Chapter 4:  Rights, Restrictions and Laws of the Public Workplace

• The message in this chapter is that public human resource management is full of legal landmines -- and the law is constantly shifting.  It is very prudent to have legal consultation on many of the issues discussed in this chapter before taking action.  It is also important to realize that laws exist for a reason -- and a good public human resource manager should be able to communicate the spirit of the law as well as the legalese that people resist. 

• Political activity (Hatch Act of 1993):  restrictions on political activity in the workplace.

• Political patronage (Rutan case, 1990):  personnel actions based on political affiliation are not allowed unless party affiliation is a legitimate requirement of the job (rare).

• Drug Testing:  there must be a prevailing public service interest to override the individual's protection of privacy (e.g, public safety jobs).

• Due process:  for public employees, the granting of tenure or "permanent status" is sufficient to establish a property interest, and property cannot be taken away arbitrarily (i.e., must have cause).

• Equal Employment Opportunity (Civil Rights Acts 0f 1964 and 1991; Equal Pay Act of 1963; Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, etc.):  a hallmark of our society is the concept that every American should have the same opportunity to the benefits of employment, and decisions regarding these benefits should be based only on job-related factors (not sex, race, age, etc.).  Know the significance of Griggs vs. Duke Power Company.  Discuss recent areas of contention such as gay rights and employees afflicted with AIDS.

• Three of the major discrimination laws of the past that every public human resource manager should understand is sexual harassment, the ADA, and FMLA.

• Sexual harassment:  understand the implications of the definition on p. 85 (quid pro quo harassment vs. hostile work environment).  Also understand that an organization can be liable for sexual harassment perpetrated by its employees -- so you need a policy, training, and aggressive response to complaints.

• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990:  this law is filled with loaded terms, such as disability, qualified, reasonable accommodations, essential job function, undue hardship.  Understand the spirit of these terms (p. 86).

• Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993:  permits employees to take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave during any 12 month period to ten to family needs.  Can be a significant hr challenge.

• Affirmative action:  while most Americans (hopefully all) agree with the concept of equal opportunity, affirmative action is far more controversial and can be a major source of contention in human resource management.  The forthcoming Supreme Court review of the U. of Michigan's admissions policy is illustrative.  Understand significance of Bakke vs. California Board of Regents (1978).

• Other significant cases include Johnson vs. Transportation Agency (1987),  Adarand Constructors Inc. vs. Pena (1995), and Taxman vs. Board of Education of Piscataway (U.S. Court of Appeals) (1996).

• U.S. Dept. of  Labor requires that all organizations that have 50 or more employees or receive more than $50,000 in federal funds must have an affirmative action plan.  Know the four key elements of an AA plan described on p. 88-89.

• Review trends in affirmative action described on p. 92-93, and understand concept of "full spectrum diversity" on p. 93.

Chapter 5:  Labor-Management Relations in the Public Sector

• You may or may not have significant dealings with labor unions as a public or nonprofit manager because different states and localities have different laws and traditions regarding unions.  For example Table 5.2 on p. 110 shows that the state of North Carolina does not allow public sector collective bargaining, while other states are much more tolerant.  Nonetheless, it is important for a human resource manager to be aware of the history and principles of employee unions to further understanding and sensitivity to potential issues in labor-management relations.  Try as you might to avoid this, when you enter the management ranks you become one of "them" to the rank and file.

• Awareness of the labor union movement also reminds managers of the significant (sometimes huge) discrepancy in power and socioeconomic status between management and line employees.  If you fall into the trap of being disengaged from the concerns and issues of your average employees, you sow the seeds for discontent that may lead to lower morale and productivity, turnover, disloyalty, etc.  As a successful senior executive in the government once said, "It pays to know people in low places."

• Furthermore, although overall labor union membership is down (from peak of 35.5% of all employees in 1945 to 14.1% in 1997), it is alive and well in the public sector (37.2% of public sector employees) -- (American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, National Education Association) and a multitude of employee groups continue to organize and seek representation in their dealings with employers (nurses, university instructors).

• There are several reasons why union membership is down in the private sector, including:

                    -- the government, through labor laws and employment regulations, has become a substitute

                    -- economy has shifted in the direction of service-oriented and info-intensive jobs

                    -- workers tend to be more dispersed and difficult to organize

                    -- heightened market competitiveness

• Typical reasons for joining a union still apply:

                    -- economic benefits (wages, benefits, safety provisions)

                    -- job security (layoff and grievance procedures)

                    -- social benefits

                    -- political benefits (very strong in public sector unions)

• Main pieces of legislation are the National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act of 1935 (focused on unfair labor practices by management trying to discourage unions) and the Taft Hartley Act of 1947 (focused on reigning in the power of unions.

