Source: Binczycki B., Research Areas in Human Resource Management of Public Sector Organizations [in:] Knowledge-Economy-Society. Challenges of the Contemporary World, ed. R. Oczkowska, B. Mikuła, Cracow University of Economics, Cracow 2011, ISBN 978-83-62511-36-5, pp. 583-589.

More publications on: www.cvcentrum.academia.edu/BernardBinczycki www.researchgate.net/profile/Bernard_Binczycki2/publications

C��C�� �������� �� �C��� �C

Faculty of Management

FOUNDATION OF THE CRACOW UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS

KNOWLEDGE – ECONOMY – SOCIETY

CHALLENGES OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

Edited by

Renata Oczkowska & Bogusz Miku a

Cracow 2011

R��������

Piotr Bartkowiak, Dariusz Zarzecki

All papers have been prepared in English by the Authors

Wydanie publikacji doÞ nansowane przez Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wy szego

z dotacji przyznanej Uniwersytetowi Ekonomicznemu w Krakowie na badania statutowe

Publishing of the book is subsided by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education

from the grant for the Cracow University of Economics

© Copyright by the Cracow University of Economics, Cracow 2011

ISBN 978-83-62511-36-5

Publishing House:

Foundation of the Cracow University of Economics

ul. Rakowicka 27, 31-510 Kraków, Poland

9Table of contents

Chapter 34Zora Arsovski, Slavko Arsovski, Goran Markovi , Zoran Kalini , Igor Milanovi

A New Approach to Process Based Strategy in Telecommunication Corporation ...................533

Chapter 35Angelina De Pascale

Environmental Quality Control: Practices and Tools. An Analysis on the Costs

and BeneÞ ts of EMAS Implementation in Member States .......................................................547

Chapter 36Dagmar Skokanova

Body Image and its SigniÞ cance in Marketing:Consumer Perception of (Ideal) Body

Image in China and the US .......................................................................................................563

Chapter 37Janusz Fudalinski

Considerations of Employee Motivation Process in Non-ProÞ t Organizations in the Light

of Empirical Research ...............................................................................................................569

Chapter 38Bernard Bi czycki

Research Areas in Human Resource Managementof Public Sector Organizations ..................583

PART V

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND INNOVATION

AS THE DEVELOPMENTAL FACTORS OF MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Chapter 39Ma gorzata Pa kowska

Open Innovation for Value Co-creation ....................................................................................593

Chapter 40Justyna Pawlak

Self-knowledge Management as a Challenge for Effective Managers .....................................607

Chapter 41Hanna Dutka

The Problem of Fundamental Specialist Training in the System of Higher Education ............623

Chapter 42Marian Bursztyn

Importance of Education in the Development Balanced Process – Education for Tourism

and Recreation ..........................................................................................................................629

������� 38Research Areas in Human Resource Managementof Public Sector Organizations

Bernard Bi czycki

1. Introduction

In the recent years the role and position of public sector organizations has radically changed,

which is due to globalization process, commercialization of public services and implementation

of new organizational and law forms of performing their public duties. That is why the described

research should be of scientiÞ c interest. J. Hausner rightly notes, that modern society is character-

ized by continuous growth expectations for the government, by which the quality of governance

is the most important determinant of the level of trust between government and society1.

The goal of this article is to present one issue of the methodology of research that was con-

ducted by the author on the state of personnel systems of local government ofÞ ces in southern

Poland, which is: identiÞ cation and diagnosis of the key areas of personnel management in the

public sector organizations2. The project was granted by the Polish Ministry of Science (N N115

0985 33).

Ingraham and Rubaii-Barrett argue human resources account for the largest percentage of the

operating budget for most public agencies, and public administrators must have both an apprecia-

tion for the costs of personnel decisions and the ability to project those costs. The authors rightly

add, constitutional, statutory and regulatory requirements often constrain personnel decisions and

actions in the public sector, and public administrators must have a working knowledge of these

legal guidelines3.

