Leadership and human resource management in the public sector

Leadership and Human Resource Management in the Public Sector

The public sector consists of the section of the government, which attends to matters of production, ownership, sales, provision and delivery and allocation of services and goods to the government and the citizens of the state, nationally, regionally and locally. The public sector conducts activities such as delivering of social security services, overseeing urban planning and organizing the national defense among other services. The organizational structure takes various forms, which dictate the leadership formula of the countries sectors. Some of these forms of organization include the direct administration founded on the lines of direct taxation; in this form, the government does not have particular requirements but to meet the commercial success and production decisions of the country. Another structure of organization under public sector is the publicly owned corporations. These differ from the direct administration of the government as they have more commercial freedoms than the other organizational structures. They operate and make production decisions from their own criteria, although some directives come directly from the government. The last form of organizational leadership the, public sector, offers is partial outsourcing; which entails contracting with privately owned organizations. Public companies, despite their names, they are not public sector but rather a private arm that can offer shares to the public.

This paper thoroughly examines the various issues in the public sector department of leadership and the human resource management and the leadership. The country faces critical issues of underperformance and in efficiency in the process of delivering services to the public. The literature review examines the various aspects and issues in the public sector, reviewing past experiences within the sector. The methodology, procedures and measures determine the matters in discussion about the various issues in the public sector. The data analyses section discuses the findings of the whole paper and the expectations of the stakeholders in the topic of leadership in human resource management in the public sector.

Introduction

In view of the public sector and the government of the country, the organizational structures in place determine the leadership the sector offers to the people. Additionally, these sectors do not operate in isolation; they work to with the public for the public. This means that they get the workmanship from the public. The challenges that face most of the public sectors are due to the management of the human resource in the sector. The workforce of the public sectors poses a challenge to the operations of service delivery to the people. The organizational leadership; therefore has the duty to ensure that they measure empirically and strategically the production power of the state. This is to ensure the public sector delivers services efficiently and effectively to the people. Therefore, the aim of this research is to examine and identify why the country faces critical issues of underperformance and in efficiency in the process of delivering services to the public. The core of service delivery is the leadership and management of the human resource, hence forming the base of the study. The quality and efficiency of the public sector causes the country to lose thousands of million dollars. Therefore, the study examines the issues leading to underperformance and in efficiency of the public sector, basing on the human resource management.

Literature review

According to the act of Public Sector Management in 1994, the commissioner dictates the minimum standards of merit, equity and probity that govern the public sector. The public sector has the obligation to ensure that it complies with these standards. Therefore, it is the duty of the organization leadership along with the department of human resource to ensure the organization complies accordingly. The standards outlined in the act, relate and dictate the number of human resource activities and are, therefore, the public segment principles in Human Resource Management. In the act, the standards cover the sections of employment, where it applies in the process of filling vacancies by means of recruitment, selection, transfer, seconding and temporal deployment. Moreover, it also incorporates the performance management of the sector, the process of resolving the grievances arising while at work, the process of redeployment, termination and discipline in the organization.

The standards in the act apply to the entire bodies of the public sector and their employees. However, they do not apply to the elected officials and local government authority. The public sector bodies have several responsibilities. These responsibilities include developing and implementing the human resource policies, practices and procedures consistent with the standards in the Act (Sullivan, 2004). The bodies also help in compliance with the standards, in the Act, by ensuring that their actions conform to the standards and raising the awareness of the employees on the standards.

In analyzing and understanding the human resource effect, it is vital to understand some key theories that can help in administrative tools. These are the theories X and Y, developed by Douglas McGregor (Berman, 2010). These theories help in the motivation of the workers to manage and perform as expected without the much-needed guidance. The theory X advocates for the autocratic management of people; because they assume that, the human being is naturally lazy and, therefore, they need to remain under strict control and supervision. The management in this theory thinks that people need regular and direct motivation to perform. The managers in this theory have the notion that workers are not smart enough and thus need good encouragement to make them perform. Characteristics of the managers in this theory include autocratic behaviors such as being result driven, their concern is the completion of the given task and; hence, they issue deadlines (Raffel, Leisink & Middlebrooks, 2009). The managers lack tolerance. Most of the managers in this theory distance themselves from the workers and they lack the attachment a worker needs to have with the supervisor. As such, they accuse the workers of the failures within the organization, without realizing that they could be the real issue in contention. The managers in this sector have a tendency of using barbaric administrative tools such as issuing threats and ultimatums to make the people they govern to follow their instructions. Moreover, it is visible that they do not contribute in the practice of team building. Their departments and teams remain divided, lacking the cohesion they need to work efficiently. The managers do not show concern in the morale and the welfare of the employees. An employee, whose welfare is in question, will most probably, not be motivated to deliver. The communication sector in the organization headed by such a manger remains impaired. With poor communication channels, the organization is most likely to achieve less, thus the need for better communication models. However, the managers in the theory X do not communicate as expected with the employees. They also withhold the rewards, pay, and remuneration of the employees from the workers. They are poor at the delegation of duties to the employees. Instead of delegating, they give orders. They, therefore, hold the responsibility of the objectives of the government, and yet they shift the accountability for failures to the subordinates.