• An important feature of Taft-Hartley Act was the provision that gave the President the authority to restrain a strike for up to 80 days if national security, health or safety is at stake.  This cooling-off period is designed to protect the public and and allow for the time needed to mediate a settlement.

• Public employees were excluded from these two laws under the doctrine of sovereignty, which says that despite the right of employees to associate freely, there is no constitutional right to government employment and the government's need (or the public interest) to maintain public services without interference outweighed the employees' right to form unions.  Federal unions, for example, are prohibited from bargaining over wages and benefits or engaging in strikes (witness the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike in 1981 -- President Reagan fired them all.  In some cases, such as teachers unions, public officials have allowed a strike even if it were technically illegal to promote labor peace.

• However, over time, this doctrine has eroded and is no longer used as an absolute prohibition against union organizing in the public sector -- see Table 5.2 on p. 110.

• One can spend an entire semester (or even degree program) studying collective bargaining techniques and skills, but the phenomenon of labor-management negotiations has spawned the field of conflict resolution and a plethora of useful managerial terms and concepts that can be applied in any number of settings, including:

                    -- "good faith" bargaining (p. 114)

                    -- ground rules for negotiation (p. 116)

                    -- mediation and binding/non-binding arbitration

                    -- grievance procedure (process for resolving disputes from the interpretation of a contract

                    -- distributive (adversarial) vs. integrative (cooperative) bargaining style (compare boxes 5.2 and

                        5.3 (pp. 122 and 124).

• The wave of the future is the integrative or interest-based bargaining style ("Getting to Yes").  The basic ideas are:

                1.  Separate the people from the problem.

                2.  Focus on interests, not positions.

                3.  Invent options for mutual gain.

• Reading on p. 125 provides many examples of where labor-management cooperation has paid off in real gains in productivity and satisfaction on both sides (win-win). These lessons are particularly useful for public and nonprofit managers where there are in reality many unavoidable constraints on what can be negotiated (e.g., salaries and benefits), and where the public truly suffers when the situation becomes adversarial (e.g., teacher, police, or firefighter strikes).

Chapter 6:  Strategic Planning for Human Resources

• Strategic planning has become an invaluable tool for managers in all sectors, driven by rapid change and turbulence in the environment (e.g., market competitiveness/globalization in the private sector, tax revolt in the public sector, expectations of funders in the nonprofit sector).

• Increasingly, the human resource function is viewed as one of the pivotal arenas for strategic planning and action. The traditional concept of workforce or succession planning (forecasting vacancies and/or new knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), identifying/cultivating in-house and outside talent pools) is more important than ever in a fast paced environment.

• The most important message in the Perry article is the importance of rethinking the organization of the human resource function to better integrate human resources staff into the mission of the organization (thus enhancing their ability to understand how hr is linked to the mission).  A greater understanding of the mission of the organization by hr staff could also be achieved by a broader training in all aspects of the organization (e.g., rotating hr staff throughout the organization instead of just keeping them as pay classification specialists).

• Furthermore, changing workforce demographics and quality-of-life issues requires the human resource function to be proactive in addressing employee development, retention and performance management issues.

• Definition of strategic planning:  "A process for orchestrating organizational direction through individual action after a careful evaluation of an organization's external environment and internal capacity."  See figure 6.1 on p. 149 for ideal characteristics of strategic planning -- note the emphasis on mission as the foundation for all activity, scanning the internal and external environments, and the future.

• Three steps in the strategic planning process:  1.  Preparation  2.  Data Collection and Analysis

           3.  Action Steps

• Step 1:  Preparation

                -- identify and train the organizational leadership

                -- identify and train the planning team

                -- identify participating organizational and community members

• Step 2:  Data Collection and Analysis

                -- identify and gather relevant data (SWOT analysis)

                -- review the data (identify issues, consider alternatives)

                -- develop a summary of the issues and key findings

• Step 3:  Action Steps

                -- develop goals, objectives, and action steps

                -- integrate the plan into ongoing operations

                -- do contingency planning:  What happens if...?

