Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Foundations and analytical dimensions
- Part II New conceptual developments: Resource-based approach and analytical dimensions
- Part III The 10 public action resources
- Part IV Outlook and advice for practical application
- Conclusion: Strengths and weaknesses of the proposed approach
- References
- Index
8 - Personnel
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Foundations and analytical dimensions
- Part II New conceptual developments: Resource-based approach and analytical dimensions
- Part III The 10 public action resources
- Part IV Outlook and advice for practical application
- Conclusion: Strengths and weaknesses of the proposed approach
- References
- Index
Summary
Definition
The strategies developed and actions carried out by public policy actors require increasingly qualified personnel. When an administration or NGO does not have sufficient personnel (for example, biologists for the compilation of biotope inventories, lawyers for compiling a notice of opposition), the problem may be alleviated through the purchase of specific skills from outside the organization, in particular through the commissioning of private consultancies, a measure that corresponds in a way to the purchase of human and cognitive resources. This trend for ‘outsourcing’ can affect the modalities of implementation of public policies through a growing dependency of the political-administrative authorities on the expertise of private actors. (Knoepfel et al, 2010: 62)
Specifics
Today, every large organization, whether public or private, has a human resources policy. This policy reflects the importance accorded to this resource. From the 1970s there was a trend for the centralization of human resources management involving the establishment of entities at the level of the administrative staff and centralized services with the transverse function of providing support to the operational entities. However, since the late 1990s, the opposite trend for the new decentralization or integration of human resources management in the management of operational processes can be observed. This makes it possible, in particular, to overcome recurring tensions between centralized service policies, which are perceived as being too schematic, and the often very human resources requirements of the operational entities.
Even in the ‘decentralized model’, in both the public and private sectors, human resource management policies pursue the objective of equality of treatment of personnel in terms of working conditions and salaries, the adequate supply of qualified personnel for operational units, a specific positioning of the organization in question on the labour market, and the promotion of a shared corporate spirit (often expressed in the form of a company slogan, behavioural codes for personnel and ‘personnel policy strategies’). In addition, with the advent of a certain ‘economization’ of the public sector, human resources policies are today considered as a means of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative production, as was the case for a very long time in the private sector.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Public Policy Resources , pp. 133 - 146Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2018