1 J. Hausner, Zarz dzanie publiczne, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar, Warszawa 2008, p. 33.2 The main and secondary objectives of the research, the course of study and the speciÞ c research results were

described by the author in the conference publication by Silesian University in Opava, which was devoted the

perspectives for local, national and global actors according to the global crisis and changes. See B. Bi czycki,

Improvement issues in the HRM systems in the public sector organizations in times of crisis, 6th Interna-

tional ScientiÞ c Symposium International Business Administration, Silesian University in Opava, Opava 2010,

pp. 508-512.3 P.W. Ingraham, N. Rubaii-Barrett, Public Sector Human Resource Management, Foundations of Public Admin-

istration, Binghamton University, Binghamton 2007, p. 1.

5�� Bernard Bi czycki

2. Methodology of research

The research was performed in 48 commune ofÞ ces by means of targeted interviews, diag-

nostic questionnaire assessing the human resource management in the commune ofÞ ce and in

the way of analysis of the home and world literature. Also important was the analysis of internal

documentation of organizations according to the 8 year term experience of the author as a Coun-

cilor in the City of Cracow. The full research procedure is shown on Fig. 1.

One of the most important problems of research was to identify and describe the speciÞ c

research tasks related to the assessment of the quality of human resources management. The

research focused on the public sector organizations, which are the commune ofÞ ces on the area

of: employment planning, recruitment, employee’s remuneration, assessment and promotion of

workers, improvement of qualiÞ cations and supervision over the ethic of municipal employee.

Figure 1. Research procedure.

S��� !" #�!#$�!% &' ()! $�()��*

Analysis of the applicability of the methods and techniques of diagnosing the process of hu-

man resource management in the public sector organizations allowed the author for developing

his own proposal for a diagnostic questionnaire.

585Research Areas in Human Resource Management of Public Sector Organizations

The proposed questionnaire was made after a careful analysis of conditions of the process of human

resource management in local government administration, including the magnitude of these organiza-

tions (in relation to the number of employees), and taking into account existing regulations law.

3. Results of research

As can be seen in Fig. 2, none of the surveyed organizations reaches the model level of per-

sonnel management. Analysis of the scope of instruments used in the management of human re-

sources ofÞ ces can conclude a growing application in the practice of local government personnel

departments of public ofÞ ces management methods and techniques used so far in the business

sector. This is shown by the following forms:

growing number of commune ofÞ ces implementing the system for total quality management

(human resources integrated with other areas),

as a result of amending the law, on local government employees generally are organized com-

petitions for recruitment to the vacancies, using not only the analysis of documentation, but

also tests, exams and interviews,

ofÞ ces implement employee evaluation system, based broadly on the criteria used in assess-

ments of service providers,

ofÞ ces are slowly expanding range of incentive components of the system – even in a narrow

range, but they can work to commission fee (from recovery of tax).

Figure 2. IdentiÞ ed levels of HRM categorized by the number of inhabitants.

2+

+

0

8

10

11

3

00

5

10

15

20

25

30

B,-./ 46764 9: ; <<

A=76>/6= 46764 : < ?

M@=64 46764 D D D

E@FFG>6- GH I@15.000 inhabitants

E@FFG>6- <JKDDDL30.000 inhabitants

E@FFG>6- @76N30.000 inhabitants

S��� !" �!O!$� ) �!O�P(O*

5�Q Bernard Bi czycki

In the next part of the article will be presented the proposal scope of the examination of key

tasks of human resources management for public organizations.

General data of the organization

In this area one should specify the name of the commune, number of inhabitants and the

budget of the commune. It is required to gather the data on the number of employees, both of-

Þ cers and non-ofÞ ce workers, with the speciÞ ed number of managers. One should analyze the

status and number of agents and appointed ofÞ cers, the level of education (basic and professional

education, including secondary and post-secondary, higher, including the title of engineer and

bachelor’s degree), the labor and training costs. It is useful to determine the seniority.