                -- implement the plan

                -- evaluate the plan

                -- repeat the cycle on a regular basis

Chapter 7:  Job Design, Analysis, and Classification

• It is very easy to get lost or overwhelmed in the complexity of job analysis, design and classification, but at its core this topic is simply about determining the mix of people you need to achieve your organization mission and vision.  Technical tasks like job analysis lose their meaning when they become disconnected from the mission and vision of the organization.

• Remember that mission clarifies an organization's purpose, or why it should be doing what it does.  Vision clarifies what the organization should look like and how it should behave as it  fulfills its mission.

• Some key questions to ask in developing a mission statement:

                1.  Who are we?

                2.  In general, what are the basic needs or problems we exist to fill?

                3.  In general, what do we want to do to recognize/anticipate/respond to these needs/problems?

                4.  What should our basic responses be to our key stakeholders?

                            a.

                            b.

                            c., etc.

                5.  What is our philosophy and what are our core values?

                6.  What makes us distinctive or unique?

• Vision is the answer to a basic question:  what do we want our organization to look like in the future?  A good exercise for determining a vision is to ask organizational leaders the following question: "Imagine that it is five years from now and your organization is operating in a very exciting way.  It is recognized as one of the top organizations in its field in the country.  Imagine that you are a newspaper reporter assigned to do a story on the organization.  Describe in no more than one page what you see?"

• With the mission/vision established, now you can talk about the mix of people you need.

• Keep in mind that sophisticated job analysis and design is a highly technical area that is most often utilized by large organizations, but the core principles provide useful guidance for all sizes.

Step 1:  Organization Chart

• Although it may change after you conduct a job analysis, you should begin the process by drafting an organization chart.  The chart should identify the title of each position you believe you need, and, by means of interconnecting lines, show who reports to whom.  This exercise helps you visualize the organization structure (e.g., levels of management, line vs. staff positions, functions, etc.)

Step 2:  Job Analysis

• Job analysis identifies the tasks necessary for a competent performance of a particular position.  For each task, the job analyst needs to identify the knowledge, skills, or abilities (KSAs) that may be required. Knowledge refers to the body of information associated with a particular area of activity.  A skill is mastery of a specific technique or tool.  Ability suggests the capacity to perform some activity.

• Next, the job analyst needs to identify any formal training or education that may be necessary to certify those KSAs, as well as any qualifications necessary for a particular position (e.g., licenses or permits).

• There are numerous tools in the hr field to help with job analysis, such as the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), which contains questions designed to generate data for differentiating positions according to the general categories of (see Box 7.2 on p. 182):

                -- information input

                -- mediation processes

                -- work output

                -- interpersonal activities

                -- work situation and job context

                -- miscellaneous aspects

• Remember that any job analysis must be reviewed on a periodic basis to see how it fits with the evolving needs of the organization -- KSAs can quickly become out of date -- this is particularly true after any strategic planning effort.

Step 3: Position Description

• Once the job analysis is finished, a position description should be written, which offers a summary of the general responsibilities and features a listing of the specific duties associated with a particular position in an organization. Boxes 7.3 and 7.4 on pp. 184-185 provide examples -- but typically the categories include:

                    -- General or Overview Statement on Position

                    -- Job Environment

                    -- Duties (should distinguish essential job functions from nonessential per ADA)

                    -- KSAs

                    -- Qualifications

Step 4: Job Evaluation

• After jobs are analyzed for content and a position description is generated, the question remains:  what is the relative worth of each job to the organization?  Clearly, the answers to this question provide the basis for pay differentials.  Again, this is a highly technical area fraught with legal landmines, for there should be a defensible basis for pay differentials between people, and it should be based largely on the demonstrated worth of a job.

• Job evaluations are typically not a task that a non-human resource specialist or consultant would tackle, but any manager should be familiar with the process.

• The text presents one technique -- Point Factor Evaluation -- that generally involves the following steps:

                    1)  gather data about the job (e.g., management vs. line position)

                    2)  identify factors to be used to differentiate between jobs, such as

                                -- knowledge

                                -- supervisory responsibility

                                -- working conditions

                    3)  within each of these factors, assign different degrees or levels of knowledge, discretion,

                         difficulty, etc. within each factor (p. 187).

• Understand that although these attempts to "scientifically quantify" the value of positions, there is much subjectivity and bias that can creep in (e.g., the relative merits of experience versus education, technical versus interpersonal skills, traditionally male versus female-dominated jobs).

