes of employees.
• Human Resource Management has come to be recognized as an
inherent part of Organizational management. Its objective is the
maintenance of better human relations in the organization by the
development, application and evaluation of policies, procedures
and programs relating to human resources to optimize their
contribution towards the realization of organizational objectives.
• HRM plays a major part in the creation of an environment that
enables people to make the best use of their capacities, to realize
their potential to the benefit of both the organization and
themselves and, by improving the quality of working life, to achieve
satisfaction through their work. [1]

5. Introduction III
There are three important components of HRM
that constitute a resource for the organization and
are influenced by HR practices or the HR system:
1. The human capital pool comprised of the stock of
employee knowledge, skills, motivation and
behaviours.
2. The flow of human capital through the
organization – the movement of people and of
knowledge.
3. The dynamic processes through which
organizations change and/or renew themselves.[1]

6. Introduction IV
Resource-based strategic HRM can produce human resource
advantage.
The aim is to develop strategic capability. This means strategic fit
between resources and opportunities, obtaining added value from the
effective deployment of resources, and developing people who can
think and plan strategically in the sense that they understand the key
strategic issues and ensure that what they do supports the
achievement of the organization strategic goals.
In line with human capital theory, the resource-based view emphasizes
that investment in people increases their value to the organization.
The significance of the resource-based view of the firm is that it
highlights the importance of a human capital management approach
to HRM and provides the justification for investing in people through
resourcing, talent management and learning and development
programmes as a means of enhancing organizational capability. [1]

7. Introduction V
The scope of HRM is very wide:
1. Personnel aspect: This is concerned with manpower
planning, recruitment, selection, placement, transfer,
promotion, training and development, layoff and
retrenchment, remuneration, incentives, productivity etc.
2. Welfare aspect: t deals with working conditions and
amenities such as canteens, rest and lunch rooms, housing,
transport, medical assistance, education, health and safety,
recreation facilities, etc.
3. Industrial relations aspect: his covers union-management
relations, joint consultation, collective bargaining, grievance
and disciplinary procedures, settlement of disputes, etc. [1]

8. Introduction VI
The Human Resource Management philosophy is based on the following
beliefs:
• Human resource is the most important asset in the organization and can be
developed and increased to an unlimited extent.
• A healthy climate with values of openness, enthusiasm, trust, mutuality and
collaboration is essential for developing human resource.
• HRM can be planned and monitored in ways that are beneficial both to the
individuals and the organization.
• Employees feel committed to their work and the organization, if the
organization perpetuates a feeling of belongingness.
• Employees feel highly motivated if the organization provides for satisfaction
of their basic and higher level needs.
• Employee commitment is increased with the opportunity to discover and
use one’s capabilities and potential in one’s work.
• It is every manager’s responsibility to ensure the development and
utilization of the capabilities of subordinates.[1]

9. I. Organization of HR function
You will understand:
•HR functions
•Organization of HR functions
•What organizational efforts HR functions
supports

10. Organization of HR function
The activities carried out within an HR function can be divided
into two broad categories:
1) strategic (transformational), which is largely concerned
with the alignment and implementation of HR and
organizational strategies, and
2) transactional, which covers the main HR service delivery
activities of resourcing, learning and development, reward
and employee relations.
The HR function is involved in devising HR strategies, policies
and practices that meet the needs of the organization and its
members and support the attainment of sustained
competitive advantage. [1]

11. Organization of HR function
The three-legged stool model for the organization of the HR function. It
divides the function into the following three parts.
1. Centres of expertise
These specialize in the provision of high level advice and services on key HR
activities. The most common expertise areas were training and development,
reward and employee relations
2. Strategic business partners
These work with line managers to help them reach their goals through
effective strategy formulation
and execution .They are often ‘embedded’ in organization units or
departments.
3. Shared service centres
These handle all the routine ‘transactional’ services across the business.
These include such activities as recruitment, absence monitoring and advice
on dealing with employee issues such as discipline and absenteeism. [1]

