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SummaryThis article discusses contributions of human resources management (HRM) to strengthening state institutions in development settings. It also identifies leading practices and frontiers in HRM practice and research. "Technical" HRM expertise in development exists in matching organizational performance with staffing, advancing decentralization, international project management, and training, and research also shows extensive concerns with patronage and anti‐corruption. Frontiers are discussed in connection with strategic HRM, notably improved leadership development/talent management, workforce engagement in developing settings, re‐thinking/professionalization of appointee–executive relations, comprehensive HRM strategies, and increased leadership for HRM itself. Although development studies often raise HRM implications, relatively few focus on HRM in development in a comprehensive fashion. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In recent years, considerable attention has focused on professional orientations of managers in public and nonprofit organizations, especially with regard to ethics. This article reports on a comparative survey among top managers in local government, social service organizations, and museums. Knowledge of comparative, professional orientations is also relevant to many public administration programs that increasingly offer nonprofit management "tracks" or electives to students. This study finds that whereas levels of professionalism among public and nonprofit managers are similar, public and nonprofit organizations experience different conditions that affect it. This article also reports on the use of management of change strategies in public and nonprofit organizations. On balance, many similarities are found between public and nonprofit organizations.

In this study I examine the use of community-based shared-leadership strategies. I focus on the role of local government in four aspects of community-based planning and implementation: (1) coordination, (2) the use of partnerships, (3) community-based planning and (4) collaboration in funding. Through a national survey of homelessness efforts in cities over 50,000 population, this study finds that local government involvement in community-based planning and implementation is positively associated with (1) the range of local homelessness efforts, and (2) increased effectiveness and targeting of these efforts. This study also finds that local governments are driving forces for community-based strategies, as are requirements by higher governments and a variety of local events and conditions.