Suchergebnisse

For nearly three decades, traditional public sector management practices have been challenged by proponents of the new public management (NPM). Public human resource management (PHRM) is frequently a target of such reform efforts given the crucial role it plays in the public management function. Traditional civil service systems, based on merit and neutral competence, have frequently been criticized for their intractability, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness. The recent trend of eliminating tenure for public employees through employment at-will (EAW) policies has received considerable attention as a mechanism for improving public sector efficiency. However, recent scholarship suggests that EAW policies have a number of obstacles to overcome. Using a 2005 survey of human resource professionals in the state of Georgia, this article assesses the impact of the EAW environment on public employee motivation. The analysis suggests that EAW policies have a significant negative impact on motivation in the workplace, particularly for minorities. The findings illustrate additional hurdles that decision makers should consider when implementing EAW systems in the public sector.

The inclination to privatize public services has raised a number of challenges for practitioners and researchers alike. Although proponents of market reform continue to champion the promises of efficiency, a growing body of research would suggest that there is still much we do not know about privatization's limitations. This article examines the legal challenges public managers may encounter when faced with the "make-or-buy" decision in human resource—related services. The analysis suggests that public managers have the potential both to reduce liability and to reinforce merit and equity by recognizing the need for expertise in constitutional, statutory, regulatory, and contract law and by working to use the outsourcing contract as a mechanism to integrate public values into private sector human resources production.

Privatization has been championed as a means for improving accountability in the public sector. Yet, relatively little is known empirically about how citizens from different countries evaluate private versus public provision of services. Using a framework established by Durant and Legge (2001, 2002), the research here furthers their country-specific findings by employing an initial empirical model to examine the formation of citizen preferences in a multinational context. Citizens in developed market economies (DMEs) are examined by utilizing a heteroskedastic probit analysis to measure opinion direction, certainty, and indecision for conflicted respondents. The results suggest that both industry and national contexts are important in explaining the choice between private or public provision of services. In addition, individuals are influenced by utilitarian concerns, party preferences, and value orientations. In terms of political interest, respondents expressing greater levels are more certain in their policy choices, suggesting consistency behind their opinions about privatization.

Using a cross-sectional survey of 254 Turkish district governors, this study assesses the impact of personality on decision-making among public managers. The research evaluates self-reported results from the Five-Factor Model of personality and the Decision-Making Questionnaire of the psychology literature. The findings suggest that Openness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion are important in the analysis of decision-making subjects, tasks, and contexts, respectively. Departing from previous research, the analysis here suggests that culture and structure are important factors in explaining personality and decision-making in public administration.Points for practitionersThis study offers policy implications for the recruitment, performance appraisal, training, and assignment of practitioners in the public service. Personality assessments can be used as a valuable tool during the evaluation of public officials under consideration for recruitment, appointment, and promotion. Matching the personalities of potential candidates to positions requiring comparable qualifications has important organizational, personnel, and financial implications. Our research also suggests that decision-making and personality should also account for social, cultural, and organizational differences in their applications.