12. Organization of HR function
The central focus for HR management must be on contributing to organizational success. Key to
enhancing organizational performance is ensuring that human resources activities support
organizational efforts focusing on productivity, service, and quality.
Productivity: continuous improvement of productivity has become even more important as global
competition has increased. The productivity of the human resources in an organization is
affected significantly by management efforts, programs, and systems.
Quality: The quality of products and services delivered significantly affects organizational success
over the long term. If an organization gains a reputation for providing poor-quality products and
services, it reduces its organizational growth and performance. An emphasis on quality requires
continuous changes aimed at improving work processes. That need opens the door for
reengineering the organizational work done by people. Customer value received and satisfaction
become the bases for judging success, along with more traditional HR measures of performance
and efficiency.
Service: Because people frequently produce the products or services offered by an organization,
HR management considerations must be included when identifying service blockages and
redesigning operational processes. Involving all employees, not just managers, in problem solving
often requires changes in corporate culture, leadership styles, and HR policies and practices. [2]

13. Organization of HR function
• To accomplish these goals, HR management is composed of several groups of
interlinked activities. However, the performance of the HR activities must be done
in the context of the organization, which is represented by the inner rings in Figure
below.
• All managers with HR responsibilities must consider external environmental forces
—such as legal, political, economic, social, cultural, and technological ones—when
addressing these activities.
HR activities for which a brief overview follows are:
• HR Planning and Analysis
• Equal Employment Opportunity
• Staffing
• HR Development
• Compensation and Benefits
• Health, Safety, and Security
• Employee and Labor/Management Relations [2]

14. II. HRM activities
You will understand:
•Main HRM activities and how they are linked
•What benefits they could provide for Organization

15. HRM Activities

16. HRactivities
HR planning and analysis activities have several facets.
•Through HR planning, managers attempt to anticipate forces
that will influence the future supply of and demand for
employees.
•Having adequate human resource information systems (HRIS)
to provide accurate and timely information for HR planning is
crucial.
•The importance of human resources in organizational
competitiveness must be addressed as well. As part of
maintaining organizational competitiveness, HR analysis and
assessment of HR effectiveness must occur. [2]
HR Planning and Analysis

17. Human resource planning flow chart [1]

18. HRactivities
Aims of HR planning
Human resource planning aims to ensure that the
organization has the number of people with the right skills
needed to meet forecast requirements.
Human resource planning activities
Scenario planning, demand and supply forecasts, action
planning.
Action planning
Action plans are derived from the broad resourcing strategies
and the more detailed analysis of demand and supply factors.
[1]
Planing

19. HRactivities
The aim of staffing is to provide an adequate supply of
qualified individuals to fill the jobs in an organization:
•By studying what workers do, job analysis is the
foundation for the staffing function.
•From this, job descriptions and job specifications can
be prepared to recruit applicants for job openings.
•The selection process is concerned with choosing the
most qualified individuals to fill jobs in the
organization. [2]
Staffing

20. HRactivities
Job analysis methodology and techniques
The essence of job analysis is the application of systematic
methods to the collection of information about job content. It
is essentially about data collection and the basic steps are:
• obtain documents such as existing organization, procedure
or training manuals which give information about the job;
• obtain from managers fundamental information concerning
the job;
• obtain from job holders similar information about their jobs.
[1]
Staffing

21. HRactivities
Job descriptions
Job descriptions should be based on the job analysis and
should be as brief and factual as possible. The headings
could be: job title, reporting to, reporting to job holder,
main purpose of job, main activities, tasks or duties.
Role analysis methodology
Role analysis uses the same techniques as job analysis
but the focus is on identifying inputs (knowledge and skill
and competency requirements) and required outcomes
(key result areas) rather than simply listing the tasks to
be carried out.[1]
Staffing