Then one should describe granted to the organization in recent years the certiÞ cates, titles,

awards or diplomas in contests and surveys in organization and management of the ofÞ ce of the

municipality, such as “leader of human resources management”, in the Þ eld of service residents

and investors, etc. One should also specify the organizer of the competition or ranking.

Personnel planning in the commune ofÞ ce

The Þ rst task is to determine, whether the authority has formulated a written HR strategy – as

a separate document or as a part of another document. If not, one should examine the reasons

of this. If the stafÞ ng strategy is a fragment of another document (e.g. the overall strategy of the

commune) one should analyze the role of HRM in this strategy.

If the organization does not have a human resources strategy, it is necessary to determine,

whether it plans to soon develop it in writing or the managers say there is no need. Then one de-

Þ nes the type of strategies pursued in the ofÞ ce (developing, conservative, saving or otherwise)

and brieß y describes the strategy articulated by the ofÞ ce managers.

The next task is to determine, if the managers prepare plans of employment or they think,

there is no such need – and if they plan the number of employees or their level of qualiÞ cations.

Also important is to know the methods used in the planning process and what kind of job cuts are

applied or used (leaving natural, hold receptions, internal redeployment, redundancy by agree-

ment). The job descriptions should be developed. The managers should participate in the devel-

opment programs for public administration institutions. It is important to specify the reasons for

the increase (decrease) of employment.

Recruitment of personnel

In this area one must determine whether the ofÞ ce developed and implemented a procedure

for recruitment of staff (in writing), and the reason for its absence, and whether the ofÞ ce has pat-

terns of recruitment ads. Announcements about the search for staff should be made public.

It is necessary to examine how are used the recruitment methods and techniques for various

categories of work: managerial posts of ofÞ cials (e.g. the deputy mayor, treasurer, secretary of

the municipality, municipal surveyor, spokesman, the head of the paper, legal counsel, chief

inspector, ofÞ cer, the debt collector, librarian, janitor, driver, car mechanic, electrician, con-

servator).

The list of candidates should be published as well as a list of people authorized to work. The

facilitator must have the proper recruitment of documentation, such as forms, interviews and

tests.

587Research Areas in Human Resource Management of Public Sector Organizations

One must specify the reason for the lack of such documents, and whether the selection pro-

cedure is carried out by the committee and who enters it. It is important for keeping the minutes

of the interview. It should also be established if there were problems in recruiting candidates for

employment.

Motivating the employees

One should consider whether the organization compiled the written rules of remuneration. If

not, one should indicate the reasons of this. In addition, it must be determined whether the rules

of remuneration are generally known and available to employees and whether the employees are

prize awarded by the mayor.

Another issue is written by the president of the rules for granting awards. One must determine

the criteria for allocation of rewards.

Assessment and promotion of staff

In this area should be examined whether at the ofÞ ce compiled the written rules of evaluation

of employees, if not – why. It should specify who is subject to formal assessment of the employee

and the reasons for which some jobs did not include the process of evaluating.

The next task is to identify the main criteria for the evaluation of workers and to determine

whether the employees are assessed periodically.

One must also answer the question of how often the ofÞ ce staff assessment is carried out and

whether it indicated the person responsible for conducting the evaluation of employee.

It is important to determine whether the managers prepared written instructions for evaluators

and whether formulated in writing assessment criteria for each job.

One has to consider that assessment procedures are applied and the ofÞ cials or other employ-

ees are familiar with the assessment procedures:

descriptive by superior,

evaluation sheet,

oral rating,

exams,

tests.

Then one has to check if workers are acquainted with the results of the evaluation of their

work and whether the appraisal results have an impact on:

staff cuts,

wages,

labor redeployment,

the possibility of promotion,

training topics.

The next task is to determine whether in the ofÞ ce compiled the written rules of the promotion

of workers, and if not, how the promotion of staff is conducted.

Improving the skills of ofÞ cials

In this area must be determined whether the organization was formulated in writing a training

policy and whether the assessment of training needs is carried out.

5�� Bernard Bi czycki

In addition, training offers should be publicly available to interested employees. Should be

designated a person responsible for organizing training activities4.

