Personnel Offices the Personnel Function

Personnel Offices

The personnel function in the public sector has changed in many ways over the history of government agencies. Some of the policies in place today are built on work done back in 1883, and some of the purpose and mission of the personnel department remains the same. The particulars of the personnel system vary with the particular needs of the governmental jurisdiction or agency, but some general guidelines exist, including what the system is based on, who has the authority over personnel decisions, and what the specific policies will be.

Everyone in management serves some sort of personnel function, but organizations usually consolidate personnel functions in a separate department -- the size of the department can vary from a single person to a cast of hundreds, but the underlying work and purpose is the same -- the personnel office is essentially a cusomter service department for the employees of the company.

In this chapter, "Personnel System Design," Cayer defines several roles of the personnel office. Cayer acknowledges that personnel and HR departments are often seen as the bad guy -- handing out pink slips, policing and monitoring employee performance, etc. Some of this is the fault of the personnel department, which is seen as too often inflexible in enforcing the rules.In reality, the personnel department performs a "staff function," in that it helps other departments serve the public by supporting the staffing needs of the organization. Because of this wide reach within the company, the department takes a leadership role in the organization.

Cayer traces the personnel department's evolution in recent decades, especially since the 1970s and the 1978 Civil Service Act, which aimed to revamp management at all levels of government. The end result was that government personnel departments began to look a lot like private personnel departments, with personnel integrated into the overall management sphere. As a result of this evolution many activities were added to the personnel office's scope of work. As of 1978, the personnel office was charged with issues of equity, discrimination, labor/management relations, retention, development, training, disability accommodation, and family leave, among others. Since 1978 there have been efforts to disperse these functions around the agencies, sometimes in new departments of their own. The budget crises of the past few years have moved personnel offices into an increasingly strategic role in management.

Cayer then goes on to detail the different types of personnel systems used in different-sizes and types of jurisdictions. These include guardian, caste, patronage/spoils, merit, welfare, affirmative action and labor-management. The order of the styles indicates the evolution of these systems. The guardian bureaucracy, for example, goes all the way back to the writings of Plato. Patronage/spoils goes back to the founding of the United States, which is not a surprise, since loyalty was a predominant value post-revolution. Agencies in the United States value "merit and confidence" and merit principles are the core values of the majority of systems.

Cayer moves on to listing the organizational questions that must be asked when choosing a personnel system, including which type of board is desirable, whether there is a centralized personnel office, and who has the final authority over personnel functions and the pros and cons of each decision. Bipartisan or nonpartisan commissions are the dominant choice for governance in the U.S. And have been since 1883. The main alternative to this model is the central personnel office which reports directly to the top executive and takes a role in leadership and management. Most systems combine a centralized and decentralized approach to minimize the associated pros and cons. Central agencies are largely responsible for policy-making, while the decentralized agencies tend to specific local concerns. The past decade has seen much more consolidation or even the elimination of civil service agencies as governments deal with budget defecits.

A species of their own, career bureaucrats (appointees) are often exempt from personnel office decisions as the personnel staff can't afford the political trouble that would result from such efforts. Career civil servants, on the other hand, have tenure and continue from one administration to the next. Systems for these employees are either open or closed. Closed systems promote from within; open systems recruit from both inside and outside the current agency.