22. HRactivities
There are three fundamental characteristics shared by
all jobs:
1. Job range – the number of operations a job holder
performs to complete a task.
2. Job depth – the amount of discretion a job holder
has to decide job activities and job
outcomes.
3. Job relationships – the interpersonal relationships
between job holders and their managers
and co-workers.[1]
Staffing

23. HRactivities
Task structure
Job design requires the assembly of a number of
tasks into a job or a group of jobs. Individuals may
carry out a variety of connected tasks (multi-
tasking), each with a number of functions, or these
tasks may be allocated to a team of workers or
divided between them.
The internal structure of each task consists of three
elements: planning (deciding on the course of
action, its timing and the resources required),[1]
Staffing

24. HRactivities
Defining requirements
Requirements are set out in the form of job descriptions or
role profiles and person specifications. These provide the
information required to draft advertisements, post vacancies
on the internet, brief agencies or recruitment consultants and
assess candidates by means of interviews and selection tests.
Selection methods
The aim is to assess the suitability of candidates by predicting
the extent to which they will be able to carry out a role
successfully. It involves deciding on the degree to which the
characteristics of applicants match the person specification
and using this assessment to make a choice between
candidates. [1]
Staffing

25. HRactivities
•Beginning with the orientation of new employees, HR
training and development also includes job-skill training.
•As jobs evolve and change, ongoing retraining is necessary to
accommodate technological changes. Encouraging
development of all employees, including supervisors and
managers, is necessary to prepare organizations for future
challenges.
•Career planning identifies paths and activities for individual
employees as they develop within the organization. Assessing
how employees perform their jobs is the focus of
performance management.[2]
HR Development

26. HRactivities
The elements of Talent Management [1]

27. HRactivities
The process of Career
Management [1]

28. HRactivities
The nature of a learning culture
A learning culture is one that promotes learning because it is recognized by top
management, line managers and employees generally as an essential organizational
process to which they are committed and in which they engage continuously.
How learning and development activities contribute to organization performance
While it is possible and highly desirable to evaluate learning, establishing a link
between learning and organizational performance is problematic, although research
has shown that learning and development can be a crucial intervening factor.[1]
The features of a learning and development strategy
A learning and development strategy should be organization-led in the sense that it is
designed to support the achievement of organization goals by promoting human
capital advantage. But it should also be people-led, which means taking into account
the needs and aspirations of people to grow and develop.
Learning and training

29. HRactivities
•Compensation rewards people for performing
organizational work through pay, incentives, and
benefits. Employers must develop and refine their
basic wage and salary systems.
•Also, incentive programs such as gainsharing and
productivity rewards are growing in usage.
•The rapid increase in the costs of benefits,
especially health-care benefits, will continue to be
a major issue.[2]
Compensation and benefits

30. HRactivities
Objectives of employee benefits
• Provide a competitive total remuneration package.
• Provide for the personal needs of employees.
• Increase the commitment of employees to the organization.
• Provide for some people a tax-efficient method of remuneration.[1]
Flexible benefi ts
Flexible benefit schemes (sometimes called ‘cafeteria systems’)
allow employees to decide, within certain limits, on the make-up of
their benefits package.
Schemes can allow for a choice within benefits or a choice between
benefits. Employees are allocated an individual allowance to spend
on benefits. This allowance can be used to switch between
benefits, to choose new ones, or to alter the rate of cover within
existing benefits. [1]
Compensation and benefits

31. HRactivities
•The physical and mental health and safety of employees are vital
concerns. The traditional concern for safety has focused on eliminating
accidents and injuries at work. Additional concerns are health issues
arising from hazardous work with certain chemicals and newer
technologies.
•Through a broader focus on health, HR management can assist
employees with substance abuse and other problems through employee
assistance programs (EAP) in order to retain otherwise satisfactory
employees.
•Employee wellness programs to promote good health and exercise are
becoming more widespread.
•Workplace security has grown in importance, in response to the
increasing number of acts of workplace violence. HR management must
ensure that managers and employees can work in a safe environment.[2]
Health, Safety, and Security