Step 5:  Job Classification

• In an effort to establish further accountability in the compensation of government employees, traditional public human resource systems then classify the jobs in a given organization into classes on the basis of duties and responsibilities for the purpose of delineating authority, establishing chains of command, and providing equitable salary scales.  Positions are categorized, or classified, on the basis of duties, and salaries are established to correspond with classification.  For example, in the case study, "Radicals in the Rank-and-File," there are three job classes:  police dispatcher, police officer, and secretary/assistant, with a salary range within each class.

• Accountability is promoted because a manager cannot hire just anyone; they need to have the qualifications listed for that class of jobs.  Furthermore, a manager cannot pay a person whatever they want; they are restricted by the salary range for that class of jobs for which the applicant qualifies.  See the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) website for examples of job classes and the pay ranges.

• Rigid classification systems are under increasing attack -- "in the name of accountability, we have made it impossible to manage."  The argument is that such systems impede the ability of management to respond to shifting performance demands and job markets.  Alternative approaches such as broadbanding are being used, which is the collapsing of many related classifications into a smaller number of classes with substantially broader ranges of compensation within these classes.

Step 6:  Job Design

• In contrast to classic job analysis, description, and evaluation, job design is a bit more organic, meaning adaptive and flexible in nature.  Jobs are adjusted or redesigned in consideration of the organization's goals or resources as well as the characteristics or needs of the individuals in the job.  For example, within a given pay grade, you might be able to incorporate telecommuting, flextime, or job sharing.  Or, an individual who can handle more challenge might have his or her job enlarged (vertically or horizontally) or become involved in a job rotation program.  In the public or nonprofit sector, where restrictions do exist in terms of overall job classification and pay, managers are increasingly turning to creative job designs to motivate employees (note Career Anchor Theory and study questions).

Chapter 8:  Recruitment and Selection

• There is no more important human resources function than recruiting and hiring the right people.  The perfect organization structure and human resource system will be undermined by poor hiring decisions.  Under time pressures, there will always be the temptation for a busy manager to cut short the recruitment and selection process by not updating the job description or making a quick hiring decision -- don't fall prey!!!

• Fundamental guidelines to recruitment:

                -- know what you are looking for

                -- find the best match between employee skills and the job ("best athlete vs. fills a need")

                -- be aware of legal constraints and procedural guidelines

• Typical mistakes in hiring process:

                -- unclear job requirements

                -- invalid or unreliable tests

                -- untrained interviewers

                -- no reference check

• Overriding principle to be adhered to throughout the hiring process is to base all recruitment information, tests and selection decisions on the specific requirements of the particular job to be done.  Factors unrelated to the job, such as political affiliation, personal appearance, common school ties, or friendship -- have no place in the process.

Recruitment

• Be careful about who you put in charge of recruitment, and think carefully about where you look for people and the timing (e.g., if you are recruiting for entry level jobs, work around school calendar).  Committees are often a good strategy to prevent bias or sources of potential employees from being overlooked.

• Major, major issue is whether you recruit internally or externally -- many pros and cons to consider.  Discuss study question #5.

• Content of a job announcement is provided on p. 212.  If there is flexibility, be vague initially about salary.  Best approach is statement:  "Pay is commensurate with experience and qualifications."  There is always the possibility of finding more pay for the best applicants -- you don't want to needlessly discourage interest.

• Avoid all mention of gender, race, religion, age, ethnic origin, and physical capabilities, unless those characteristics are considered a bona-fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) for the job -- that is, qualifications considered essential to the successful performance of the job.  These are fairly rare and must be clear cut (e.g., looking for females to play female role in a film; female prison guards, ministers, etc.)

Selection Process

• Who makes the hiring decision? One person (manager) or committee?  Weigh pros and cons.

• Determine minimum qualifications (e.g., must have a Ph.D. to be considered for a tenure track faculty position; must have a college degree to be a town manager -- why not an MPA? -- discuss.

• Testing can be a major issue -- to survive legal challenge, tests must be valid and reliable.  Important concepts to understand are content validity, criterion-related validity, and construct validity.  Reliability means that a test produces the same measurement outcome over repeated use (see SAT debate).