Conversely, the Y theory is a more friendly leadership and management approach, assuming democratic management (Berman, 2010). In this theory, the people in leadership assume that the workers like to work. They assume that people have the self-control and motivation to do a good job. Moreover, the managers have a positive notion of their workers, and believe that people are smart. However, it is notable that, the managers have an orientation for results. This is understandable in that they have a concern and obligation to deliver the objectives of the organization. They involve themselves and relate with their subordinates in doing the activities of the organization. The characteristics in this theory include they are remarkably tolerant in nature. They actively tolerate and understand mistakes and allow for rectification. They do not distance themselves from the employees. They are of the view that teamwork is the motivation and encouragement workers need. They do not reproach their employees with threats and warnings, but rather engage in explaining the norms and issues of compliance of their expectations. The managers actively involve themselves in the process of teambuilding process (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). Therefore, they emphasize that employees are better in team than as individuals. They concern themselves with the interests of the employees and try to ensure they meet the grievances of the employees. The managers in this line are good listeners and thus take suggestions and views of others for better achievement of the organization. They are good at the delegation of duties, offering good directions and suggestions of completing the work. They are not accusers, but rather hold to both the responsibilities and accountability of the team they work with, capping their responsible character.

However, in view of the public sector in the United States, several discrepancies encompass the leadership and management of the various sectors. The public sector has troubles in both the leadership and management of the personnel system that serve the sector; hence, the issue that government and the concerned bodies ought to address in view of the public sector. The sector, from the leadership and authority section, the government influences directly the decisions of the various sectors, hence the theory Y The government of the United States is democratic (Billsberry, Salaman & Storey, 2005). However, this does not reflect in the ground as the leadership exhibits aspects of being autocratic in managing the various sectors. The public sector does not have the liberty of working as a team, as managers and the leadership only issue directives to the workers and expect that employees comply without question. This is a significant challenge in the motivation of the workers to achieve. Additionally, in some situations, the leadership does not have actual feel of the reality on the ground, and; therefore, they issue directives and instructions that do not meet the expectations of the people. Hence, the reason the public sector is failing terribly in meeting the expectations of the people. The leadership, exhibiting autocratic leadership, does not provide a good working environment for the workers. They do not allow workers to function as a team; hence, they rely on the individual efforts of the people. This is dangerous to the success of the sector as most of the government related activities work in close relations with each other. Therefore, dividing the departments in the public sector allows for inconstancies within the organization.

The federal employees do not receive quality rewards and motivation in the form of compensation and rewards. This poses challenge to the feat of the public sector, as demoralized workers do not deliver their energies in one accord (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). The employees feel the leadership and the management is unfair in the rewarding process, and thus, they do not have the enthusiasm to work. This poses challenge to the relations between the workers and the leadership. Additionally, the leadership lacks a workmanship attitude with the employees. The management of the sectors does not have a relation with the workers. The relationship between the workers and the leadership faces challenge, and this means that the communication in most sectors remains broken (Berman, 2013). An organization, a sector or body that has several elements in it, and does not have properly defined communication channels cannot successfully achieve its objectives. Communication occurs in all directions, laterally, horizontally and vertically. However, in the public sector today, there is remarkable breakdown of the communication channel, resulting from the autocratic nature of the management of the public sector. The government faces a challenge in assessing the abilities and views of the workers; hence, they miss the input of the workers in the production process of the sector. Every management wants to ensure that only its objectives pass, hence, they cannot tolerate a suggestion of a mere employee. The public sector thus misses the services of remarkably talented employees within their disposal. The public sector thus fails to achieve the best performance as expected.

Other challenges that the management faces include copying with the increasing pace of change. The world is a dynamic place, making it a remarkably competitive field. The changes include technological developments, changing perceptions, increasing expectations, citizen empowerment, changing workforce and a changing environment (Billsberry, Salaman & Storey, 2005). The pace of change within the society and the global world is a key challenge to the public sector due to the many procedures involved in the adapting process of the sector. For instance, to combat a certain emerging challenge, the sector needs to draft policies to accept the proposal, hence, by the time the policy is in place, the sector loses several employees. Secondly, the technological changes mean that the employees have to keep updated. Getting the time to enroll in programs that foster their academic progression and familiarization with the technology is an issue. Therefore, the public sector performs poorly due to lack of adequate and effective measures for employees to adapt to the technological advancements. The empowerment of the citizen means that many take a different course to better their lives. Availability of information to citizens means that they expect more of the public sector. Therefore, the sector tends to overwork the available workforce since they do not want to incur further costs; in so doing, the sector fails to meet the goals and expectations of the sector.