32. HRactivities
•The relationship between managers and their
employees must be handled effectively if both the
employees and the organization are to prosper
together. Whether or not some of the employees
are represented by a union, employee rights must
be addressed.
•It is important to develop, communicate, and
update HR policies and rules so that managers and
employees alike know what is expected.
•In some organizations, union/management
relations must be addressed as well.2]
Employee and
Labor/Management Relations

33. III. HR management roles
You will understand:
•Main HRM roles
•What benefits they could provide for Organization

34. HR management roles [2]
• .

35. HRmanagementroles
• The administrative role of HR management is heavily oriented
to processing and record keeping. Maintaining employee files
and HR-related databases, processing employee benefits
claims, answering questions about tuition and/or sick leave
policies, and compiling and submitting required state and
federal government reports are all examples of the
administrative nature of HR management. These activities
must be performed efficiently and promptly.
• However, this role resulted in HR management in some
organizations getting the reputation of paper shufflers who
primarily tell managers and employees what cannot be done.
If limited to the administrative role, HR staff are seen
primarily as clerical and lower-level administrative
contributors to the organization [2]
Administrative Role of HR Management

36. HRmanagementroles
• Operational activities are tactical in nature. Compliance with equal
employment opportunity and other laws must be ensured,
employment applications must be processed, current openings must
be filled through interviews, supervisors must be trained, safety
problems must be resolved, and wages and salaries must be
administered. In short, a wide variety of the efforts performed
typically are associated with coordinating the management of HR
activities with the actions of managers and supervisors throughout the
organization.
• This operational emphasis still exists in some organizations, partly
because of individual limitations of HR staff members and partly
because of top management’s resistance to an expanded HR role.
Typically, the operational role requires HR professionals to identify and
implement operational programs and policies in the organization. They
are the major implementors of the HR portion of organizational
strategic plans developed by top management, rather than being
deeply involved in developing those strategic plans. [2]
Operational Role of HR Management

37. HRmanagementroles
• Organizational human resources have grown as a strategic
emphasis because effective use of people in the organization can
provide a competitive advantage, both domestically and abroad.
• The strategic role of HR management emphasizes that the people in
an organization are valuable resources representing significant
organizational investments. For HR to play a strategic role it must
focus on the longer-term implications of HR issues.
• How changing workforce demographics and workforce shortages
will affect the organization, and what means will be used to address
the shortages over time, are illustrations of the strategic role. The
importance of this role has been the subject of extensive discussion
recently in the field, and those discussions have emphasized the
need for HR management to become a greater strategic contributor
to the success of organizations. [2]
Strategic Role of HR Management

38. Exercise

39. Several last years there are discussions among practioners and researchers about
establishing of Senior Civil Service in Lithuania. For example Jagminas, Valickas (2009)
make assumption based on their research, that strategic approach to human resource
management implies that human resources are especially unique and valuable and
leaders should be treated differently from other groups of employees within the public
sector. They assume, that civil service system should invest much in providing internal
development possibilities for them and use commitment-based human resource
management practices. This idea should be used as one of the bases implementing the
reforms in human resource management in civil service.
Taking in account the previous material, please give some (3-4) possible
competences/abilities of leaders in Civil service, that are crucial important to be
developed in your country. Explain in one-two sentences, how those
competences/abilities could impact on Organizational effectiveness.
You could read mentioned publication here: sent
Jagminas J., Valickas A. The Assumptions for Senior Civil Service in Lithuania. VIEŠOJI POLITIKA IR
ADMINISTRAVIMAS, 2009. Nr. 27

40. References
1. Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource
Management Practice. London, 2009.
2. Dessler, G. Human Resource Management,
Prentice Hall.
More about Lithuanian Civil Service: open
http://eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/eurwork/co
mparative-information/national-
contributions/lithuania-working-conditions-in-
central-public-administration