• Typical sequence of selection methods includes:

                1.  Application forms -- to evaluate candidate training and experience

                2.  Written tests -- to measure and evaluate knowledge or analytical skills

                3.  Performance tests -- to measure and evaluate abilities and skills

                4.  Personal interviews -- to evaluate knowledge, communication skills, experience

                5.  Background investigations -- to evaluate past performance and behavior

                6.  Probationary period -- to measure and evaluate performance on the job

• Interviewing skills come with experience  -- errors to avoid:

                -- similarity error

                -- comparison error

                -- first impression error

                -- halo and horns effect

• Assessment centers are used for managerial or other complex jobs. For example, the process used for the Presidential Management Intern (PMI) program includes:

                -- Group problem-solving exercise

                -- Presentation on a topic (prepared on the spot)

                -- Analysis of writing sample

• Be familiar with the benefits and limitations of background checks (legal and ethical issues).

Chapter 9:  Salary and Wage Management

• Compensation policy is critical to an  organization's ability to recruit and retain the best employees, and it has an important impact on employee morale and workforce productivity.

• Remember that public employee pay levels are determined as part of the budget-making process involving elected officials -- the need to pay competitively is almost never the controlling factor in public wage decisions.  Typically, public pay is constrained by a reluctance to tax the public at a level adequate for competitive salaries, or the sentiment that public workers should be willing to work for less in exchange for greater job security, or simply out of a sense of frugality with the taxpayers' dollar.  In the nonprofit sector, the philanthropic and voluntary nature of nonprofit activities also serve to limit the salary ranges, as boards are concerned about the public perception that the nonprofit may be overspending.
• There are five basic types of compensation systems:

                1) Traditional systems linked to seniority and rank

                2) Broadbanding where pay is linked to broad occupational categories

                3) Merit pay where pay is linked to job performance

                4) Skill based/competency pay where pay is linked to employee knowledge

                5) Gainsharing where pay is linked to group performance

Traditional Systems

• As discussed in Chapter 7, traditional pay systems are based on job classification and job evaluation techniques to establish pay grades and pay ranges within each grade.  The whole point of these traditional systems is to limit (and therefore control) managerial discretion (and in theory promote accountability) and maximize internal equity.  Table 9.2 on p. 244 and Figure 9.2 on p. 245 show a classic traditional pay system, with minimum points, maximum points and a midpoint for each grade with corresponding salary figures.  If the system is structured properly, there should be a very nice linear relationship between grades and salary.

• Of course, even a perfect salary structure cannot remain static -- adjustments must be made to maintain external equity with other organizations.  Public organizations regularly use salary surveys to stay competitive -- see the six step process on p. 246 for conducting a salary survey.

• These traditional pay systems are under increasing attack.  They are inflexible and cumbersome in responding to changes in the market and tend to reward longevity rather than performance (commonly known as "grade creep.")

• A search for new salary models has been driven by the shifting compensation beliefs summarized on Table 2 on p. 241.  Review.

Broadbanding

• As an alternative to traditional pay systems, one new approach is broadbanding, which has four features:

                    -- Fewer grade levels and titles

                    -- Alternative career tracks, especially for non-managers

                    -- Wider salary ranges, with no midpoints

                    -- Two or more bands, preferably based in the relevant salary market.

• See page 233 for example from City of Charlotte -- discuss the advantages on p. 248-249.

Merit Pay

• Another major movement in the public sector is pay for performance instead of for longevity.  A system where barely adequate employees are rewarded equally with excellent employees is bound to be mediocre -- either the excellent employees will leave or they will stop trying to be excellent (in some cases).  Merit increases can be percentage increases to base salary or one-time bonuses (discuss which is preferable).

• The problem with merit pay in the public and nonprofit sectors is 1) it does not motivate everyone, 2) the amount of money provided by legislatures is often not large enough to make a difference, and 3) it requires a credible performance appraisal system that allows managers to make meaningful distinctions between people.  Unfortunately, research indicates that rating inflation is epidemic!

• The other problem with merit pay is philosophical -- if one assumes (as Deming did) that the vast majority of your employees are satisfactory performers, is it better to give everyone a little bit of merit pay or give a relatively few high performers a large increase?  Discuss.

Skill-Based Pay

• This is the university model, where the basis for pay is not the job the person holds but rather the skills the employee possesses.  Consequently, it is possible that an employee's job might not change, but the certification that an employee has mastered a set of skills or increased knowledge valued by the organization might result in a pay raise.  Discuss where else this model might be appropriate.