Lastly, there is the challenge of the concurrently changing environment. The working environment and the surrounding environment of the public sector are progressively changing. For instance, the rising private sector poses real competition to the public sector. There is limited qualified workforce available within the environment of operation (Berman, 2010). Therefore, this means that the public sector has to compete with the private sector to acquire and maintain the services of these people. This is a significant challenge to the leadership and human resource management of in the public sector. Workers, in their pursuit for a better life, pursue their careers in the private environment, hence leaving the public sector with the less qualified and efficient workers. Moreover, most of the quality brains opt for working and establishing themselves individually, hence brain drain from the public sector. Private practice is a remarkable challenge to the success of the public sector in managing the human resource. The incentives they offer to the workers causes them to leave the public sector. The public sector also lacks security for the workers. This is challenging to the success of the sector, even with the regulating act that outlines measures and procedures of employee termination, the working environment is not attractive. Therefore, the public sector needs to evaluate its operations and conduct with the employees to ensure quality and effective workmanship relations.

Hypothesis

Despite having all the leadership Acts and Regulations within the constitution of the country, which is among the best constitutions in the world, human resource management in the public sector is still an immense challenge. The public sector tries to provide adequate and significant leadership in managing the government bodies and their operations. However, this is not working as the problems continue to exploit the country's largest sector of production and service delivery. The cause could be because there are management issues between the human resource managers, the leadership of public sector and the affected workers. These issues could also result from the changes in the competitive environment between private and public sector. Therefore, the research approach encompasses both parameters within the public sector and those from the surrounding environment. The surrounding environment includes the citizens of the country, and the private sector.

Methodology

Anticipated demographic characteristics

The process of measuring and determining performance and work covers various sectors. These include, the time schedule that a job takes to complete, the problems faced and the possible solutions to the issues. The process takes effective and experienced operators to achieve the expected objectives. However, the public sector is quite broad, and, therefore, a significant and holistic understanding of the field is vital for the process. The measures include encompassing and utilizing an effective research tool that ensures the studying of the various elements that require examination (Berman, 2010). The use of the agency perspective, which incorporates studying only one of the agencies in the public sector, is not conclusive for making a report of the overall sector. Therefore, a sufficient methodology is one that will outsource data exclusively from most if not all agencies. Therefore, to that extent, the most effective and applicable methodology of studying the sector is the use of sample stratified survey. In this formula, the data gathered comes from a diverse continuum of the personnel within the sector, considering that the public sector is a significant stakeholder.

Participants

The gathering of the data that I analyze in this report comes from a vast composition of different personnel in the sector. These personnel in the survey include the various administrators in the agencies within the sector. The survey also incorporates the workers who are subordinates in the agencies and make the bulk composition of the public organizations. The surveys administered also involve the human resource departments within the agencies. Moreover, there is a composition of the public in the survey; this is because they are the direct recipients of productivity and services of the public sector. The survey also gathered information from survey interviews of the private sector to determine their view and perception of the public sector, as well as establish their practices, which distinguish them from their public competitors (Regis, 2008). Additionally, the data is also from the review of the literature released from the various agencies to the public. In this reports, it is possible to acquire relevant information that exemplifies the incompetence's and inconstancies within the sector. The reports of the agencies on their budgets along with the annual reports of productivity also form part of the sources of information for the study.

Procedure

In the process of the information gathering, the data sampling surveys followed the following procedures. It is significant to ensure there is a ratio of determining who provides information. Therefore, the ratio of determining who to interview is in the form of the people that form the bulk of the affected get the larger number of interviews. This means that there are more data samples of the subordinate workers and the public, followed by the leaders and human resource managers in the survey samples. The methods and procedures used include the issuance of questionnaires, which are mainly open-handed. Such allowed the interviewees to give their personal opinions and feelings about the public sector and the human resource management process. There were interviews with the concerned parties within the agency. These included face-to-face interviews with the participants, hence the personal feel and the authenticity of the data that I analyze in this study. The procedure includes questions that cover the areas of budget, compensation, administration, working relations, working environment, the performance identification and rewarding.

Data analysis

To ascertain the hypothesis, the data and information gathered is analyzed critically, comparing and contrasting all the aspects of the findings. For instance, it is conclusive if the findings indicate that across the management, there is a general trend of defensiveness, indicating the autocratic nature of the management, and the beginning of the problem between leadership and employees. Additionally, comparing the information of the workers from different government agencies to see if there is consistency; hence, concluding that workers have a genuine concern, or rather what they express is true. In collaborating the data from the private sector to the relations of those people who defected from public to private sector, and views of those in public sector to those of private sector, it is possible to ascertain the hypothesis that changing times and environment do not go well with the public sector. Therefore, the study has several aspects from which the data is analyzable, creating a broader perspective and a more holistic approach into making stern findings. This research will conclusively find the real course of the inefficiency and underperformance within the public sector.

In conclusion, the public sector makes the bulk for offering services to the people. The leadership and human resource management departments in the public sector have a significant role in determining the services the people get. It is their duty to serve the citizens, and, therefore, it is only fair that they put in place measures that cater for the welfare of the workers. Additionally, with the changing times and technological advancements, the application of talent management in the public sector can help transform the public sector into a successful ground of offering services to the people.