One must determine how the effectiveness of training is assessed and who is involved in

training staff of the organization (postgraduate studies in the Þ eld of team work, organization and

management of the ofÞ ce, improve public services, motivation, managerial skills):

training organizer,

workplaces covered by the training,

number of employees,

training methods.

Supervision of ethical conduct of local government employee

Under the supervision of local government employee ethics should determine whether the

organization was taken as valid for the ofÞ cials a written code of ethics and whether the ofÞ cials

have an impact on its content (in which way).

The next task is to determine whether the identiÞ ed persons responsible for supervising the

ethical conduct of local government ofÞ cer and whether there are anti-corruption procedures.

It should be examined if ofÞ cers and other workers participate in seminars, lectures and train-

ing in the use of standards of ethical behavior and anti-corruption procedures (what are the train-

ing methods).

Proposals for changes in the organization of human resource management process in the

commune ofÞ ce

In this area it is necessary to indicate the main barriers to the efÞ cient management of human re-

sources in the commune ofÞ ce, e.g. Þ nancial situation of municipalities, legislation limitations, mana-

gerial discretion, inadequate managerial skills or a lack of support from external organizations.

One should also specify, whether the managers think one should increase the autonomy of the

commune ofÞ ces in the Þ eld of human resources management (less reliance on legislation and

other decisions taken at national level) and if there is the need to conduct changes in legislation,

which would allow for streamlining the process of human resources management (proposals for

changes in regulations or managers’ own proposals of other improvements to the process of staff-

ing the organization – recruitment, promotion of staff, training and qualiÞ cation improvement, re-

warding employees, ethics and preventing corruption, social and technical conditions of work).

4. Conclusion

Taking this into account and analyzing other studies, incl. the team of prof. Bauer (Fachhoch-

schule Kärnten), prof. Czerska, prof. Rutka and prof. Czubasiewicz (The University of Gda sk),

it should be noted that the above listed areas of HRM research should be further developed to

beneÞ t both for public service employees and for citizens and investors.

The research conducted by dr Steijn was focused on the determinants of job satisfaction of

workers in the Dutch public sector. As he stated, compared to other research, overall job satisfac-

tion of Dutch public workers seems to be not particularly high – with respect to ‘partial’ satisfac-

4 The method of evaluating the competence of staff describes in detail: J. Czekaj, Metodyka warto ciowania

kompetencji pracowniczych, “Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Ekonomicznej w Krakowie” 2005, nr 670.

589Research Areas in Human Resource Management of Public Sector Organizations

tion of aspects of their work environment, workers seem especially dissatisÞ ed with management

of the organization, their workload, and their pay, but they are more positive about their tasks5.

The weakest Þ eld of human resources system is in the tested organizations is training the

qualiÞ cations of employees. Training is often the nature just of instruction, it rarely include rais-

ing the issue of managerial skills (including business attitude to solve allocation problems), and

the subject focuses mainly on legal matters. It is hoped, this article will help to deepen the discus-

sion on the role of this area in improving the quality of public services delivery.

Bibliography

1. Bi czycki B., Improvement issues in the HRM systems in the public sector organizations in

times of crisis, 6th International ScientiÞ c Symposium International Business Administration,

Silesian University in Opava, Opava 2010.

2. Czekaj J., Metodyka warto ciowania kompetencji pracowniczych, “Zeszyty Naukowe

Akademii Ekonomicznej w Krakowie” 2005, nr 670.

3. Hausner J., Zarz dzanie publiczne, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar, Warszawa 2008.

4. Ingraham P.W., Rubaii-Barrett N., Public Sector Human Resource Management, Foundations

of Public Administration, Binghamton University, Binghamton 2007.

5. Steijn B., HRM and job satisfaction in the Dutch public sector, Erasmus Universiteit Rotter-

dam, Rotterdam 2002.

5 B. Steijn, HRM and job satisfaction in the Dutch public sector, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Rotterdam

2002, p. 13.