Gainsharing

• This term describes various pay incentives designed to reward group performance in contrast to individual pay-for-performance programs.  The goal is to encourage teamwork by rewarding groups who improve productivity or realize cost savings (or both).  Discuss the requirements for success with this model.

Chapter 10:  Benefits

• Salary is only one component of the compensation package -- benefits are the other piece that are increasingly important for a variety of reasons.  Discuss.

• Daley estimates that benefits are now in the range of 20-40 percent of the total cost of compensation.  Health benefits are a huge cost issue for both organizations and individuals today, as well as work-life programs such as child care options, family-friendly scheduling of leave, and flexible workdays.

• Like salary, public employee benefit plans are products of the political process!

• Be familiar with the variety of benefit options that are available:

                    -- pensions (defined benefit vs. defined contribution programs)

                    -- health care (fee-for-service vs. PPOs vs. HMOs)

                    -- flextime

                    -- compressed workweeks

                    -- employee assistance programs

                    -- wellness/fitness programs

                    -- caregiver assistance  programs

                    -- telecommuting

                    -- flexible spending accounts

                    -- domestic partner benefits

                    -- job sharing

• A staple of most organizations today is the cafeteria plan approach to providing benefits.  Consistent with the increasingly diverse workforce, people today have different needs at different times or situations in their lives.  Complete form on p. 281 to illustrate.
• Finally, be aware that the number one cost in benefits today is health care, which continues to far outpace the cost of living.  Health care costs were 6.6 percent of the cost of compensation in 1994, up from 2.0 percent in 1970.  In addition to increasing use of HMOs, other methods for controlling health care costs include:

                    -- Indexing financial incentives (e.g., copayments) to salaries

                    -- Tying premiums to family size

                    -- Providing incentives for reducing employees' high risk behavior (e.g., smoking)

Chapter 11:  Performance Management

• One of the most challenging and important areas in human resource management is appraising the performance of employees. For example, the effectiveness of other functions relies on a sound appraisal system -- it is not possible to have a merit pay system without a system for differentiating performance, nor can one target training and development needs.  Obviously, it is also difficult to engage in strategic planning without a sense of the performance of employees.

• Despite its importance, it is an exceedingly difficult function to do well.  Finding the right assessment tool can be difficult, as is the training of supervisors to be objective and thorough in their evaluations.  However, a motivated workforce is at stake.

• Expectancy theory (Victor Vroom) tells us the following:             

                   1)  If a person sees that effort will lead to accomplishing task...

                    2)  And person sees that accomplishing task leads to important outcome (such as

                        satisfying a need for status, recognition, or pay)...

                    3) Then, motivation will take place.

• Following expectancy theory, people first need to be clear about what is expected of them, and then believe that their efforts will be assessed accurately and anticipated consequences will follow.

• Another motivation theory relevant to performance appraisal is equity theory, which suggests that people pay close attention to the relationship between the effort they expend and the outcome realized, but they also consider the effort that others expend and the rewards that they receive.  Thus, a poor performance appraisal system that does not distinguish between high and low performers will tend to demotivate the high performer.

• A final complicating factor in performance appraisal is simply the nature of human organizations.  For example, how does one determine how much of an individual's performance is a function of the system or individual effort?  Edward Deming (Total Quality Management guru) has always argued that individual performance appraisal systems are inherently flawed because for the most part people are decent, motivated performers and poor performance is typically the result of flawed systems.  He argues we spend far too much time trying to separate the few very low or high performers, when the real focus of our attention should be the systems and processes people operate under.

Performance Appraisal Approaches

• Trait-based Appraisal:  based on possession of personal traits and characteristics

                -- Dependability

                -- Attendance

                -- Cooperation

                -- Initiative

                -- Health

                -- Appearance

                -- Courage

                Note:  For each trait, people are rated as Always Outstanding, Excellent, Good/Acceptable, Not

                            Acceptable, Fails to Demonstrate

                -- Supervisor Comments:

                -- Employee Comments:

• Achievement-Based Appraisal: based on level of achievement of duties or linked to certain behaviors

                -- Attitude toward citizens

                -- Ability to take direction

                -- Written communication skills

• Competency-Based Appraisal:  based on demonstration of knowledge or skill

                -- Knowledge of laws/regulations

                -- Interpersonal skills

• Performance-Based Appraisal:  based on accomplishment of specific performance goals

                -- Achieve 20% reduction in response time to calls

                -- Reduce reported incidents of school-related vandalism by 10 %

                -- Attend 12 public meetings to address citizen concerns about crime

Note:  The best approaches combine elements of all of these.  Why?

Performance Appraisal Instruments

• Graphic Rating: employees rated on scales (e.g., 1-5).
• Forced Ranking: employees are assessed relative to those of other employees to produce normal curve (e.g., only 10% can receive outstanding and 10% failure).
• Behaviorally anchored rating scales: employees placed in category based on overt indicators of performance derived from a particular position description.
• Essay: usually done to supplement rating instrument; appraisers have the opportunity to outline achievements, point out extraordinary conditions or events, etc.
• Critical Incident: the appraiser is asked to develop a set of activities, events, and incidents from a certain period of time for an employee to justify a rating. 

Performance Appraiser Problems

• Although the chosen approach and instrument is important, one still has to recognize that you have human beings conducting the appraisal. Some of the more common problems are as follows:

                    -- Personal bias (racism, sexism, ageism, personality conflict)

                    -- Halos and horns (employees can do no right or wrong because of a singular performance

                        or characteristic

                   -- Constant error (inconsistent standards among appraisers -- some too harsh, others too

                         lenient)

                    -- Recency effect -- appraiser is biased by performance occurring closer to the appraisal

                        point

                    -- Central tendency -- bias towards rating all employees the same (average)

                   -- Infrequent feedback -- holding back feedback for long periods of time until the formal

                        appraisal ("dropping the bomb")

                    -- Vague standards -- employees are not clear about expectations.

Keys to Effective Performance Appraisal

• Employees and managers have to believe that it is a legitimate and useful process.  Good performance appraisals take a significant amount of time and commitment.

• The performance appraisal system must be linked to organizational goals.

• The appraisal system must be linked to the manner in which positions and activities are identified and assigned (e.g., selections, promotions, discipline, training and development).

Chapter 12:  Human Resources Training and Development

• Now that you have done all the right things -- hired the best candidate, pay them competitively, appraise their performance -- a strategic human resources manager must avoid the tendency in the public and nonprofit sector to let the employee "sink or swim."  Assessing, designing and delivering quality training and development tied to the strategic direction of the organization is very important.

• The challenge is that training and development budgets are often significantly underfunded.  When budget cuts are mandated, this is the area that is the first to take a hit.  After all, cutting training is preferable to cutting people.  This habit must be challenged, since surveys show that a significant percentage of government workers believe they need more training to perform their jobs effectively.

• Keep in mind that there are different types of training and development.  Training typically refers to building the technical skills needed to do a job.  Development is more focused on personal or organizational growth, such as career development or teambuilding.

• Traditionally, technical training is easier to justify and is better funded.  However, individual and organizational development initiatives can be shown to be a wise investment as well.

Categories of Training and Development

• Orientation -- designed to give new employees an understanding of the mission of the organization and the specific duties to be performed.  A good orientation also exposes the new employee to the organization culture (the informal rules and norms that govern behavior).  This can be a critical but overlooked part of training, for it is the first opportunity for the organization to establish clear expectations. A good orientation lowers the learning curve for a new employee.

• Instructor-Based Classroom Training -- a human resource manager will be inundated with requests for traditional classroom training, developed either by in-house staff in large organizations or external consultants.  However, this training is typically very expensive and the question of transfer back to the workplace is always present.

• On-the-Job Training -- driven by cost issues, increasing attention is being placed on learning in the workplace.  Some of the more common examples are listed on p. 325:  

                    -- job rotation

                    -- special assignments

                    -- internships

                    -- mentoring

                    -- individual development plans (IDPs)

• Management and Executive Development --  given the increasing recognition of the importance of skilled leadership to an organization, initiatives to identify, assess, and develop managers and executives are prevalent in strategic organizations.  It is not uncommon for skilled technical staff to be promoted to supervisory or management positions with any supervisory training or experience.  Remember the phrase, "management is a second profession."  In other words, the training received by an engineer, biologist, planner or lawyer does not prepare one to manage and lead an organization.  Note EPA example from class.

Training Phases

• You are not likely to be designing and delivering training yourself, but a public or nonprofit manager will be in the business of evaluating training and development options for his or her organization.  A quality training and development effort should have three components:  Assessment, Design and Delivery, and Evaluation.

• Phase 1 -- Assessment: training should not occur before a careful needs assessment.  This is where an effective performance appraisal system cab be utilized (i.e., are there performance standards giving people particular trouble).  You may also want to utilize benchmarking, where an organization may want to assess its overal; performance against other similar organizations.

• Phase 2 -- Design and Delivery:  training should reflect t basic principles:

                    1.  Foster participant goal setting.

                    2.  Increase the similarity of training to the work environment.

                    3.  Explain underlying principles.

                    4.  Organize the material with a clear framework.

                    5.  Actively involve the learner.

                    6.  Give feedback.

                    7.  Use a variety of techniques and stimuli.

• Phase 3 -- Evaluation:  a thorough evaluation is critical for justifying future training.  Four levels of evaluation should be ideally addressed (p. 337):

                    -- Participant Reaction

                    -- Learning

                    -- Behavior

                    -- Results

Chapter 13:  Discipline and Termination of Public Employees

• As a manager, you need to concern yourself with the tension between proper consideration for the welfare of an individual employee and legitimate concerns about the achievement of organizational objectives.

• However, the bottom line is that inappropriate, inconsistent, and inadequate discipline to address problems with employee behavior and performance have serious implications for public sector organizations in terms of perceptions about government performance, employee motivation and morale, and degraded organizational capacity.

• Indeed, managers have an ethical responsibility to address problems with employees -- unfortunately, because a government unit does not normally have a bottom line (i.e., will not go out of business when costs exceed revenues), there is the temptation to take the path of least resistance and not deal with problem employees.  One technique is simply not giving the problem employee any important work or responsibilities.  Discuss the costs of this approach.

• Discipline, or adverse action, implies corrective action through education or punishment to modify employee behavior or performance so that the employee's action are compatible with organizational goals and norms.

• Adverse actions must be for just cause -- that is, based on specific and job-related factors.  See Box 3.2 on p. 355.

• Disciplinary action varies along fundamental dimensions (see Figure 13.1 on p. 357):

                    -- degree of formality employed

                    -- according to the punitive versus corrective intent held by the organization

                    -- locus of control in terms of centralization or decentralization of disciplinary policy

• Progressive discipline is recommended in most cases, where supervisors combine corrective and punitive actions and vary the remedy for misconduct in accord with as assessment of intent, the frequency of violations, and the magnitude of the problem being addressed.  Figure 13.2 on p. 359 presents a typical progression:

                -- Step1:  Informal -- Talk to the Employee

                -- Step 2:  Notice -- Verbal

                -- Step 3:  Notice -- Written

                -- Step 4:  Disciplinary Action

• As a general rule, the right of an employee to challenge an adverse action is a generally accepted foundation of workplace democracy.  Procedures vary across jurisdictions and agencies, but most public organizations and government jurisdictions have formal, written guidelines that ensure due process by allowing employees to appeal or grieve an adverse action.  Example of a grade appeal is a good example from the university environment.

Chapter 14:  Developing a Policy and Procedure Manual

• Any public or nonprofit agency should have written policies and procedures covering human resource management issues.  Policies are general guidelines or principles (e.g., sexual harassment will not be tolerated), while procedures are the step-by-step details of the best method to accomplish a desired goal (e.g., employees who believe they are being sexually harassed should do the following....).

• Policies are often considered to be a means of preempting problems or offering tried-and-true approaches to handling repeatedly initiated activities in the organization.  In this way, policies and procedures constitute an important form of risk management.

• Risk management refers to the efforts of organizations to manage their exposure to potential loss or hazard, including exposure to lawsuits.

• Written policies and procedures should be carefully crafted with the assistance of human resource and legal specialists.  If appropriate disclaimers are not included in the employee handbook of policies and procedures, then the substance of the handbook could lead to an implied contract.  In other words, formal written policies and procedures are often used as a reference in judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings to resolve personnel disputes.  Employees may be able to sue the employer for breach of contract if policies or procedures are not implemented in practice or if substantive policies change without sufficient notice to employees.  Discuss study question #5.

• See Box 14.1 on p. 382 for a listing of sample policy manual topics, and Box 14.2 on p. 385 for a checklist for risk management and employee relations.

Chapter 15:  New Roles and Competencies for HRM

• Be familiar with matrices in Boxes 15.1 on p. 401 and15.2 on p. 405.

• Understand key points in Barth's presentation to the International Personnel Management Association on "Emerging Trends in Human Resources."